Customer Reviews

The Raven

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

 

 

(More like four-and-a-half stars) It's a shame that this book has not received the exposure it deserves. Peter Landesman has crafted a careful exploration of small-town tragedy and loss, set against the backdrop of the rugged coast of Maine. Having lived in the Orr's/Bailey Island region in the past, I was already well-familiar with the area (though not with the real historical events on which the book is based); Landesman does a phenomenal job capturing the landscape and its people without sounding too much like an outsider looking in. The prose is, at times, astounding--it's remarkable to think "The Raven" is Landesman's first novel; there are subtle echoes here of Faulkner and Joyce, but the style is uniquely the author's own. Most impressive is his ability to draw with painstaking detail the inner lives of his characters, from brooding Ezra to ghost-plagued Mavis, while maintaining an intricate, fascinating plot. This book combines the haunting atmosphere of David Guterson's "Snow Falling on Cedars" and the quiet dignity of Russell Banks' tale of small-town tragedy, "The Sweet Hereafter," and is every bit as good as either of those books. I strongly recommend "The Raven."

Life in Rehoboth and the surrounding islands off of southern Maine has always been difficult and tenuous at best. The islands are peopled by those who are used to working hard for a living, taking their livelihood from the sea during days and nights of long and difficult labor. But for the people of Rehoboth, 1941 is the year that everything changes-- for the worse.

The Raven (1995) by Peter Landesman focuses upon the mystery of the Raven and the impact its mysterious disappearance has on a town and a number of lives, especially that of Ezra Johnson who, at the age of nine helps his father fish so many of the drowned bodies out of the sea like so many lobster. For the town, the unknown fate of the Raven is like a curse. For Ezra who was "there and handled those bodies" and was "a part of it," eleven year later he has to face the fact that the event has had an impact upon him whether he knows it or not. The Raven is more than a well researched, well written mystery. Among his accomplishments with the novel, Landesman brings to life the sea in a brutally de-romanticized fashion. Landesman paints for us a harsh, uncaring environment in which men labor a lifetime only to see tragedy dog their footsteps and to die poor and worn out-- if they live that long.

With The Raven, first-time author Peter Landesman has created a tantalizing puzzle which won him the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction in 1996 from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The final chapter of The Raven brings the novel to a chilling conclusion filled with all sorts of irony: for the skipper of the boat, for the passengers, for the friends and family left behind, for those who have so long held secrets and suffered dearly for it, and for the reader. It is to Landesman's credit as an effectual writer that, as they begin the final chapter, readers will feel a real conflict of emotions: eager to finally have the mystery revealed, but not really wanting to know the truth because, as we have learned along the way, with the truth there comes a price. The Raven ends with a vivid, unforgettable finale that will haunt readers well after they have put the book down.

I liked this book right from the start, with its description of the Oxford Paper Company plunked in the middle of the Androscoggin River. When, as a teenager, I lived in the town next to "Rehoboth," the mill would send its sulfurous smell over our way if the wind was right, and then you knew a storm was brewing. I confess that while I lived in Maine, I never learned very much about the much-earlier events fictionalized in "The Raven" except that my beloved English teacher had lost both her parents in that disaster. The novel thus evokes a lot of nostalgia.

This is a very good first novel. Landesman offers bright images and crafts descriptions and settings well. He shows the skill to be a topnotch writer, although this work falls short in the end--literally. I found his proposal for the cause of the disaster rather contrived and unconvincing. That, together with the occasional flat passage and lapse in the plot, ultimately left me disappointed. But I look forward to reading more of Landesman, and I am grateful for "The Raven."--Jim Ruark.

This riveting tale should be required reading for every tourist who visits Maine, all recipients of pastoral Maine postcards, or anyone who believes in Vacationland license plates. By turns inspiring and bleak, Peter Landesmann's expansion on a true-life disaster set on the coast of Maine offers clear-eyed depictions of the lives of fishermen and mill-town workers struggling to survive the choices they have made. The mysterious disappearance of a charter boat filled with families serves as the centerpiece, and Landesmann spins his story with sharp prose, delightful turns of phrase, and stunningly accurate depictions of life in a company town and an island fishing community. Be prepared for many late nights, and take the time to reread chapters for the sheer joy of Landesmann's language

Leave yourself some long periods to knock this one off quickly -- it drags along for a large section in the middle. Being from Rumford, or "Rehoboth," I was intrigued to learn of actual hometown history. It prompted me to research the incident. Raven was reviewed very positively on National Public Radio in late summer/fall 1996 and it deserves the praise. Very interesting historically-based fiction. Tom Patterson Minneapolis

This is an exceptional book -- and phenomenal as a debut novel. The prose style does sometimes expose itself, but I think it's a deliberate device rather than new-novelist pretentiousness -- it brings the reader up short, makes you look around and reconsider what you've just read because there are also elements of haunting and of lull in the writing that need to pulled away from -- or the reader could get lost like the The Raven. Tragic, angry, wistful, desparing, mysterious, wry -- this is a seriously good book that deserves a wide readership.

I just finished the Raven, by Peter Landesman. I'm pretty sure that I got the gist of it, but some very significant aspects of the story were still fuzzy even after I had finished. This was illustrated most unclearly to me in regard of the numerous families of the mill town of Rehoboth who lost relatives of the Raven. Also having lived in immedite proximity to Bailey Island, Orrs, and Great/ Sebascodegan Island, I found some of Landesman's geographical descption to be a stretch. The places that he mentions are readily identifiable on a chart, but are not possibly reached in the succesuion that he describes his characters as doing. This is understandable, the story still flowed nicely. For me, the most enjoyable aspect of this book was Landesman's use of similie and metaphor. Dull areas in the plot were made interesting and profound by his artful coparisons.

Having read the previous reviews, I wonder if I read the same book; or should I say bookS plural. I got 150pp into the story before giving up since I couldn't figure out what a paper mill and its pollution had to do with the disappearance of a boatload of daytrippers. Pulled up these reviews, and about 2 months later, tried once more, and fm page 1. Still no joy. Author seemed to have at least 3 possibly great stories...but I never got the connections, if any. Some time you get the bear, and sometimes he gets you. Caveat Emptor.

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