Mercy Among the Children

Having picked up far too many books at the library on my last visit, I thought I wasn’t going to have the opportunity to finish Mercy Among the Children before its due date, but I made it a priority once hearing it was a Canada Reads 2009 selection. I will happily pay the late fees when entertained with such thought provoking and affecting storytelling as this.

Our narrator, Lyle Henderson, has the misfortune of being a descendent of a father and grand-father who have been outcasts in their small New Brunswick town for decades. Poverty, alcohol and condemnation have all been sources of ridicule and embarrassment that these men have had to endure. Lyle’s father, Sydney, a compassionate, stoic and righteous man, lives his life under show more the “turn the other cheek,” philosophy, and has faith in the fact that those who attempt to hurt him or his family, will eventually hurt themselves. This is a tough pill to swallow for Lyle, who sees his dad’s inability to protect or stand up for the family as pacifism, and ultimately neglect. His eventual recourse is to become a renegade, as he starts to detest all the propriety and weakness that his father seems governed by.

I would often find myself in a tizzy after reading the incessant small-town gossip and lies that run rampant throughout, and in disgust would throw the book down and pace my living room shouting obscenities at the ruthless and diabolical nature of the characters Richards has expertly presented us with. I would ferociously plead for Saint-Sydney to grow a spine and reject the false accusations made of him. As another one of his philosophies is never to beg the truth of anyone that wouldn’t understand it, for him justice was something that could only be obtained through patience, and waiting for others to self-destruct, not participating in injurious revenge. It was these instilled moral convictions versus a teenagers need be accepted and feel safe within the morally corrupt society around him, that ignited the internal battle between good and evil that Lyle found himself struggling with throughout this complex, tragic, and tightly woven tale.

Although you won’t find any perfectly ‘happy endings’ here, there are ponderous messages relating to spirituality, the essence of bravery, the possibility of redemption in spite of affliction, and the importance of truth, that leave me feeling challenged and inspired, no matter how lamentable the outcomes. I look forward to reading more of David Adams Richards’ work.

Check out more of my reviews at BookSnakeReviews show less

Mercy Among the Children by David Adams Richards was originally published in 2000. Richards won the Giller Prize (Canada's most prestigious literary award), and the Canadian Booksellers Association Libris Award for Author of the Year and Fiction Book of the Year for Mercy Among the Children.

Oh. My. Goodness. This is an incredible, heart breaking novel that will haunt me for years to come. The story of Sydney Henderson's family, as told by grown son Lyle, is about the price they all pay for Sydney's refusal to abandon his principles. The novel is stronger and richer because it is told from the son's point of view. It is about the nature of good and evil, and the relationship between fathers and sons. But it is unrelentingly sad. I show more wanted some justice for Sydney and his family. I wanted Sydney to fight back, but Richards kept Sydney true to his principles. This is a brilliant study of human nature and the selfishness and pettiness that rules the daily lives of so many people.

Mercy Among the Children is not for everyone. It is simply so sad. I was anxious for the family. I bawled like a baby several times. Many readers, like me, will also be angry at all the people in the Henderson's lives who did not speak up and take a stand. In the end, Mercy Among the Children could be a parable showing that the truth will eventually come out, although perhaps not in the expected way. Oh, it should also be mentioned that Richards is an incredibly gifted writer.
One of the best - Very Highly Recommended. http://shetreadssoftly.blogspot.com/ show less

A wonderful read. I stayed up way past bed-time, and gulped down the last 100 pages. Now I want to take the time to read those pages slowly, to savor the writing and to make sure that I understand all of the plot twists.
This is a story of the Henderson family who live in rural poverty in New Brunswick. Sydney Henderson is a very intelligent and very moral man. But as the book begins, his destiny seems to be relentless suffering. His story is reminiscent of the Book of Job. His childhood was miserable, and in adulthood he becomes the scapegoat for the community.
Sydney accepts persecution without attempts at revenge, and without any apparent anger. He is very admirable, but his saint-like qualities are hard on his family, especially his show more oldest son, Lyle. The story is told by Lyle, whose relationship with his father is very ambivalent.
The book is full of marvelously twisted characters; people who do evil and yet are so heartbreakingly human that you can’t hate them, entirely. The book starts slowly, but the plot twists and bends so that I was on edge waiting to see what was going to happen next. The book is about social justice, but in this story justice has a frightening, biblical aspect. show less

This book is filled with overwhelming sadness which somehow does not descend into hopelessness or melodrama. It is a difficult book to read. David Richards does not spare his prose when describing the everlasting poverty of the Henderson family. There is greatness in this family. The father Sydney is a truly honourable and brave man who will never show his anger to any other person, including his family. There is the mother Elly, who is a beautiful simple soul and one that unscrupulous people feel that they have a right to take advantage of. There is Lyle Henderson, the oldest son who renounces his father's pacifism, but finds that a life of fighting and hate and trying to exact revenge does not work any more than the pacifism does. show more Then there is Autumn Henderson-a beautiful albino girl with a very creative side to her. She has her mother's warmth and kindness. Then there is little Percy Henderson-an angelic little boy who seems to walk with the angels. These characters are so beautifully drawn by Richards. Yes, a difficult book but somehow there is hope that seems to keep springing up. Richards is merciless with his readers. He draws you in as he tells his sad and beautiful story. This book is a very worthy winner of the prestigious Giller prize and I recommend it highly. show less

Periodically there are books which come into our lives we choose to read not because they are guarantors of entertainment, escapism, pleasure, but because we are aware the writer has something to say, hopefully says it well, and the scent of which lingers in years to come like a primal memory, an underlying truth.

Such is the case with David Adams Richards' Giller Award winning novel, Mercy Among the Children.

Told through the unreliable narrator of Lyle Henderson, son of the main protagonist and chief underdog in the story, Sydney Henderson, Mercy Among the Children is an epic tale of hypocrisy and greed, of ignorance and poverty not only of economics but of morality. It is not a pleasant read. Nor is it an easy read. But it is gripping show more and needs to be read much in the way Steinbeck needs to be read, or Harper Lee, or any number of writers who have championed the cause of the disenfranchised and downtrodden.

Set in the Miramichi Valley of New Brunswick, Canada, this labyrinthine tale weaves through betrayals, robberies, murder, toxic waste of the soul and the environment, through generations of people held under the implacable autocracy of the company town. It is relentless in its brutality and sorrow. There are no happy endings in sight. And it resonates with an awful truth which simply cannot be ignored.

My only quibble is in the opening third of the novel the relentless barrage of misdeeds against the Henderson family teeters on the brink of the precious, so that at any moment I fully expected Dickens' Tiny Tim to make an appearance. Beyond that, there is a court scene which very much put me in mind of Harper Lee's now legendary court case in To Kill a Mockingbird, and the societal burden Steinbeck presented in The Grapes of Wrath

A recommended read which should be followed immediately by something mindless, hilarious and utterly frivolous, just for balance. show less

David Adams Richards.

With three first names compounded, I often muddle the order with which they are arranged. Sometimes, I will recommend this book as written by David Richards Adams, and sometimes Adam Davids Richards. With sincere apologies to the author, who certainly does not deserve this from me, I recommend this book as a beautiful tale written with a searing style. The language pained me in the way that I think the story meant to. And that is beauty.

All praise aside, I read this whilst in some moderate life turmoil and certainly this book didn't inspire me to pull myself up by my own bootstraps. I was often angry with the characters and wished and hoped and demanded they would make "better" choices. But I've given up "choose show more your own adventure" books many many years ago for a reason. Read this book when you are feeling emotionally stable, it will shove at your stability. show less

I found this to be a slow but enthralling read. The theme/s are complex, and I found that initally there were so many characters and events that I had to take notes to keep track of what was happening in the book. Though the main characters live in poverty in a small shack in New Brunswick, Sydney Henderson, the father of the family of wife Elly, children Lyle, Autumn and Percy, manages to read most of the classics and is very intelligent. I struggled with the meaning behind this book - and found that one book that is mentioned more than once in Mercy Among Children is Tolstoy's book, False Coupon which I had never heard of before reading this book. I think I may need to read it to understand this book better. I looked it up in show more Wikipedia, and it summarized False Coupon as a man/ boy who modifies a coupon to falsely increase it's value, and this starts a chain of events that lead a man to murder a woman in part 1 - and in part two - this same man obtains redemption through religion.

I would see Lyle, main character in Mercy Among Children as being a kind , thoughtful person who turns the other cheek, despite being bullied and teased about his father, who is almost pathologically kind. Eventually Lyle - the main character , rebels against his father in that he becomes outwardly an angry, bullying, violent person to increase his own value in his eyes. This results in a chain of events that hurts both Lyle himself, as well as his beloved family and those who have hurt him. But Lyle at least initally loves the power that being tough and a bully brings to him. Eventually Lyle loses everything but the compassion at his core.

In that way, I can see how Lyle metaphorically falsifies - increases his value by becoming violent, but this leads to a chain of events that costs him everyone that he holds dear and compromises his values to the extent that he becomes very depressed with himself, at the verge of suicide.

Unlike The False Coupon, Lyle does not find redemption in religion per se - but more by returning to his inward loving sensitive nature. That said, like most great books , the ending is without any certainty.

It's a bit more complex than that, but it was a wonderful read. show less