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Reservation Road (Vintage Contemporaries) (Vintage Contemporaries)
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780307388322
ISBN: 0307388328
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 384
Publication Date: September 25, 2007
Publisher: Vintage
Release Date: September 25, 2007
Studio: Vintage
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Editorial Review:
"Explain this to me: One minute there is a boy, a life thrumming with possibilities, and the next there are marked cars and strangers in uniform and the fractured whirling lights. And that, suddenly, is all the world has to offer." This is the voice of Ethan Learner, a college professor who has just watched his 10-year-old son, Josh, die in a hit-and-run accident on a silent Connecticut road.
John Burnham Schwartz's Bicycle Days (1989) received favorable reviews but seemed very much an autobiographical first novel. His second fiction, Reservation Road, however, is a book that resists genres: a tragedy where all the characters are flawed and none are entirely guilty; a thriller where the killer, Dwight, wants to be caught but is too laden with self-loathing to turn himself in; and an experimental novel where the narrative jumps gracefully among three perspectives.
In the opening pages Schwartz establishes strong connections between fathers and sons. Moments before the accident Ethan watches his son standing precariously close to the curb; he sees possibilities in Josh, a shy boy whose musical gifts indicate a sensitivity that is no less present, though more mature, in his father. At the same time, Dwight and his son, Sam (also 10), are rushing home from an extra-innings Red Sox game where Dwight tries to rebuild the fragments of attachment left after a bitter divorce. Schwartz reveals depth in simple gestures--a hand, for example, placed in a hand, only to be self-consciously pulled away. Dwight drives on after hitting Josh, though he slows in a moment of hesitation in which Ethan hears him calling "Sam" or "Sham"--he's not sure which. Out of grief, and with only scattered clues, Ethan begins his quiet pursuit of the killer, a pursuit that fuels the novel to its poetic conclusion. In Reservation Road, John Burnham Schwartz has crafted a lasting work of literature, a page-turner that's also a rich character study. --Patrick O'Kelley
Reservation Road is a chilling tale of the emotional fallout that follows the hit-and-run murder of a 10-year-old boy. Each chapter of this abridged version is read by one of three different narrators. Actor John Shea plays the part of Ethan Learner, a college professor who witnesses his son's death. Shea's methodical, melancholy tones accurately portray a man desperately searching for the unknown killer. Stanley Tucci (Deconstructing Harry) reads for Dwight Arno, a deeply damaged man who's torn between turning himself in for the crime and saving his own hide. Tucci's raspy and forthright delivery fits Arno's self-loathing nature. Despite his animated interactions with the other actors, Tucci's character is quite believable. Meanwhile, TV actress Anne Twomey reads the part of Grace, Ethan's wife. Her soft-spoken, deeply pained monologues give balance to a story that focuses primary on the emotions of two men. These distinct, varied tones swiftly carry the listener through this harrowing tale of murder, lies, and revenge. (Running time: three hours, two cassettes) --Gina Kaysen
A cycle of violence and retribution is set in motion as two haunted men are engulfed by the emotions surrounding an unexpected and horrendous death.Ethan, a respected professor at a small New England college, is wracked by an obsession for revenge that threatens to tear his family apart. Dwight, fleeing his crime yet hoping to get caught, wrestles with overwhelming guilt and his sense of obligation to his son. As these two men's lives unravel, Reservation Road moves to its startling conclusion.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - The literary side of crime fiction
Sunday, July 24, 1994. 8:45 PM...
Waiting for his family to come out of the gas station where they stopped to let his little sister Emma go to the bathroom, ten-year-old Josh Learner stood by the side of Reservation Road. Then a car came around the curve and knocked Josh thirty feet into the nearby shrubbery.
Local attorney Dwight Arno was in a hurry. The Red Sox game he had taken his (also ten-year-old) son Sam to went into extra innings. As Sam's noncustodial parent, he ... Read More
Rating:  - Reservation Road
I don't usually write reviews.
I've not hated a book as much as I hated this book.
The characters in this books live in the 21st century?
Of-course the author's intention is to present a tragic situation.
And it surely is, but how can any reader suspend believe that these people live in a fairly educated environment, yet none of them have friends to comfort them in some way and care for them? No one came to visit after the tragic death of a boy?
The author mentioned ... Read More
Rating: - Deeply emotional novel of life's greatest pain
The world shatters in a single instant. One moment ten-year-old Josh Learner is standing beside the road, the next moment he's dead, the victim of a hit and run driver. His father Ethan observes the devastating accident. Ethan's wife Grace and daughter Emma are in the restroom of the rural gas station. The dark colored car continues on into the night, leaving behind a tragic death that must be dealt with from all sides.
Dwight Arno is late returning his son back to his mother on his ... Read More
Rating: - Reservation Road
Though the subject matter of this book was very tragic I still enjoyed this book tremendously. The author taking each of these characters and letting you see into their minds,hearts, and souls, is what really fuels this book after then initial tragedy. The book flows really well and it is an easy read. I can't wait to see the movie which will be released on dvd Jan. 22nd.
Rating: - "It required a state of suspended disbelief. Otherwise you might go insane..."
It really takes a lot for a book to really grip me these days, especially since I have the awful habit of starting a lot of books and never finishing. Nine out of ten times it's no fault of the writer, mind you. I end up seeing something else at the bookstore and want to start that as opposed to finishing the current book I'm reading. I found no such problem with "Reservation Road" by John Burnham Schwartz, as the book completely hooked me in from the first page. It's a heartbreaking and surprisingly ... Read More
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