Very well written. If you are looking for a traditional mystery, this is not it. The killing is very secondary to the psychology. ( )

Wow, I feel cheated it took me this long to find this book, so much packed into 247 pages ( )

This review can also be found on my blog.

I'm sure there are readers who adore this book. I'm sure there are brilliant messages one can glean from the words written here. Unfortunately, that was all wasted on me. This book and I just did not get along. There's nothing especially heinous about the writing or the plot; I just felt like I was being dragged through it. Part of this is my fault: I was expecting something closer to a thriller while the crime aspect of this novel is very much downplayed. This is absolutely more slice-of-life literary fiction with a dash of mystery to it.

Another thing I struggled with was just not enjoying the narrator. I found Marsha to be quite bland. As a child, she wanders around, watches people, and eavesdrops on conversations. The little agency she has is used negatively, and brought me to actively dislike her. While this book is about adult Marsha looking back on her childhood, I felt this perspective didn't add much. The analyses she provide did not help me to better understand what I was reading.

I'm truly not sure how much of my dislike is purely personal preference, so I would not turn anyone away from reading this, as long as they understand that this more an exploration of suburban life and less a true mystery. This was a buddy read and I hope that the rest of the group has a better experience with it, because I think there is promise here that I was just unable to unearth myself.

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This 1999 Orange prize winner is a book that I read in one sitting. In 1973, a young, little boy is found dead in the woods behind a shopping mall in a suburb of Washington, DC. Ravaged and beaten, his assailant was never found. This was a summer of not- to- be -forgotten occurrences.

When Marsha's beloved father chooses to run off with her mothers aunt, the family is torn apart. A small town on edge, consumed with fear after the murder of the small boy, and now, Marsha and her siblings also have to face the fear of life without a father.

Their mother valiantly tries to carry on. But, life is not easy, and soon the family is made to feel out of place. Acting out, Marsha accuses a single older man who lives next door of the crime. She kept a journal all summer long, and it is filled with tidbits regarding his oddities.

As a country learns of Richrd Nixon and Watergate, both nationally and locally, the world seems to be a very unfair, unsafe place to live.

Excellent!

Four Stars! ( )

" Because when you have watched yourself do the worst thing that you can possibly do to another person, at least you know what you are capable of." p 247

Over the summer of 1972, in a small D.C suburb, several events fracture the serenity of both the town and ten year old Marsha. Watergate makes the headlines, Marsha's dad leaves his wife and children, and a twelve year old neighborhood boy is found murdered . Life appears to be uncertain and frightening for young Marsha. As her mother comes to terms with the loss of her husband, Marsha becomes increasingly isolated. To pass the time, Marsha keeps detailed notes of her neighbours and her town. Uneasy about the unsolved murder of young Boyd Ellison,fathers patrol Springfield on foot in the evening and late at night . A socially awkward single man has recently moved next door to Marsha. A deliciously creepy look into the life of a troubled young girl and the dynamics at play around her.

4 stars. ( )