Book Review
Title: Mystic River
Author: Dennis Lehane
Publication: 2001
Genre: Crime
Like with Faulkner, I've long intended to read something by Dennis Lehane. I've seen the film adaptation of this novel, as well as that of Gone, Baby, Gone, Shutter Island, and his short story "Animal Rescue," which was adapted into the film The Drop, and subsequently turned into a novel of the same name. All four of these films were enjoyable, and I have a bizarre preference for watching the movie version of a novel prior to reading the novel, as I think it makes the text more exciting when you have a distinct picture of the narrative in your head. Perhaps I lack imagination, but I've found this strategy works well with Cormac McCarthy novels-turned-films, and since Lehane's stories share the themes of crime and depravity, I figured Mystic River would be a fun read - and it was. The novel's three main characters, childhood friends Sean Devine, Dave Boyle, and Jimmy Marcus, are well-developed and Lehane does an excellent job of making the reader equally ambivalent to each man; that is, each character has his unique balance of positive and negative traits that makes him neither protagonist nor antagonist. It's evident Lehane, a Boston native, grew up around these types of guys. There's a personal touch you don't ordinarily get with best-selling, prolific crime novelists like Michael Connelly, not that his work isn't entertaining. If the story has a hero it's Devine, the only one of the three not to have committed murder, but he's portrayed as over-privileged and a sell out to his community and roots, and in his apparent disconnection with the neighborhood he grew up in, he's slow to close the case on the murder of Marcus' daughter, which (spoiler alert) indirectly causes the death of Boyle at Marcus' hands. Lehane's writing style isn't anything special, but there's a brilliance and dignity in its efficiency and earnestness. Put simply, it's a novel about blue-collar people written in blue-collar language and form. I'll definitely be back for more, and I recommend this for all readers.
Author: Dennis Lehane
Publication: 2001
Genre: Crime
Like with Faulkner, I've long intended to read something by Dennis Lehane. I've seen the film adaptation of this novel, as well as that of Gone, Baby, Gone, Shutter Island, and his short story "Animal Rescue," which was adapted into the film The Drop, and subsequently turned into a novel of the same name. All four of these films were enjoyable, and I have a bizarre preference for watching the movie version of a novel prior to reading the novel, as I think it makes the text more exciting when you have a distinct picture of the narrative in your head. Perhaps I lack imagination, but I've found this strategy works well with Cormac McCarthy novels-turned-films, and since Lehane's stories share the themes of crime and depravity, I figured Mystic River would be a fun read - and it was. The novel's three main characters, childhood friends Sean Devine, Dave Boyle, and Jimmy Marcus, are well-developed and Lehane does an excellent job of making the reader equally ambivalent to each man; that is, each character has his unique balance of positive and negative traits that makes him neither protagonist nor antagonist. It's evident Lehane, a Boston native, grew up around these types of guys. There's a personal touch you don't ordinarily get with best-selling, prolific crime novelists like Michael Connelly, not that his work isn't entertaining. If the story has a hero it's Devine, the only one of the three not to have committed murder, but he's portrayed as over-privileged and a sell out to his community and roots, and in his apparent disconnection with the neighborhood he grew up in, he's slow to close the case on the murder of Marcus' daughter, which (spoiler alert) indirectly causes the death of Boyle at Marcus' hands. Lehane's writing style isn't anything special, but there's a brilliance and dignity in its efficiency and earnestness. Put simply, it's a novel about blue-collar people written in blue-collar language and form. I'll definitely be back for more, and I recommend this for all readers.
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