Customer Reviews

Blameless: A Novel

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I loved this book! Mary is a 34-year old divorcee, strong, athletic, living in the same small town where she grew up, driving the school bus, and having Sunday dinners (every Sunday night!) with her Mom and sisters. And is now anxiously awaiting the upcoming trial of Jen Colby's mother when she must testify to finding the little girl's dead boy in a closet. Mary cannot recall seeing any signs of abuse of Jen, the six-year-old who rode her bus, yet the "Night Visitor" shows up and greatly disturbs her sleep. Reardon's writing is compelling as Mary's story unfolds, revealing other issues she has suppressed in her life. I came to love Mary and feel her story ends on a huge note of hope. She has shown us that our friendships and relationships require attention and responsibility and can survive the truth.

A recent review of Blameless said it was complex in its simplicity. How true. Lisa takes seemingly simple people, in seemingly simple settings and through her masterful use of language and storytelling ability, reveals all the complexity of the human experience. She has created characters so real you know them, whether you live in a small town in northern Michigan or a Los Angela suburb. We recognize these people; we identify with them, we root for them, and ultimately learn from them. I loved this book; and like other well loved story's I didn't want it to end. I wanted to stick around Kassauaga and find out what happens to Mary and Julianna and all the rest. I look forward to more of Reardon's haunting, funny, heartbreaking, compelling prose.

While I agree with the other reviewers that this is a well-written book with characters that we care about, no one has given readers a true sense of how difficult a book it is. It's difficult because so many of the characters are in pain and doing the wrong things for the wrong reasons.

While we get a sense by the end of the book that Mary and Amy are beginning to make smarter choices, there's certainly no happily-ever-after here.

As with Billy Dead, I again found myself wholly captured by Lisa Reardon's new novel. The story of Blameless concerns Mary Culpepper's attempts to come to terms with her past, both with her family and with her best friend, who is married to Mary's ex-husband. Each scene crackles with a tension and intensity that is both captivating and completely believable. The book creates a world that is as compelling as it is real.

Blameless is the story of Mary Culpeper, a bus driver living in a small town in Michigan. Mary is a strong woman - she lives alone, plays softball, and enjoys nights out at her favorite bar. However, as the book begins, she feels as though she is losing her strength. Mary is awaiting a murder trial. She is not the defendant, but the witness for the prosecution, expected to tell how she found the body of a small child on her bus route. Her distress at the impending trial is disturbing her sleep, and causing her to do things very out-of-character, such as beginning an affair with a married man.

Ultimately, this is a book about Mary's search for truth. She must face up to the truth about what happened to the murdered girl, her family's past, and the importance of relationships to her. This search for truth is, in the end very compelling, and an important read for anyone looking for similar things in their life.

The protaganist of this novel is not your typical contempory women's lit heroine. And that is wonderfully intriguing and entertaining. She drinks beer, loves her car, paints her own house, prefers her own company, and likes rough sex. But she's also very, very depressed. With good reasons, as we come to find out.

The book is a rather dark read but compelling. It deals with an issue too much with us these days. And ultimately asks us to consider the damage of family secrets and lies. Not just to the family members but the community at large.

I ran across this book by sheer chance and I'm glad I did. I found the cover design entirely misleading, however. It is much to feminized and wishy washy. Something this novel definitely is not.

Again, Ms. Reardon has given us a thought provoking read in her new book Blameless. She makes you feel as if you are living the lives of her characters. I could not put the book down until the end, then wanted more. An excellent writer.

I found I couldn't put this book down. The main character wasso real, I felt she could easily be someone I knew. Ms. Reardon is anexcellent story-teller. She takes small events of daily life, and quickly cuts to the emotions of the moment. Her characters have such dimension; they're so complex, yet comfortable. I highly recommend this book. It's a GREAT read.

Dark and psychological, Blameless takes us deeply into the life and the thoughts of one woman, Mary Culpepper. Culpepper is a bus driver and a woman living a rather circumscribed life. But when the death of a little girl occurs, Culpepper begins to lose those nice safe walls. The secrets that Culpepper holds are revealed in the course of this novel.

Highly recommended because of the excellent evocative writing. Mary Culpepper seems like a real person.

You can get a sense of the plot from the other reviews; what stands out the most is how no word is wasted. Every dialogue mirrors how people really speak; each character could be someone you know. The pictures the author paints are so real you're sure you've met these folks before. The old adage for writing is "show, don't tell"---and this book SHOWS so vividly how the truth can set you free if only you can gather the inner strength to face it. I'd love to see it on Oprah ...