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zoemcswainjackson's review against another edition
2.0
I really wanted to like this book. It started off with a promising concept- a beautiful, all American sorority girl is killed in a car crash and the people around her are trying to make sense of it, although some of them are paranoid that they keep seeing her around...is she really dead? I liked how this book was told from several points of view. The writing was stellar. But about 2/3 of the way through the book, the story kind of fell apart and the ending left a lot to the imagination (which works for some books...not so much for this one). Also, I feel like the author has some sort of beef against sorority girls- they were portrayed in such a negative light in this book, which wasn't really cool. However, her writing was what kept me turning the pages of this book and finishing it in less than 24 hours. I will definitely be giving her other books a chance.
gdlutz's review against another edition
3.0
For the most part, Kasischke has written a fun, mystifying book. There is a lot going on to keep the readers interest, twists that aren't predictable and characters who seem real (an plenty who hopefully are really not real). I read a description of The Raising as being a mix of Stephen King and Donna Tartt (probably from the book description). I can see this, while Kasischke certainly isn't a master like either of those authors, she does capture some of the horror of real life like King, and a real feeling depiction of academic life like Tartt.
However, and this is a very big however, there is the ending, which is horrible. Kasischke spent the book building mystery and intrigue. She developed questions and possibilities, even up close to the end. Then she just let it all fall apart. It is almost as though she had a deadline she couldn't meet, so the publisher handed the unfinished text to a new intern and asked how they thought it would end, to which they replied "Well, I guess it could end like this..." and that is what the publisher printed. Seriously, one of the characters, in thinking about the events of the book, 15 years after the fact, actually ruminates that things could possibly have happened a certain way. So really, there is no conclusion, no relief, no answers. Right before this horrible ending, a missing character shows up in two different places, hundreds of miles apart, at the same time. This is a pretty big detail and mystery, that while interesting, was completely unnecessary to the book. But then it isn't address again. Why? What happened?
As I am writing this, I am tempted to reduce my rating to 2 stars, but 95% of the book really was good, so I will keep it at a three. It just goes to show has a bad ending (or the lack of an ending) can ruin a good book.
However, and this is a very big however, there is the ending, which is horrible. Kasischke spent the book building mystery and intrigue. She developed questions and possibilities, even up close to the end. Then she just let it all fall apart. It is almost as though she had a deadline she couldn't meet, so the publisher handed the unfinished text to a new intern and asked how they thought it would end, to which they replied "Well, I guess it could end like this..." and that is what the publisher printed. Seriously, one of the characters, in thinking about the events of the book, 15 years after the fact, actually ruminates that things could possibly have happened a certain way. So really, there is no conclusion, no relief, no answers. Right before this horrible ending, a missing character shows up in two different places, hundreds of miles apart, at the same time. This is a pretty big detail and mystery, that while interesting, was completely unnecessary to the book. But then it isn't address again. Why? What happened?
As I am writing this, I am tempted to reduce my rating to 2 stars, but 95% of the book really was good, so I will keep it at a three. It just goes to show has a bad ending (or the lack of an ending) can ruin a good book.
bookbratmn's review against another edition
4.0
OOOH I had such a hard time rating this book. I really really really wish I could give it a 4.5. It totally rates a 5 for keeping me interested - I read 3/4 of the book today - but I think why I gave it a 4 was that it was not a 'satisfying' read. There was a resolution (I had pretty much figured out the mystery part - or the main gist of the mystery - by chapter 80) but I felt gypped at the end. There was sort of a brief 'epilogue' wrap up of the surviving characters and I get the message she was sending about being haunted and 'hauntings' but it felt cheap - like she was tired of writing about the characters and just wanted to be done. I liked the supernatural vibe it kept giving all the while it was giving you the feeling that there was a more plausible explanation for what was going on. I really liked how she tied the various plot lines together. There was so much to like about this novel but my gut says it isn't a 5. That said - if you liked Dismantled by Jennifer McMahon, you will enjoy this book and the ending is much more consistent than the ending to Dismantled!
michellegotto's review against another edition
2.0
an interesting story, but somewhat plodding. there seems to be a big finish coming, but the end is kind of frustrating. i'd give it 2 1/2 stars if that was an option!
vegantrav's review against another edition
4.0
This is a fascinating mystery about a girl, Nicole, who is killed (or is she?) in an automobile accident with her boyfriend, Craig.
Nicole, however, even after her death, continues to appear to Craig, to his roommate, Perry, and to a a few of their other friends. Is she a ghost, haunting them all? Is she a vampire? Is she a succubus? For most of the novel, we don't know if this is actually a supernatural thriller or if the author is going to provide us with a rational explanation, but about 2/3 or 3/4 of the way through, it becomes clear what is happening (but I won't say here so as not to spoil anything).
In the end, we know, with a high degree of certainty, what happened to Nicole despite many ambiguities left unresolved. We readers are compelled to tear through the pages as the answer to the riddle of the novel is slowly, though not completely, revealed, and we find ourselves caring very deeply about the fates of the main characters, both the "good guys" (Craig, Perry, Mira, Shelley, Debbie) and the "bad guys" (particularly Josie).
Overall, this was a great read, and I really loved it until I reached the end, an end that came, from my perspective too soon. (See below.)
****SPOILER ALERT****
There are a few major issues that the author does not resolve:
1. Why would Nicole's family be willing to participate in this elaborate deception to fake her death all in an effort to maintain the good reputation and standing of a sorority? There seems to be no good motivation for deception on such a grand scale and involving something as serious as faking Nicole's death to cover up the death of one her sorority sisters, and the author gives us not even a single clue on this issue.
2. Does Nicole have a twin? Near the end, it seems that Perry and Craig both encounter Nicole at the same time in two distant locations. Is Craig or is Perry hallucinating? It doesn't seem so from the context, and if they are not hallucinating, how do they both see Nicole in two different places at the same time when we know she is not a ghost?
3. What is Nicole's own motivation, before the accident, for toying with Craig? Is she really just some sort of evil temptress? How is it that the pretty, intelligent young girl from a small town who seemingly has small town values goes off to college and starts a relationship with Craig only to lead him on while sleeping with his friends? Nicole's behavior is left completely unexplained. There is an exchange between Nicole and Perry where Perry basically asks her if she's mentally ill or just plain evil, and, of course, she doesn't answer this, but it seems that she must be either seriously mentally disturbed or a total psychopath to explain her behavior, or maybe she really does have an "evil twin." We just don't know.
4. Josie's character is really just unbelievable. She is such a horrible person that if Hitler and Stalin and Leona Helmsley read this novel, even they would react to Josie by saying, "What a bitch!" To believe that a 19-year-old girl would be capable of trying to destroy so many people's lives just for the sake of her sorority really boggles the mind. Josie is just an absolutely despicable character, so despicable, in fact, that her behavior betrays the bounds of realism, even for a work of fiction.
5. There is a huge problem believing the cover-up of Denise's death and the substitution of Nicole's pseudo-death for Denise's. So many people at so many levels would have had to have been involved: university officials, sorority officials, the police, the EMTs (it would have been more than just the EMT that the sorority paid off) who responded to the accident, news reporters. To believe that all of them and Nicole's family would have participated in this cover-up is completely incredible.
6. What happened to Jeff Blackhawk? Why are we told about Mira's fate but not Jeff's? Did Mira and Jeff get married? At the end of the novel, Mira is living in West Texas, where Jeff is from, but Jeff doesn't seem to be in the picture at all. Did Mira and Jeff get married and then divorce? Did Jeff die? What happened to Jeff?
7. What happened to Nicole and her family and to Josie? We're given a snapshot of the fates of most of the other main character a decade and a half after the main events of the novel, but we are told absolutely nothing about what happens to the central character, Nicole, and to her family nor anything about Josie's fate. This was really disappointing and made the novel feel incomplete.
Despite all these problems, I still really enjoyed this novel, at least for the first 460 pages. When I arrived at page 461 (the last page), and realized everything was not going to be satisfactorily resolved, I cannot deny being greatly disappointed, but, up to that point, I really loved the novel, and so I cannot give it an overall negative review when I was so highly entertained by it.
Nicole, however, even after her death, continues to appear to Craig, to his roommate, Perry, and to a a few of their other friends. Is she a ghost, haunting them all? Is she a vampire? Is she a succubus? For most of the novel, we don't know if this is actually a supernatural thriller or if the author is going to provide us with a rational explanation, but about 2/3 or 3/4 of the way through, it becomes clear what is happening (but I won't say here so as not to spoil anything).
In the end, we know, with a high degree of certainty, what happened to Nicole despite many ambiguities left unresolved. We readers are compelled to tear through the pages as the answer to the riddle of the novel is slowly, though not completely, revealed, and we find ourselves caring very deeply about the fates of the main characters, both the "good guys" (Craig, Perry, Mira, Shelley, Debbie) and the "bad guys" (particularly Josie).
Overall, this was a great read, and I really loved it until I reached the end, an end that came, from my perspective too soon. (See below.)
****SPOILER ALERT****
There are a few major issues that the author does not resolve:
1. Why would Nicole's family be willing to participate in this elaborate deception to fake her death all in an effort to maintain the good reputation and standing of a sorority? There seems to be no good motivation for deception on such a grand scale and involving something as serious as faking Nicole's death to cover up the death of one her sorority sisters, and the author gives us not even a single clue on this issue.
2. Does Nicole have a twin? Near the end, it seems that Perry and Craig both encounter Nicole at the same time in two distant locations. Is Craig or is Perry hallucinating? It doesn't seem so from the context, and if they are not hallucinating, how do they both see Nicole in two different places at the same time when we know she is not a ghost?
3. What is Nicole's own motivation, before the accident, for toying with Craig? Is she really just some sort of evil temptress? How is it that the pretty, intelligent young girl from a small town who seemingly has small town values goes off to college and starts a relationship with Craig only to lead him on while sleeping with his friends? Nicole's behavior is left completely unexplained. There is an exchange between Nicole and Perry where Perry basically asks her if she's mentally ill or just plain evil, and, of course, she doesn't answer this, but it seems that she must be either seriously mentally disturbed or a total psychopath to explain her behavior, or maybe she really does have an "evil twin." We just don't know.
4. Josie's character is really just unbelievable. She is such a horrible person that if Hitler and Stalin and Leona Helmsley read this novel, even they would react to Josie by saying, "What a bitch!" To believe that a 19-year-old girl would be capable of trying to destroy so many people's lives just for the sake of her sorority really boggles the mind. Josie is just an absolutely despicable character, so despicable, in fact, that her behavior betrays the bounds of realism, even for a work of fiction.
5. There is a huge problem believing the cover-up of Denise's death and the substitution of Nicole's pseudo-death for Denise's. So many people at so many levels would have had to have been involved: university officials, sorority officials, the police, the EMTs (it would have been more than just the EMT that the sorority paid off) who responded to the accident, news reporters. To believe that all of them and Nicole's family would have participated in this cover-up is completely incredible.
6. What happened to Jeff Blackhawk? Why are we told about Mira's fate but not Jeff's? Did Mira and Jeff get married? At the end of the novel, Mira is living in West Texas, where Jeff is from, but Jeff doesn't seem to be in the picture at all. Did Mira and Jeff get married and then divorce? Did Jeff die? What happened to Jeff?
7. What happened to Nicole and her family and to Josie? We're given a snapshot of the fates of most of the other main character a decade and a half after the main events of the novel, but we are told absolutely nothing about what happens to the central character, Nicole, and to her family nor anything about Josie's fate. This was really disappointing and made the novel feel incomplete.
Despite all these problems, I still really enjoyed this novel, at least for the first 460 pages. When I arrived at page 461 (the last page), and realized everything was not going to be satisfactorily resolved, I cannot deny being greatly disappointed, but, up to that point, I really loved the novel, and so I cannot give it an overall negative review when I was so highly entertained by it.
mstapel's review against another edition
4.0
This was a very well written and lyrical story that intertwined many people together during the death and grieving process of a college student. It was brought together in the end with tragedy but was intriguing! At times so in depth that you lose yourself in the story with that individual character, The Raising is a very good read!
bear_reads_books's review against another edition
5.0
More than a straightforward ghost story, very well written and I want to read everything this author has written.
desert_rose's review against another edition
5.0
I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to enjoy this wonderful book!
Craig has been roomed with Perry who comes from a town called Bad Axe. Nicole comes from Bad Axe too and has known Perry all her life, in kindergarten, school and in study groups.
So when Nicole turns up at their door looking for Perry to start a study group, Craig is smitten.
They start to date and Craig is just crazy about her. What he is not crazy about is the sorority she is a part of. But he tries to understand just to keep her happy. There is absolutely nothing Craig won't do for her.
Then tragedy strikes when they end up in a car accident, and Nicole dies. He is devastated and can't even remember what really happened that night. Even after so many counseling sessions. The police don't blame him but Nicole's sorority sisters do.
He is trying to live through his grief and trying to shake the guilt that is consuming him.
Now other people on the campus start seeing Nicole and another dead girl. Are they seeing ghosts or are they hallucinating??
Professor Polsen teaches a class about Death, Dying and the Undead, so she teams up with Perry to write a book about these sightings and other weird things happening.
But things just seem to get complicated for everyone, and everything doesn't seem what it is. So what is really happening??
At the first when I started reading this book, I was confused that it kept going back and forth between characters and the two time periods (Before and After Nicole's death). I felt that the characters where just too much. But that was my initial feeling for the book and I was considering stopping in the beginning..
Then the action started, and I just couldn't put it down. It was AMAZING!!! And the characters where just perfect. Craig was a jerk up until he met Nicole, then he just became the most adorable guy.
The going back and forth was very necessary and I got used to it. It kept you up to date with all the characters at once.
Every time I thought I solved the puzzle, some surprise changes everything.. It is full of unexpected surprises and twists and turns. I can't say enough about this book.. I have finished it and am still thinking about it.. It is from the few books that linger with me even after I finished reading it..
The writing was incredible. This is the first time for me reading for this author and it will surely be the beginning :) I just love her style.
I loved the cover too, it is very expressive!!
It has become one of the favorites for this year!! I'm sure it will be on the top of the bestseller list in 2011.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to enjoy this wonderful book!
Craig has been roomed with Perry who comes from a town called Bad Axe. Nicole comes from Bad Axe too and has known Perry all her life, in kindergarten, school and in study groups.
So when Nicole turns up at their door looking for Perry to start a study group, Craig is smitten.
They start to date and Craig is just crazy about her. What he is not crazy about is the sorority she is a part of. But he tries to understand just to keep her happy. There is absolutely nothing Craig won't do for her.
Then tragedy strikes when they end up in a car accident, and Nicole dies. He is devastated and can't even remember what really happened that night. Even after so many counseling sessions. The police don't blame him but Nicole's sorority sisters do.
He is trying to live through his grief and trying to shake the guilt that is consuming him.
Now other people on the campus start seeing Nicole and another dead girl. Are they seeing ghosts or are they hallucinating??
Professor Polsen teaches a class about Death, Dying and the Undead, so she teams up with Perry to write a book about these sightings and other weird things happening.
But things just seem to get complicated for everyone, and everything doesn't seem what it is. So what is really happening??
At the first when I started reading this book, I was confused that it kept going back and forth between characters and the two time periods (Before and After Nicole's death). I felt that the characters where just too much. But that was my initial feeling for the book and I was considering stopping in the beginning..
Then the action started, and I just couldn't put it down. It was AMAZING!!! And the characters where just perfect. Craig was a jerk up until he met Nicole, then he just became the most adorable guy.
The going back and forth was very necessary and I got used to it. It kept you up to date with all the characters at once.
Every time I thought I solved the puzzle, some surprise changes everything.. It is full of unexpected surprises and twists and turns. I can't say enough about this book.. I have finished it and am still thinking about it.. It is from the few books that linger with me even after I finished reading it..
The writing was incredible. This is the first time for me reading for this author and it will surely be the beginning :) I just love her style.
I loved the cover too, it is very expressive!!
It has become one of the favorites for this year!! I'm sure it will be on the top of the bestseller list in 2011.
yaynotboo's review against another edition
1.0
This is the first time in as long as I can remember that I read 150 pages where absolutely nothing happens. Too many random tangents, too many characters introduced and a slow-as-molasses pace make this book unreadable. Page 150 became my stopping point.
rodneywilhite's review against another edition
4.0
Somewhere between three and four stars. It started out so mysteriously, but gradually became a conventional mystery novel with all the requisite plausibility issues of conventional mystery novels.
I really don't care for tidy plots, so when all the threads started coming together into a resolution I started resisting and resisting. I don't wanna spoil anything, but :[
Oh, but when it was working, it was working so so well. There is a moonlit aura about the first 250 pages or so that was pure magic, where you couldn't tell who was dead, who was alive, who was a ghost, who was a succubus--or even if it actually mattered. I missed that weird poetry once it was gone.
Recommended? Yeah, sure, it's about the same quality as a really solid netflix series, and occasionally transcends its form. If you like conventional plots, go all in on this one. It's a master class in weaving disparate threads and having them cohere into a whole. If you're more like me and you like loose-ended, open, airy (non-)plots with bizarre ambivalences and a lot of genre confusion, you'll probably still like it, because it kind of is that too.
I really don't care for tidy plots, so when all the threads started coming together into a resolution I started resisting and resisting. I don't wanna spoil anything, but :[
Oh, but when it was working, it was working so so well. There is a moonlit aura about the first 250 pages or so that was pure magic, where you couldn't tell who was dead, who was alive, who was a ghost, who was a succubus--or even if it actually mattered. I missed that weird poetry once it was gone.
Recommended? Yeah, sure, it's about the same quality as a really solid netflix series, and occasionally transcends its form. If you like conventional plots, go all in on this one. It's a master class in weaving disparate threads and having them cohere into a whole. If you're more like me and you like loose-ended, open, airy (non-)plots with bizarre ambivalences and a lot of genre confusion, you'll probably still like it, because it kind of is that too.