Customer Reviews

A Season in Purgatory

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This novel is Dunne at his best. In this story Dunne fictionalizes the Martha Moxley murder and shows his strengths as a storyteller. Here Dunne shows he can balance plot as well as charcter development.

This story is told from the point of veiw of Harrison Burns. When Harrison was a teenager he saw his friend Constant Bradley murder the girl next door. Constant's family buys Harrison's silence through the years by paying his college tution and sending him abroad.

However as the years go on Harrison finds it harder to live with what he has seen. These feelings cause the demise of his marriage and general self loathing. Harrison is forced to face off with the Bradley's when they invite him to their home to ask Harrison to write a book about Constant's life.

Along with Harrison's dilema Dunne tells the story of the demise of a family. The skill with which Dunne tells both stories make this book well worth reading. The other to reason to read it is of course, affairs, family battles, and good gossip.

I can't agree with other reviewers that this is "vintage Dunne" or "quintessential Dunne" because this is my first Dominick Dunne book, but it certainly kept my attention for all of its 500-odd pages. The book was recommended to me by a friend who had seen the made-for-TV movie, and it did not disappoint.

Based "loosely" (read obviously) on the Martha Moxley murders, the book is about a friend of the Bradley family, Harrison Burns, who helps the family's favorite son, Constant Bradley, move the body of Winifred Utley, whom he's murdered. Gerald Bradley, who bears a striking resemblance to Joseph Kennedy, buys Harrison's silence, but the book is less about Harrison's struggle with his secret and more about how he got involved with the Bradleys and then later disentangled himself.

The book was written before Michael Skakel went to trial, and I read the trial portion of the book hoping that the book would mirror the real life outcome, justice for all, etc. Ultimately, this book is an indictment of people in power who hush up unsavory incidents to help themselves. Take it with you if you need to stay awake.... you won't want to put it down.

I read this book a few years ago, then again after reading a biography of Ethel Skakel Kennedy. I love Dominick Dunne's "in the know" type prose. He treats the readers like insiders, and the Bradley family like trash. He repeatedly refers to the family in other books, which leads me to want to know more. (In one of his later books, the family cook, it's mentioned all too briefly has killed herself). He does tend to layer a few too many Kennedy scandals in to the family. They aren't supposed to be the Kennedy's but instead the Skakel's. But it just tends to add to the drama and the spirit of the book. A Great Read, and one whose ending will leave you satisfied, but not feeling patronized.

"A Season in Purgatory" by Dominick Dune is, as its paperback cover proclaims, "highly entertaining". I bought the book on a whim because I needed something to keep me from falling asleep at work one evening. There it was...hiding a little too close to those hideous romance novels I avoid like intolerable, little, yippy dogs. Never heard of the author until then. I also tend to shy away from anything that says "now a new miniseries", unless I've heard of the book prior to this announcement. However, what started as a haphazard book choice turned into a captivating, nonproductive night in the customer service office. The more I read the more I wanted to bash in Gerald Bradley's head. Disguted, with his actions I kept trying to put the book down only to be drawn back to see what wonders the Bradley money could bestow upon its surrounding peers next. My disgust evolved to include every member of the Bradley family rather than being soley focused upon Gerald. And three cheers for yet another book that I couldn't predict. Oh, I had a general idea, but I certainly wasn't bored. I was compelled to keep reading and learn exactly what was going on. Based on the qaulity of this book I will be checking out others by Mr. Dunne. This book was well-written and had the ending I was yearning for - made all the ranting as I read worthwhile. Read it!

This was the second time that I read this book and I will read it again. The story was never dull and was very difficult to put down. Between readings, I did lend it to a friend who absolutely hated it and had a hard time getting through it. She said it reminded her too much of a prominent Massachusetts family. I had just thought it was an exceptionally good fiction novel. Upon the second reading, I also saw the similarities to the family but still enjoyed the book and believe the author got his point across.

To make his fictionalization of the Martha Moxley murder sensational, Dominick Dunne not only emphasized the Skakel-Kennedy connection to the original crime but went so far as to heap on thinly-disguised versions of nearly EVERY Kennedy scandal from the past seventy-five years--and on top of that piled it all onto one generational branch! But if you can swallow, then you'll actually have an enjoyable time with A SEASON IN PURGATORY, which actually is extremely hard to put down and entertaining from the get-go. Ignore the repetitive homages to BRIDESHEAD REVISITED (yeah, we get the point that the stories are pretty similar, Mr. Dunne), and instead wallow away in all the secret Kennedy-bashing you've harbored in your heart over the last few decades. A great trashy read.

I thought this book was so well written. Dominick Dunne keeps you interested. I missed my bus stop reading this!

Wow, this was riviting! The real story masked as a novel. Brought back all those scary memories from Greenwich and that mysterious murder in 1975. Did someone get away with murder?

In 1972, Constant Bradley, the son of a wealthy stock market tycoon, bludgeoned his neighbor, Winifred Utley, to death with a baseball bat. His best friend, Harrison "Harry" Burns, a less wealthy young man, helped him move the body, making himself an accomplice. After that, Harrison can't bare to continue his friendship with Constant. But, after almost 20-yearsof keeping his distance, and building himself up as a successful true crime author, Harrison meets up with Kitt Bradley (the youngest Bradley child), and begins having an affair with her. Leading to his first meeting with the Bradley family in 2 decades. That's when he decides to come clean. But the Bradley's will do anything to shut him up. Including murder.

This is an excellent novel, based loosely on the death and murder of Martha Moxley, who was taken at the young age of 15, by the hands of a mentally disturbed Kennedy, known as Michael Skakel. This is a must-read for all fans of true crime, and novels revolving around the lifestyles of the rich and the famous.

Erika Sorocco

I avoided this book for a long time, under the mistaken belief that it was just another potboiler, taking advantage of a tragedy to make a bestseller. Not so, I found upon reading it. In fact, the book is based only loosely on the Moxley murder and has a life all its own. The relationship the sometime narrator has with an obscenely wealthy, powerful, immoral family is far more interesting than the murder, which is at the center of the narrative. Dunne does not come across as a great novelist, if one judges him by his TV interviews. This book is not at all befuddled. Dunne knew exactly what he was doing with every word.