So, my daughter-in-law gave this book to me for Christmas. I could not wait to get home and read it after enjoying so much the first Lippman book I had read. I had to drive from Tulsa to Colorado Springs and then recover from a rotten case of strep before I could get to it. I was not disappointed.
Seven years before, two eleven year old girls are found responsible for a babies death and sentenced to child prison. They have now turned 18 and are being released. The two girls are Alice Manning and Ronnie Fuller. Unlikely friends, Alice was the only child of a Hippie single mother. Ronnie, the only girl in a low-income dysfunctional family.
What actually happened that summer seven years before, is squeezed from the characters. Squeezed is the only word that fits the slow, almost agonising way Lippman brings the facts out of the characters in her novels. A little from the babies mother who is the daughter of a black judge. A few facts from Alice's mother. Some information from Alice's public defender. And as we get to know the girls, they give us clues too.
My theory as to who killed the baby and why, changed three times as I read this book. Who I thought the people involved were, changed by the ending too. Each person had so many hidden feelings and knowledge, it seemed impossible to come to a conclusion until just before I was told by Lippman.
Although I think this book was excellent, I hated the ending, mostly because I was not prepared for it, though in hind site, I should have been.
Again, one of Laura Lippman's stories haunts me and I can not stop thinking about it. This writer is unique in her ability to keep the reader hanging on, even after you have closed and shelved the book.
I hear this is soon to be a movie with Dakota Fanning. Can't wait.
Seven years before, two eleven year old girls are found responsible for a babies death and sentenced to child prison. They have now turned 18 and are being released. The two girls are Alice Manning and Ronnie Fuller. Unlikely friends, Alice was the only child of a Hippie single mother. Ronnie, the only girl in a low-income dysfunctional family.
What actually happened that summer seven years before, is squeezed from the characters. Squeezed is the only word that fits the slow, almost agonising way Lippman brings the facts out of the characters in her novels. A little from the babies mother who is the daughter of a black judge. A few facts from Alice's mother. Some information from Alice's public defender. And as we get to know the girls, they give us clues too.
My theory as to who killed the baby and why, changed three times as I read this book. Who I thought the people involved were, changed by the ending too. Each person had so many hidden feelings and knowledge, it seemed impossible to come to a conclusion until just before I was told by Lippman.
Although I think this book was excellent, I hated the ending, mostly because I was not prepared for it, though in hind site, I should have been.
Again, one of Laura Lippman's stories haunts me and I can not stop thinking about it. This writer is unique in her ability to keep the reader hanging on, even after you have closed and shelved the book.
I hear this is soon to be a movie with Dakota Fanning. Can't wait.
No comments:
Post a Comment