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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
UGH THIS BOOK STRAIGHT UP WRECKED ME AND THATS ALL I CAN SAY
What do a sixth grade boy, a history teacher and a volunteer fire fighter all have in common?
They are all searching for answers to the death of a middle school math teacher.
“... “All stories need watchers. Otherwise, it’s like they ever happened.” A story without an audience was like a tree falling in a forest with no one to hear.”
In neighboring towns, each with a deep history all their own, Sal (the student), Nora (the history teacher) and Jake (the volunteer fire fighter) are all searching for the truth of what happened to Adam Merkel, the math teacher. They each know a little bit, but are unsure of the life Merkel lived before coming to Lovelock just months before and how his past cost him his life.
About half way through The Distant Dead I was still pausing between chapters trying to figure out how all these stories were connected. I found with each chapter I was changing my alliance with the characters, and their point of view. But as those last 50 pages came together, it really brought everything full circle.
This was the first book by Heather Young I have read. I was so glad when my bookclub choose this one from @bookclubgirl for our monthly pick! We all enjoyed reading and talking about it.
Thank you WilliamMorrow and Harper Collins for our finished copies!
They are all searching for answers to the death of a middle school math teacher.
“... “All stories need watchers. Otherwise, it’s like they ever happened.” A story without an audience was like a tree falling in a forest with no one to hear.”
In neighboring towns, each with a deep history all their own, Sal (the student), Nora (the history teacher) and Jake (the volunteer fire fighter) are all searching for the truth of what happened to Adam Merkel, the math teacher. They each know a little bit, but are unsure of the life Merkel lived before coming to Lovelock just months before and how his past cost him his life.
About half way through The Distant Dead I was still pausing between chapters trying to figure out how all these stories were connected. I found with each chapter I was changing my alliance with the characters, and their point of view. But as those last 50 pages came together, it really brought everything full circle.
This was the first book by Heather Young I have read. I was so glad when my bookclub choose this one from @bookclubgirl for our monthly pick! We all enjoyed reading and talking about it.
Thank you WilliamMorrow and Harper Collins for our finished copies!
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Adam Merkel left his job as a professor in Reno to come to Lovelock, a small town, to teach math at their middle school. He was mostly mocked by his students, except for one, Sal Prentiss. After the death of his mother, Sal lives outside of town with his two uncles. Mostly friendless, he bonds with Mr. Merkel over math, chess, and more. So when Sal finds Mr. Merkel's body on his way to schoool--burned so that it's nearly unrecognizable--it turns his small world upside down. It upsets Nora Wheaton as well. A colleague of Adam's at the school, she thought she recognized a kindred spirit in him. Both seemed trapped in Lovelock: Nora had to return to care for her father. After Adam's death, Nora starts looking into his past to see what led to his horrible undoing. But so much of what she finds keeps leading back to the boy who befriended him--and found his body. As she tries to befriend the wary Sal, it opens up old wounds of her own.
I really loved Heather Young's book The Lost Girls, and The Distant Dead didn't disappoint either. She excels at creating excellent atmospheric novels with well-drawn characters. The Distant Dead perfectly captures small town life: how nearly everyone knows almost everything about everyone, but rarely interferes. How a small town can feel so stifling and claustrophobic. How the secrets and lies pile up until a man finds himself burned to death.
Young also covers the timely topics of drugs and addiction, which run as a thread across the book. Opiates don't seem like a tired trope here, though, but something that is eating up the town and ruining people's lives. It's no secret that I'm a sucker for a book with a good kid character, and I pretty much fell for Sal immediately. He's a great kid: real, vulnerable yet tough, and smart. He was an excellent narrator, with his portions telling what led up to Adam's death and Nora and Jake (a local EMT/firefighter) telling us what happened after. The book is surprisingly tense, with Young's beautifully written words jumping off every page. She's such a lyrical writer, weaving an amazing tale of sadness and redemption.
This isn't a fast read or a page-turning thriller. But it's a well-written book, with characters you won't soon forget. There's a lovely, albeit sad and dark, story here. Definitely worth a read.
I really loved Heather Young's book The Lost Girls, and The Distant Dead didn't disappoint either. She excels at creating excellent atmospheric novels with well-drawn characters. The Distant Dead perfectly captures small town life: how nearly everyone knows almost everything about everyone, but rarely interferes. How a small town can feel so stifling and claustrophobic. How the secrets and lies pile up until a man finds himself burned to death.
Young also covers the timely topics of drugs and addiction, which run as a thread across the book. Opiates don't seem like a tired trope here, though, but something that is eating up the town and ruining people's lives. It's no secret that I'm a sucker for a book with a good kid character, and I pretty much fell for Sal immediately. He's a great kid: real, vulnerable yet tough, and smart. He was an excellent narrator, with his portions telling what led up to Adam's death and Nora and Jake (a local EMT/firefighter) telling us what happened after. The book is surprisingly tense, with Young's beautifully written words jumping off every page. She's such a lyrical writer, weaving an amazing tale of sadness and redemption.
This isn't a fast read or a page-turning thriller. But it's a well-written book, with characters you won't soon forget. There's a lovely, albeit sad and dark, story here. Definitely worth a read.
The storyline in The Distant Dead focuses on the mysterious death of Adam Merkel, a math teacher, near a remote Nevada town. As the story progresses, it brings together 6th grader Sal, his two uncles — Ezra and Gideon, a volunteer firefighter named Jake, and Nora, a middle school history teacher. All of the characters are well-developed and are depicted as real people, each complete with flawed but resilient natures.
Told from multiple viewpoints, the story surrounding Merkel’s background and death is an intriguing one, the plot is palpable and taut with suspense, and the writing is excellent, almost lyrical. This is not your everyday police procedural but instead a beautifully executed, literary mystery that is well done on all counts.
Told from multiple viewpoints, the story surrounding Merkel’s background and death is an intriguing one, the plot is palpable and taut with suspense, and the writing is excellent, almost lyrical. This is not your everyday police procedural but instead a beautifully executed, literary mystery that is well done on all counts.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-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
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a slow sprawling mystery/suspense novel, and I enjoyed the journey of reading it. My heart went out to our young protagonist Sal as a lonely boy with a gentle heart. He is one of the perspectives we follow as this tale of the murder of Sal’s math teacher Mr. Merkel is slowly unraveled. We come to know the history of Mr. Merkel and the backstory of several people in this small town as we also follow the perspective of fellow teacher Nora and Jake, a paramedic who was one of the first people on the scene after the discovery of Mr. Merkel’s burnt body. The book explores themes of regret, addiction, grief and family.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death of parent
Moderate: Death
Minor: Gun violence, Infidelity
The Distant Dead is a nuanced, rich, complex, absolutely flawless book. I can hardly find words for how deeply it hit me. It's very dark and was at times difficult to read, but the world, the plot, the mystery, were all played out so masterfully and empathetically that I couldn't look away. The characters--many of them incredibly flawed, and, honestly, kind of terrible--were so delicately and compassionately drawn that it was impossible not to sympathize with them. And the main character, 11-year old Sal, was one of the most brilliant characters I've encountered in contemporary literary fiction. I loved him so much. I kind of hate that this is classified as a thriller, because while there is a murder mystery at the heart of it, this story is so, so, SO much more than just a cheap, James Patterson-esque thriller. I figured out the twist pretty early on, but I wasn't even bothered by that because I cared more about the characters themselves than solving the who-dun-it.
What a remarkable book, probably my favorite this year. Highly highly recommend.
What a remarkable book, probably my favorite this year. Highly highly recommend.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes