The Bright Forever

A confessional type of whodunit... narrated by several people from small town Indiana about the disappearance of 9-year-old Katie Mackey one lovely summer evening when she rides off on her bike to return her library books. The book takes place in the early 70s -- idyllic years of childhood freedom and the taken-for-granted safety of a town where everyone knows you -- references abound to music, clothing styles, cars, and current events allowing the reader to be grounded in the time period. Despite the appearance of normalcy and status quo, there are many undercurrents in town about changing social mores, class, and status. Multiple people are culpable in Katie's abduction: as the author states: "where does responsibility start and end?" show more Not only are present situations to blames, but past sins linger too. Despite the difficult-to-read subject matter, the story is beautifully, almost poetically written with reflection and honesty and the reader feels privileged to be in the know. show less

On a beautiful July evening, nine-year-old Katie Mackey disappears on her way to the library. And our hearts break.

I just don't know where to start. It's hard not to compare this to Alice Sebold's [b:The Lovely Bones|536|The Lovely Bones|Alice Sebold|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41NcSBtUe1L._SL75_.jpg|1145090], but there's a huge difference. As I remember it, The Lovely Bones dealt with the family's grieving process through the years following Susie's death. The Bright Forever follows the immediate aftermath of Katie's disappearance. All the rage, despair, hope, shame, suspicions, and "what if"s are examined in this book.

And then it goes a step farther. At the very end is something of a call to action. The last narrator (there show more are several) says,

     "And what about the ones that evening who saw us come and go...and never for an instant thought there might be something wrong?
     The problem is this: how many of us were there who could have done something to stop what was going to happen? Where does responsibility start and end?"

"We thought we were all free: free from work, from chores, from one another."

     "'He always looked like he was carrying the world on his back. I'd see him around town, and my heart would break.'
     'Did you ever tell him that?' I asked her. 'Tell him that you saw him, that you felt something about what it was to have his kind of life?'
     'I can't recall ever saying a word.'
     'He might have liked to have heard it.'"

What could be prevented if we just noticed each other? Not even just crimes. Maybe the neglected little boy wouldn't grow up to be the twisted man if someone had noticed his pain when he was younger. Just noticing. How hard is it, really? And yet we seldom do it.

I can't say that the characters were developed all that well, but I believe this was on purpose. They became archetypes. If they had each had too much of their own personality, they would have only been a character in a book. As it is, it's all too easy to see your neighbor, your co-worker, your child, or even yourself. And that ultimately makes the story pack a harder punch.

I have to say that there was one little thing that drove me crazy. I swear they talk about Katie's gorgeous brown hair. My husband and I agree that the lock of hair on my cover is blond. I think the idea for the cover was great, but I wish they had gotten that detail right.

I'm tempted to say that parents of young children might want to steer clear of this novel. It's every parent's worst nightmare. But in a way, it teaches you to appreciate every moment you have with your family. So I'll leave it up to each reader reading this review. You know what you can handle. This isn't an easy book to read by any means, but it definitely left me thinking. show less

Early in Lee Martin’s The Bright Forever, one of the narrators says “I warn you: this is a story as hard to hear as it is for me to tell.” You may dismiss that when you first sit down to read the book, but it's true. This is a story that will stay with me for a long time, and it was a hard one for me to read even while it sucked me in and didn’t let me go. The Bright Forever is a story of choices and turning points -- so of course it’s a story of guilt too. Told through the eyes of different characters as they remember the events that led up to and followed the disappearance of nine-year-old Katie Mackey, all of the narrators feel in some way responsible for the story’s outcome.

Lee Martin’s writing is spare but beautiful show more -- each word seems chosen carefully to build his characters while crafting a book that is as tragic a tale as I’ve read in a while. As always when I’m reading something by Martin, what strikes me is his ability to make his characters heartbreakingly real in what seems to be an effortless manner. Even the most periphery people in the story are multidimensional – characters you’re liable to recognize from your own hometown with all of their flaws, secrets, and regrets wrapped into seemingly simple lives.

One of the most beautiful and poignant quotes in The Bright Forever comes from Clare – a woman others in the story view as quite ordinary, but whose observations constantly grabbed me and left me scrambling for a pen so I could come back to them when the story was done. In dealing with life after a loss, Clare says, “But always there’s that glimmer of light – the way of living you once knew – sort of faded and smoky like the crescent moon on a winter’s night when the air is full of ice and clouds, but still there, hanging just over your head. You think it’s not far. You think at any moment you can reach out and grab it.” That sense of possibilities just out of reach is one that permeates this novel and builds until you get to the end and join the characters in the book in thinking “if only.” show less

Lee Martin's novel, The Bright Forever, is captivating. It grabs the reader by the throat and compels them to continue reading despite knowing that the end will not be a happy one. Martin uses multiple points of view to tell the story of nine year old Katie Mackey who disappears one bright day in her small Indiana town. At once horrifying and far too real, the novel reveals what happened to Katie through the senses of its various characters. The reader will feel like a voyeur while watching the story unfold - much like the ravenous public in today's world who watch hours of footage revealing the latest headline tragedy.

Henry Dees, a private tutor who has been teaching Katie and become obsessed with her, is the primary narrator. He show more appears both cunning and painfully lost and by the end of the novel, the reader will question his reliability to tell the truth. Henry, along with all the characters, harbor secrets which they reveal as the story unfolds.

Well-crafted, suspenseful, a real page-turner - The Bright Forever will be a novel not easily forgotten.

Recommended. show less

What a great story!!! It takes place somewhere around 1960 in a small town, any small town will do. The writer plants us firmly there and then by the many references to news, products, songs and attitudes that were abundant at that time in history. It was a time when something like this could and did happen, certainly a more trusting and complacent time. Told through the eyes and memories of the people actually involved, chapter by chapter, each voice haunting, each narrative riviting, the tension builds steadily. I felt I was there. Myself, one of the many townspeople that experienced this sad saga firsthand, only more so, given the insight into every thought and motive. How we all wish at various times in our lives, that we could go show more back and change the subtile timing of events to alter the destructive course that follows. How we wish that in this story!!! Regardless, all the pieces fell togethter as they did and the momentum was unstoppable. I could NOT put this book down!!! Until the truth is finally revealed, a surprise, in the final chapter. I only wish ALL books could be this well done! BRAVO! show less

In a small rural Indiana town a little girl disappears. The mystery of who took her and why unravels in a relatively unique manner. Most novels of this sort are narrated by at lead detective or some other "hero." In The Bright Forever, the narrators are the three "guilty" parties. Guilt in this instance is defined broadly to include not only her actual abductor(s), but also her brother whose irritated tattling sent her out of the house that night.

It was an intriguing book and I enjoyed reading it, but it didn’t speak to me all that deeply. I was most interested in Katie’s brother, Gilley, who must deal with his guilt over the childish tattling that cost Katie her life. Mr. Dees was just creepy and sad; I know he was supposed to be a compelling character, but he didn’t grab me. Gilley is interesting, too, for his relationship with his father. Junior doesn’t think much of his son, who turned down a job at the family glass works in order to work at JC Penney, dressing mannequins and folding shirts perfectly. Gilley isn’t gay; he’s just fussy. It is to prove himself in some way to his father that he goes along the night that Ray dies, and perhaps grows a bit closer to show more his father. show less