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Reservation Road (Vintage Contemporaries) (Vintage Contemporaries)
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Customer Reviews
Rating:  - Dull, We've Read It Before
A boy is killed by a hit and run driver. The family members blame themselves, disintingration of the home, etc. etc.
This should be a moving story and the characters should be easy to sympathize with, but it's not and they're not. Though written by a male author, he doesnt' succeed in crafting male characters well, much less female characters. The only thing that saves this book is that each section, narrated by a different character, is short, otherwise no single character could hold your attention beyond, say, 3 pages.
What really grates on me is the banal stuff found in so many novels: obnoxious, unreasonable women, tough but tender guys, and perfectly wonderful children. Then there's the typical abuse of the cop, by the victim's parents, during every conversation they have with him. You know how it goes, the cop is a disinterested idiot, the parents are so superior in their grief.......
I just could not sympathize with anyone here, not even the moody violinist kid who was killed. This is a flat but fast read not the worth the list price.
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 was expected to return Sam home sharply at seven. It was already almost nine. He didn't see Josh until it was too late.
But he didn't stop. The impact made Sam scream. Worried that it had somehow redone some of the damage caused by Dwight's own fist (it was an accident but was also totally preventable) years ago, Dwight continued on, wanting to get Sam home even faster now.
Ethan Learner, Josh's father, saw it all happen as he exited the gas station on his way back to the car. But it was dark, so he didn't see the driver, the color of the car, or the license plate. When the policeman at the scene tells him later that it is very possible the driver will never be caught, Ethan decides to pursue his own justice.
For me to go any further with this description would be to give away the closest thing Reservation Road has to a plot twist. It is purely literary fiction, after all, simply disguised as a crime thriller. In fact, after the crime is committed in the first few pages, there is little in the way of "action." What author John Burnham Schwartz does instead is put the reader in the minds of Dwight, Ethan, and Ethan's wife Grace as they go through the aftermath of the tragedy.
I got interested in Reservation Road from seeing the trailer for the recent film adaptation. The premise was intriguing, but I didn't expect a movie to be able to tackle the subject matter with enough depth, so I sought out the book.
It was a stroke of brilliance to have the audiobook of Reservation Road read by three different people. This helps the listener delve even deeper into the individual psyches of the characters. And "individual" is the right word. There is never any chance that the reader is going to get characters confused because Schwartz (or is that Burnham Schwartz?) has created three distinctly different personalities, and he is not clear as to which characters we are supposed to like and which ones deserve our derision.
I used to read a lot of literary fiction, but I stopped because of the popular interest in character over story. Reservation Road is an example of how both can be done well together -- a compelling story with people that really exist, and a level of suspense that is unmatched, primarily because these are people we've come to know intimately.
These are not characters we've seen before in other books. There are books you read, and there are books you live. Reservation Road is one of the latter. It's a book that I believe will stay with me always.
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 after the funeral visitors brought food and sympathy. What happen to these people? That's unbelievable!
I am really surprised at the editor of this book. Since this is only the author's second book. I think he needs to rethink his next one, if he really wants to be a novelist.
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 single visitation day. It had been a good day, the ballgame going into extra innings. He has a horrible past with his ex and his son, having lost control of himself when his ex-wife Ruth first told him of her affair and her intent to divorce him. Dwight his Ruth, then accidentally hit his son who'd come from his room to investigate the sounds of the fight. Dwight is desperate, after years of not being able to see his son at all, to be the father he should be to young Sam. Losing control of his car on Reservation Road, Dwight is the man who hits and kills young Josh Learner, the same age as his own son. (this is not a spoiler, its revealed early in the book. The book isn't a "whodunit" mystery)
The book is written in three POV's (Point of View), Ethan, Grace, and Dwight. The interesting part is that Ethan and Dwight are written in first person, and Grace is written in third person. It works extremely well because Grace becomes so disconnected from real life. While not being a "thriller", there are many tense moments in the book, wondering what our characters are going to do with their thoughts and their lives.
The characters themselves are so fully fleshed out that you'll feel you know them personally. Grace falls into a depression that stops her entire life, Dwight is eaten with guilt and finds himself having more difficulty with his son Sam because of the horrible beast he believes himself to be. Ethan is eaten up with thoughts of revenge, desperate to find his son's killer. The scene where Ethan confronts the police for dropping his son's file into the cold cases is highly emotional and very well written.
'Reservation Road' is an poignant and intimate look into the human psyche after unbelievable tragedy. Coping seems impossible. Each character seems to eat themselves alive through one emotional way or another. Can Grace find her life again? Can Dwight let go of his fear? Can Ethan let go of his horrid anger? I can't recommend this book highly enough. The storyline, the prose, the characterizations are all perfect. The book is a journey through life's most horrid tragedy, seen through the eyes of victim and perpetrator. Its hard to even lay blame here because of all of the characters have their own exposed flaws. The ending will surprise you. It's an ending I had to stop and ponder before writing this review. Whether you consider it climactic or anticlimactic, it will definitely touch your soul.
Again, I highly recommend this book. Enjoy!
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.
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