Marly Swick

It has been a long time since I have read a novel of such power and depth, and about a topic that has so moved me: How does a blended family cope, when the 9-year old son accidentally shoots and kills his 2-year old sister? How does a mother forgive something like this? How does the stepfather ever look at the boy again without hatred in his heart? How does the family face their grief and do what must be done for the stricken boy? This is an honest, real and courageous novel, without pat show more answers, but in the end as redemptive as it is probably possible to be. This may have been the hardest book I have ever read; I have children close to the ages of Teddy and Trina, and it was as though I knew intimately the family as they struggled to repair the fault lines. Or as though the family was mine. I'm not sure I can ever read it again, but this book is a must read for any parent struggling to recognize what is important in life. show less

Honestly, the only thing that kept me going in the book was the description of the times in which the protagonist grew up. The author nailed it. I could picture everything, but I felt that there really wasn't much point to the book and the ending fell flat for me.

Honestly, the only thing that kept me going in the book was the description of the times in which the protagonist grew up. The author nailed it. I could picture everything, but I felt that there really wasn't much point to the book and the ending fell flat for me.

I bought this collection of short stories 20 years ago when I was working at a Barnes and Noble during college because the author did a book signing at our store and many of the stories had a Nebraska connection. Then I moved it across state lines, in and out of different apartments, and just now finally got around to reading it. The stories as a whole didn't blow me away -- Swick has a good sense of structure and strong descriptions, but the characters are often a little too obvious and the show more dialogue a little unreal. Too many times something unambiguous happens where it would have been better to keep things a little more mysterious. The exception is the final story in the collection, "Crete," which builds to a perfect, tragic conclusion when a husband follows his distraught wife back to her Nebraska hometown after the sudden death of their young daughter. There is some good variety here and parts of every story are rewarding, I just wish the collection as a whole had been a little stronger. show less