Secrets of Eden

I had the privilege of getting to read a very early, pre-final-edit manuscript of this book, and I am SO glad, because now I can be among the first to tell everyone how fabulous it is! Once again, Bohjalian creates big, believable drama in a small town Vermont setting. This time it involves a preacher who is losing his faith, two deaths and plenty of mystery of the 'whodoneit' variety. It is interesting to read a book where two dead people are very much central characters and seeing the plot bloom through the memories, observations and reactions of their neighbors. All of these characters just jump off the page, so it's very easy to picture them and think that they are your neighbors too. You become invested in their pain and show more bewilderment even as you try to figure out just what they are NOT telling you. And the ending...the ending is worth losing sleep over because by that point you just HAVE to know the truth! show less

Reverend Stephen Drew watches over his flock in the small Vermont town of Haverill…or does he? When one of his parishioners (Alice Hayward) is strangled by her abusive husband, who then turns a gun on himself (leaving their fifteen year old daughter Katie an orphan), Stephen seems to be wrestling with his faith. But when later the coroner’s office rules George Hayward’s death a homicide, Stephen’s moral character rather than his faith is called into question. Stephen’s life is further complicated by the arrival of Heather Laurent, an author whose obsession with angels feels a little bit out of whack. And Catherine Benincasa, the deputy’s state attorney, is left to sort out all the characters in this small town and unravel show more what exactly happened on the day Alice and George Hayward died.

Chris Bohjalian’s novel, Secrets of Eden, is narrated in the four distinct voices of Stephen, Heather, Catherine, and Katie. This technique allows the reader to see events from very different perspectives and allows for some twists and turns along the way.

It becomes clear early on that the pastor is an unreliable narrator with plenty of secrets. He was one of my least favorite characters in the book. Heather, his romantic interest, is the character who connects all the other characters in the book but I felt she didn’t really move the plot forward…and her connection with angels, although interesting, seemed a bit extraneous. I really enjoyed the section narrated by Catherine who is a tough and smart woman with an unrelenting quest to find the truth. And finally there is Katie, a seemingly typical teen who has suffered through a childhood of violence and uncertainty and finally left parent-less.

None of the characters are exactly as they seem, most harbor secrets or dark pasts.

Thematically, Bohjalian explores the aftermath of domestic violence, betrayal, and the consequences of secrets. Although I figured out the ending about half way through the book, that did not take away my enjoyment of the story.

Bohjalian is a talented storyteller who knows how to reel in a reader. Secrets of Eden will appeal to readers who enjoy heavily plotted books told from multiple viewpoints. I liken Bohjalian’s narrative style to Jodi Picoult who also writes “ripped from the headlines” novels with multiple narrators. show less

I've had it with Chris Bohjalian! I'm not going to waste my time reading him again. When I finished Secrets of Eden, I honestly sighed with relief. Reading this novel was an exercise in irritation and boredom. I'd figured out the ending by the middle of the book and there was almost nothing in the writing, the story, or the characters that compelled me to finish. The only thing that held my attention was keeping track of the author's overt manipulation of his readers by writing notes in the margin of practically every page. There was nothing subtle about this book. The author used every cheap literary trick that exists to keep the reader turning those pages—that is, every trick except the honest good writing skills I know he show more possesses.

With this, his twelfth novel, I'm sure Chris Bohjalian has succeeded quite admirably in turning out a book that will please the great majority of his fan base. If you've enjoyed most of his recent books, there is a good chance you will like this one, too, so ignore my review; I am not trying to reach you. But if you are one of the fans who was touched by his earlier, more literary and subtle books, then I strongly recommend that you skip this one. The structure of this novel is so contrived, the characters are so two-dimensional, the Christian themes so intrusive, I felt not only disappointed, but downright angry.

This book could have been so much more! The book gets two stars simply because I finished it. show less

When a woman and her husband are found dead in an apparent murder-suicide, a quartet of narrators -- the couple’s 15-year-old daughter; the small-town pastor; a writer whose own parents died similarly; and a state’s attorney -- give voice to the lead-up and aftermath and then the death investigation. Each character is intriguingly developed through their own words and the words of the other narrators; each voice is sufficiently distinct and, together, they remind me a bit of Anita Shreve’s Testimony (which I loved).

This is the first novel I’ve read by Bohjalian and I enjoyed his style -- the multiple points of view; the insertion of a mere word or sentence that enlightens and rewrites what came before; and the leaping show more flash-forwards followed by the bit-by-bit of getting there. I’m eager to pursue his backlist.

(Review based on an advance reading copy provided by the publisher.) show less

Secrets of Eden is about the nightmare marriage of George and Alice Hayward that ends in George strangling Alice and shooting himself - or so it seems. Investigators determine that George's death was not suicide, and the first suspect in his death is Alice's pastor, Stephen Drew. If this sounds like a page-turning suspense novel, it is precisely that, but it is also emotionally gripping, and a very sensitive portrayal of domestic violence. Bohjalian effectively uses multiple narrators, including the curiously impassive pastor, the county prosecutor, the New Agey author of angel books, and the Haywards' orphaned daughter. Each narrator tells different aspects of the story, and each casts doubt on the other narrations. I kept reading show more because of the whodunit quality, but I will remember this book because of the emotional truths. Bohjalian, whose Midwives was an Oprah pick, is one of those contemporary male writers who write women very well. show less

The murder-suicide of a couple who were having marital problems shocks a small town in Vermont. The book is told from various points of views as people grapple with this surprising event. The first narrator is Stephen Drew, the local pastor who baptized Alice Hayward on the day she was murdered by her husband. This fact, combined with the previous affair he had with Alice, leaves him wracked with guilt and losing his faith in the aftermath of the murder-suicide. The second narrator, Catherine Benincasa, is a sarcastic attorney who believes that George Hayward didn't commit suicide after killing his wife but was instead murdered by a third person. Heather Laurent, the third narrator, happens to be on a book tour in Vermont the night the show more Haywards were killed and is instantly reminded of her own parents' murder-suicide. The fourth and final narrator is Katie Hayward, the 15-year-old orphan left behind after her parents' apparent murder-suicide. The audio version has a different person doing the voice of each narrator, which is a nice touch for this kind of book. I particularly liked the reader for Stephen Drew as he really delivered the pathos of the character's situation. It seems that a lot of other people felt only so-so about this book, but I really enjoyed it. I think perhaps the audio version with its multiple readers really helped draw me into the book and into each character's perspective. Like with his previous work The Double Bind, there's a surprise twist at the end of the story. However, also like with The Double Bind, you'll probably see it coming. Still, the last sentence was incredibly powerful. Overall, the book is an engrossing and compelling read. show less

This book was totally disappointing. I have enjoyed many of Chris Bohjalian's previous books as he chooses such diverse topics that you learn a lot about as you read the book. I guess the topic he chose to be "interesting" in this book was angels and auras. While angels and auras have no particular appeal to me, I expected that I would "learn" something. In reality, that element was just superfluous fluff that was "filler" rather than a topic you could build a story around--something he did well in Transister Radio, Midwives, and Law of Similars. Bohjalian had a good core concept to work with (apparent murder/suicide of husband and wife) and it had potential to be interesting. Unfortunately the end product left me feeling that I had show more totally wasted my time. None of the characters were compelling in any way--didn't particularly like or care about any of them. On top of that, he chose to tell the same story over and over from each of the four main character's point of view without introducing anything new that we didn't already know. The result was redundant--and tiresome. Two stars is generous. show less