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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.5 stars. Would have been 5 had I not seen the film and screenplay not been very similar. Will definitely read more by Lehane though. Fantastic writer.
Three boyhood friends have their lives forever altered when one of them is taken by men posing as cops, and later escapes. Fast forward to adulthood and the beloved daughter of one of the boys, all now long estranged, disappears, dredging up the past.
It’s almost purely character driven novel that works hard to establish what the boys are like initially, and how they transform. And through each, a deep sadness from socio-economic, generational issues is instilled and explored. In this fiction, trauma is predominate and is perceived to petty much colonize the individual. And that perception by others projected onto them eventually makes it real, illustrating a harmful cycle that just continues on and on, forever.
Because it’s so subjective, I’m not sure it’s a “bad” portrayal of trauma creating predators that continue the cycle. But it was pretty deeply uncomfortable focusing on the predation of a character that may have been gay? Yet we never really discover anything like that because he is so traumatized from boyhood events and part of the objective is to show that there is no real truth, since the characters paint him with that brush and so it becomes the truth, anyway. It certainly feeds into the gay predator trope regardless. And implying that the man becomes gay because he was preyed upon as a kid just really dates this pretty highly, in my mind.
Aside from that, however, the writing is quite good and the way in which the author is able to codify the ways the boys emulate and recognize things in their parents and others, forming them into the men they are essentially predestined to become, was pretty phenomenal. I don’t think it rises to literary levels with prose, but they’re certainly above average for commercial fiction as well. I found Shutter Island to be much better in every respect, so this is a bit of a disappointment in comparison, though the mysteries are very, very different.
It’s almost purely character driven novel that works hard to establish what the boys are like initially, and how they transform. And through each, a deep sadness from socio-economic, generational issues is instilled and explored. In this fiction, trauma is predominate and is perceived to petty much colonize the individual. And that perception by others projected onto them eventually makes it real, illustrating a harmful cycle that just continues on and on, forever.
Because it’s so subjective, I’m not sure it’s a “bad” portrayal of trauma creating predators that continue the cycle. But it was pretty deeply uncomfortable focusing on the predation of a character that may have been gay? Yet we never really discover anything like that because he is so traumatized from boyhood events and part of the objective is to show that there is no real truth, since the characters paint him with that brush and so it becomes the truth, anyway. It certainly feeds into the gay predator trope regardless. And implying that the man becomes gay because he was preyed upon as a kid just really dates this pretty highly, in my mind.
Aside from that, however, the writing is quite good and the way in which the author is able to codify the ways the boys emulate and recognize things in their parents and others, forming them into the men they are essentially predestined to become, was pretty phenomenal. I don’t think it rises to literary levels with prose, but they’re certainly above average for commercial fiction as well. I found Shutter Island to be much better in every respect, so this is a bit of a disappointment in comparison, though the mysteries are very, very different.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Lehane's stories are relentlessly dark and filled with child abuse. I would like to think that when he's not writing, his thoughts are all about rainbows and spring flowers.