The Life Before Her Eyes (Paperback)

~ (Author) "IT WAS ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL DAY IN A PERFECT LIFE: June again, and all the brilliance that came with it..." (more)
Key Phrases: monkey pit, Sister Beatrice, Briar Hill, Nate Witt (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This third novel by Michigan author Kasischke (Suspicious River) opens with a shocking scene from a Columbine-like school massacre. Diana and her best friend are confronted by a schoolmate killer, but only Diana is spared. Fast-forward 20 years: Diana, now middle-aged and still beautiful, is a housewife and artist living in the same idyllic university town with a handsome professor-husband and a young daughter. She has seemingly repressed her memory of the event as well as her survivor's guilt, but her perfect world and her grip on reality are both starting to crack. These scenes are imbued with that sense of eerie apprehension found in a good horror flick. Woven through the book is a flashback narrative of Diana's sunny but empty-headed adolescent days. The novel plays teenage Diana's youthful illusions of immortality and beauty against the shifting, uneasy reality of middle age. Kasischke, also a published poet, writes prose that is dreamy and lyrical. This is one book you won't want to put down. Highly recommended for all popular fiction collections.
- Reba Leiding, James Madison Univ., Harrisonburg, VA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Disturbing fiction (Suspicious River 1996, and White Bird in a Blizzard, 1999) is fast becoming prizewinning poet Kasischke's hallmark. Her third novel opens with a haunting scene set in the girls' washroom of a high school. Diana is goofing in front of the mirror with her best friend, Maureen, "when they hear the first dot-dot-dot of automatic gunfire. It sounds phony and far away." They are eventually confronted by the gunman, a fellow classmate whom "they'd never even really noticed." He asks them a terrible question, "Which one of you girls should I kill?" Kasischke then juxtaposes scenes from 17-year-old Diana's life with scenes from her apparent future as a 40-year-old wife and mother. In the final chapter, however, the author ambushes the reader with a shocking revelation about Diana's fate. Whether the novel is viewed as a cheap narrative trick (there will be plenty of readers crying foul) or an imaginative exploration, there's no denying that Kasischke is a fearless writer. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Harvest Books (November 11, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156027127
• ISBN-13: 978-0156027120
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #47,761 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A compelling and haunting story..., January 22, 2003

By	Dianna Johnston "Compulsive Reader" (Joplin, MO) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Life Before Her Eyes (Hardcover)

I was totally blown away by this book! My local book club chose The Life Before Her Eyes for our monthly selection, and I can't wait to discuss it with everyone. The writing was pure poetry, and the story captivated me from the very beginning. And the ending was one that I did not expect.

The Life Before Her Eyes begins with two best friends, Diana and Maureen, as they are primping in the girls' restroom at their high school. Suddenly, one of their classmates comes in and points a loaded gun straight at them. "Which one of you should I kill?" he asks....

At that point, the story takes off around 25 years into the future. Diana is a happily married artist and mother of 8-year-old Emma. She is the typical minivan-driving soccer mom. Everything is going well, but then there begins these subtle changes -- changes almost of a ghostly nature that impact Diana's life in terrifying ways. And interspersed between the paragraphs of Diana's future are excerpts from Diana's past with her friend, Maureen, before the shooting.

I was completely mesmerized with this book. I felt that something was building up, some sort of surprise or twist to the story, but I could quite figure out what it would be. And by novel's end, I was so out of breath with the anticipation! Laura Kasischke has written an amazing novel. She has a great gift of storytelling that is unshakeable. I loved every minute and every word, and I look forward to reading more by this author.

35 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Too all that are confused and/or unsatisfied with this novel, May 27, 2006

By	Matt (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews

Personally, I found this novel very entertaining and thought provoking. It was also one of the novels assigned in my Enlish Literature class last semester.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
To all that are unsure of the ending. My professor knows the author, and Kasischke even came to a couple of her lectures and spoke. Diana was actually shot in the girls room at the same time Maureen was. Diana's entire "future" never happened. Notice how her future was very close to the "perfect" life: a pet, a great husband, children, a big house in a safe community, etc. It was one big slow motion that took place between the gunshot and Diana's actual death in the girls room. The publisher of Kasischke's novel wanted a happy ending where one of the main characters survived. This forced Kasischke to be very ambiguous with the final chapter.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and Unexpected, July 14, 2003

By	Elizabeth Roberts-Zibbel (bowling green ohio) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Life Before Her Eyes (Hardcover)

A carefully written and timely story about a woman who was involved in a school shooting during her senior year, _The Life Before Her Eyes_ was both a quick read and difficult to put down. At the beginning of the book, the reader is introduced to a pair of best friends primping in the mirror when gunshots ring out. Just as they begin to realize they are in danger, the shooter --a boy from their biology class-- walks into the bathroom. Reminiscent of some of the stories to come out of the Columbine tragedy, the girls' classmate asks them which one he should kill. The rest of the book flows from that moment in both flashbacks and in the present day, when the girl who tells the shooter she wants to live is a grown woman. The book ends with a poetic twist, but most astute readers will not find it entirely surprising. A very enjoyable and well written book.