Mercy Among the Children

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

The central question of this book is what would happen if one were to take a vow to do no harm and actually lived up to it. The consequences of such a pact with God, as outlined in this heart-rending and important novel, are far-reaching and unpredictable.

I'm a huge Richards fan. (So much so that I rather hope I never meet him, for it he doesn't live up to the hugely favorable opinion I have of him, I'm afraid it will affect how I view his work!) He writes with the cadence and echo of the King James Version of the Bible, which is a voice little used these days, but is familiar to anyone who reads the Southern Gothic writers -- Tennessee Williams, Flannery O'Connor, James Agee, etc. It's a perfect fit here, as it is with all Richards' show more books since they are marvelous works of searing morality.

There are those who might argue his work is depressing, but that was not my impression. Challenging? Certainly, and I see nothing wrong with that. On the contrary, I find it thrilling that Richards expects his readers to rise to the challenge and to question their assumptions.

This story, as with the wonderfully named, FRIENDS OF MEAGRE FORTUNE, takes place in New Brunswick, Canada, along the banks of the Miramachi River. Ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, compassionately and masterfully shared with the reader.

One of the few books on my shelf I shall re-read. 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

Another Canada Reads 2009 contender (I recently blogged about another one called The Outlander) that I read for my book club. And unlike The Outlander, I did not like this one.

Taking place in rural New Brunswick during the 1980’s and 90’s, the story follows the Henderson family as they eke out a meager living from trapping and working for the local bigwig, Leo McVicer. Sidney Henderson and Connie Devlin were twelve when they were shoveling snow off the roof of the local church and began arguing and the ensuing fight resulted in Connie falling and Sydney thinking that he’s dead. He wasn’t but in the time it took for Sydney to realize Connie was okay, Sydney promised God that he would never do another thing to harm another human. show more Making that promise was much harder to live with than it seemed at the time. The rest of the book deals with the challenges Sydney, his wife and children face as they deal with the repercussions of this oath.

I read this novel for my book club – there’s no way I’d have finished it otherwise. It’s so bleak – it’s worse than depressing. I can take the poverty, but the child abuse and neglect, no. The characters were at various times cowardly, weak-kneed, fundamentally evil, selfish, spineless, pathetic, helpless, etc. The few that did do something kind for another person seemed to be motivated by guilt rather than any altruistic sensibility. And really, do bad things actually happen that often to people or are they offset even occasionally by good things?

This book won the Giller Prize in 2000. Those judges must love wallowing in misery. Don’t get me wrong – the writing is good and the story is told well. But it’s like constantly picking the scab from a wound – it never gets better and sometimes even becomes infected, but you can’t stop picking even if it’s painful. Well, this whole book was one gaping wound. But hey, some people just love this kind of book – I’m just not one of them. 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