3.73 AVERAGE


A decent book, and probably one I would recommend, but I am sometimes bothered by the first-person narrators, that seemed much too self aware and aware of others.

What a great book! Told from the perspectives of four characters, the book tells what happens to a town after a school bus crash where many of the town's children are killed. It's a gripping read and in the end a morality tale about who gets it right and who is to blame. The resolution was both surprising and satisfying.

Read on the recommendation of somebody I follow on Goodreads. Well written, and a bit surprising.

Beautifully written intertwined stories from four characters involved in a bus accident. I was amazed that Banks could tell a story in such a minimal way -- just internal monologues, no dialogue -- and still have it be so emotionally affecting. The movie's definitely going on my Netflix list.

I find the treatment of disability in this novel extremely fascinating (if problematic, to use the term I try not to use to avoid being vague). Quite a lot of great moments in this.

I have to say I enjoyed the first half of this book more than the second half. I really liked the narrative switch from the bus driver to the Billy Ansel character, the way the latter picked up the plot from roughly the same spot but from his own perspective, putting a new spin on the people of the town and the events. However, I was disappointed with subsequent narrative shifts because the latter narrators back-tracked a bit. Also, the "new spin" was lacking in those characters; they just gave a differing perspective, not really one that shone new light on the situation or people so much. Also, some of the minor storylines sort of get dropped when Nicholle takes narration, which (I feel) disjoints the novel. And in general the story gets a bit boring towards the latter half.

But the content, the aftermath of a school bus accident that kills so many young children, is an interesting topic that is not used in many novels. If you have young children or recently lost a loved one to an auto accident, you may not be interested in this book, however.

I couldn't have picked a better time to be reading this book. After finding a cyclist lying in the road, a victim of a hit and run this week, I couldn't help but compare the real life drama I experienced to the one in the book. The story is told through the eyes of several of the main characters, each having a chapter to talk about the story as it unfolds. I really liked the idea of telling the story of a tragedy through differing perspectives. The main gist of the story is one of a school bus that goes off the road, down an embankment, and into a pond. Many of the children on the bus die, but the driver does not. Personal injury lawyers swarm the town. I can't say much more without spoiling the plot but it was interesting how it all turned out. I guess there is a movie but I haven't seen it. I may have to.

And btw, the driver of the hit and run that I saw was caught. The cyclist is going to be ok. Grateful for that.

The Sweet Hereafter is the story of a school bus accident which tears a small town apart. Told from the perspective of four different characters, the plot is interesting and the method Banks uses to propel the story is very effective.

I struggled with the voices of the characters too much, however. The bus driver, the New York City lawyer, the owner of the service station, and the fourteen year-old victim--their stories are all told in a similar voice, a very professional one. And, as such, I didn't find them believable.

Based on this story, Banks has a decent grasp on the art of fiction, but the whole thing falls apart when he tries to get into his character's voices. Unfortunately, this causes the whole work to unravel.

Well, John Warner must be psychic or prescient or some kind of book-divining guru because this was just my thing. A broken, sweet study of a small town; the microcosm of tragedy without a hint of melodrama; sad, yes, but the Graham Greene kind of sadness, reflective and irresolute.

I should also add that I would have never picked this up if not for the recommendation, so Mr. Warner, wherever you may be: I owe you one.

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3/24/10: My personal John Warner recommendation via today’s Tournament of Books roundup. As long as it’s light on the melodrama, it does look intriguing.

To be quite honest, I only read this book because it was assigned in class. This isn't the kind of story I like to read. However, I read it so I'll review it.

This is about a school bus crash where a bunch of kids die. Actually, a more accurate description would be that this is how a town reacts to the death of its children.

It's really sad, which is a given considering the subject material. Sometimes though I think the author pushed a bit too hard to make it sad.

Each chapter is from the point of view of different characters. This includes the bus driver, one of the parents of the dead kids, a lawyer trying to get people to sue the town while dealing with own "lost" child, and one of the survivors from the crash.

The story is believable, I'll give it that. Well, believable except for a couple of moments. There was one point where the lawyer is talking to his daughter and I felt the dialogue in that scene was over the top and contrived. The second is in the chapter on one of the survivors. There is something that happened to her and the way it was dealt with just didn't seem realistic to me.

However, I can believe that these are people of the same town and that this is how they choose to deal with their grief.

I'm not sure if I would recommend this or not. If it sounds like your kind of story, then you'll probably enjoy it. However, if you're looking to diversify your interests in books then I wouldn't start with this book.