Ordinary Grace
Something struck my fancy on p. 245 of William Kent
Krueger’s 2013 novel titled Ordinary Grace. The main character says: “I
lay in bed that night more confused than ever. Too many things had happened in
the day.” Now Krueger is a fine storyteller and an evocative descriptor of the weather,
the colors, and the very smells of mid-western river towns, but he just seems
to give his thirteen year old hero too many burdens too fast to convince me
that all this could happen or should to one kid in such a short time span.
Thirteen year old Frank and his brother Jake, a stutterer, live in a Minnesota
river town in 1961. His father is the local preacher and his mother is a not so
happy woman who thought she was marrying a bright young lawyer before he
returned from “the war” a changed man and went off to divinity school instead.
The tragedies mount fast and furious in that summer and
Frank, when he is not included in the adult’s lives, is an inveterate eavesdropper
on their conversations—most of which he can barely understand. The story ultimately
hinges on who is the murderer of Frank and Jake’s older sister--Ariel. There
are twists and turns aplenty before the real villain is found, but I just don’t
think, even though the narrator is the adult Frank looking back on his
childhood, he would have been quite so involved and philosophical about the events
as he seems to be. Frank often seems to be more
a nosey little brat constantly egging his brother into more trouble and as such doesn't make me like him a lot of the time.
Publicity for Krueger often seems to mention his series of
crime novels. I have not tried one of those and may pick one up in the future.
Right now I give this one a 2.5 out of 5.
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