Customer Reviews

Off for the Sweet Hereafter: A Novel

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

 

 

I once had nothing to read except a copy of SWEET HEREAFTER someone left at my place. My pre-reading attitude was "okay, little book, I'll read you tonight until I can get a new GOOD book tomorrow." Needless to say, I finished SWEET HEREAFTER before moving on to something else.

Mr. Pearson is, well, hilarious. He has a clear perception of his fellow human beings, so when he describes us and our behavior and our thoughts, he doesn't need to embellish or exaggerate to get the reader to laugh out loud - after all, we all do pretty freaking funny stuff every day. Another plus is Pearson's characters - they are incredibly well developed and 3 dimensional. Readers will almost surely come to love just about every person populating this book, in some way or another.

One reviewer here calls this the "worst book" ever and says it lacks a plot. I compare Pearson to Faulkner for 2 HUGE reasons: like Faulkner, Pearson writes of everyday, rural, Southerners, and like Faulkner, Pearson is a master of the un-ending, rambling, gambling, juking & jangling sentence. (Both writers use periods sparingly, but are liberal with their dashes, commas, and colons.) Such a writing style does take more focus to get used to than 99.999% of other novelists' "normal" styles. Having spent all my life in either the South or the Midwest, I state flat out that rural Americans tend to be extremely relaxed when telling a story or relating events they are familiar with (either first-hand or via gossip), so they tell their tales in a slow, meandering way with plenty of digressions for bits completely unrelated to the story at hand, but fascinating nonetheless. Like Faulkner, Pearson is a master of presenting just this sort of narrative, and there will always be those who demand a super-slick, fast paced plot with no diversions, and they'll want that done in 6 to 9 word sentences. Such readers will most likely dislike the works of Pearson & Faulkner intensely, but for those of you who are open to a writing style as unique as they come, you will undoubtedly enjoy SWEET HEREAFTER immensely, for all the joy and laughs it gives you.

That next morning, when I had planned to go buy another book to read instead of SWEET HEREAFTER, I still went to the bookstore. I bought copies of 2 other Pearson books, because even though I was only about 120 pages into SWEET HEREAFTER, I knew I'd want to read more Pearson.

This is a book that makes you want to wrestle people to the ground so you can read it outloud to them. In my mind the narrator always sounds like Arlo Guthrie doing Alice's Restraunt. From the page-and-a-half-long opening sentence, Pearson rambles in a seemingly aimless manner that belies the method in his madness. Seamless, this is American fiction at its best.

Pearson plays with language and plot like a baby plays with food. The result is big fun. Think Gertrude Stein channeling Garrison Keillor. Wild, dense, rich and homey.

I read this a few years ago because I thought it was a different book. It was a happy accident. Pearson has an original style. His book flows with very little punctuation like the mind of someone on his fifth cup of coffee. He writes of southern life as a southerner. He can poke fun, but it's in good fun. He cares about his characters, and because of that we do too. This book is at times hilarious, at times dark, at times touching. I disagree with the review that said this book has no plot. There's plenty of plot here. Much of it just happens inside the characters.

This was my third, possibly fourth, time through this wonder of a book, which is one of my all-time favorites. When I read this book many years ago, I rated 'Off for the Sweet Hereafter" five stars: I don't see any reason to change that now.

It's the story of a crime wave ---- but you might as well say that "Moby Dick" is the story of a whale. The book opens with the words---

"That was the summer we lost the bald Jeeter..."

They are followed by many other words before the first full stop is reached.

This book is about the writing, which is exuberant and rich, and sounds (to my Yankee ear) pitch perfect. This book is about the characters --- the Jeeter sisters, the Lynches, the widow ladies of Neely, a motley work crew hired to relocate the dead, and many other characters too numerous to mention but too vivid to forget. The book is laugh-out-loud funny (a rare thing in a book), perceptive, and humane. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It will not be everyone's cup of tea, but for me is the perfect brew.

This is a book that makes you want to wrestle people to the ground so you can read it outloud to them. In my mind the narrator always sounds like Arlo Guthrie doing Alice's Restraunt. From the page-and-a-half-long opening sentence, Pearson rambles in a seemingly aimless manner that belies the method in his madness. Even the rambling tale of Mrs. Askew's woes with her front gutters leads back to the horse-faced gunman in the turd-colored jacket.

Seamless, this is American fiction at its best.

This book has no plot. While I will give Pearson credit for having a unique writing style, his plot and character development skills are virtually non-existent. I never put a book down until I finish it, but I have never struggled more to finish a novel than when I read this one. It ranks as the worst book that I have ever read...hands down.