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adrienne_l's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This is my second time through, and the only novel I've read to this point by Russell Banks, but he has that rare knack reminiscent of my favorite author Stephen King, of rendering characters in a way that's incredibly vivid and authentic, with just a few short sentences. For example, describing one of the kids who boards the ill-fated bus, "He had a round burnt-orange babyface with a perpetual peaceful smile on it. as if someone had just told him a terrific joke and he was telling it to himself all over again." Banks also really captures the scope and severe beauty of the Adirondacks in winter. And I say that as someone familiar with that impressive and often overlooked landscape. He also does an excellent job rendering a small town hunkered down in its isolation, compounded by grief, and the seedy underbelly that's often a part of such communities.
"It's dark up there, closed-in by mountains of shadow and a blanketing early nightfall, but at the same time the space is huge, endless, almost like being at sea...that makes you feel simultaneously surrounded by the darkness and released into a world much larger than any you've dealt with before. It's a landscape that controls you, sits you down and says, Shut up, pal, I'm in charge here."
The book is told through four different points of view: the school bus driver, the flashy New York City lawyer who comes to the small town of Sam Dent with vengeance on his mind, the devastated father who lost two children in the disaster, and the fourteen-year-old cheerleader and Harvest Festival Queen who is left paralyzed. While I prefer some of the perspectives to the others, all of the pieces are still incredibly moving and all of them are devastating, but, really, how could they be anything else?
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Incest, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Grief, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
princesskittyglitter's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Child death, Infidelity, Grief, and Car accident
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, and Incest
kshertz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Minor: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
mollyec's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Grief, and Car accident
Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, and Infidelity