Book Review: THE NIGHT COUNTRY by Stewart O'Nan

Reviewed by Guest Blogger: Carrie K. at Mommy Brain (personal blog) and Books and Movies (book blog).


Book Info


• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Picador (September 9, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312424078
• ISBN-13: 978-0312424077


Synopsis

One year following their deaths in a late-night car accident, teenagers Danielle, Marco, and Christopher return, in spirit, to the sleepy New England suburb of Avon. Over the course of the evening, the three will drift into and out of the lives of those who knew and were affected by them. None is more affected than Tim, survivor of the crash, who plots a grisly act of remembrance, and Brooks, the well-intentioned police officer who first discovered the crash and whose life has changed in startling ways since.


Carrie K.’s Thoughts

The Night Country by Stewart O'Nan was the perfect book to read the week before Halloween, because the events of the book happen entirely on Halloween in a small New England town.

One year earlier, five teenagers were in a horrible accident, their car flying headfirst into a tree on a curvy, country road. Three were killed instantly. One survived whole; one survived with severe brain damage, emerging as a child instead of the surly young man he had been. One year later, on the anniversary of the accident, the ghosts of Danielle, Marco, and Toe have been summoned back to the small town by the memories of those they had left behind.

Tim, the one who survived with no injuries, is still haunted by the accident: the horror of the incident itself, as well as the grief at losing two of his best friends and his girlfriend. On top of that, he's left with the burden of Kyle, his mentally-handicapped friend, and he feels responsible for him.

Kyle's mom no longer has an empty nest and retirement years to look forward to. Her husband had become a stranger, as she spends all of her time caring for a son she no longer knows. Her guilt is always with her, the knowledge that she occasionally wishes the accident had turned out differently, that Kyle hadn't survived in this way.

Brooks was the first police officer to respond to the accident. He pulled Tim from the blood-soaked Camry, found Kyle, wandering, with a smashed-in face. He is haunted by what he saw that night, and by the memory that the official police report he wrote isn't entirely true.

The three ghosts are on a mission, and as the book speeds to its end, I could sense the inevitably of the conclusion, though I was hoping I was wrong.

Stewart O'Nan is a very talented writer, and he created a truly spooky mood, one in which the tree, the site of the accident, is a character unto itself. The story is narrated by Marco, as he describes the actions and words of the people they are haunting. The parenthetical asides that describe the actions and words of the ghosts are painfully funny, sometimes cruel, and deftly show the differences in the personalities of Marco, Danielle, and Toe in the way they deal with being dead. The book deals with the grief and guilt of those left behind in the wake of an accident like this, as well as how a small town and high school deals with the loss of some of their students.

Carrie K. gives it a 4 out of 5 stars.


Special Thanks

This honor goes to Carrie K. at Mommy Brain (personal blog) and Books and Movies (book blog). She has two fantastic blogs that you really need to check out.

Book Review: THE NIGHT COUNTRY by Stewart O'Nan

http://j-kaye-book-blog.blogspot.com/2008/10/book-review-night-country-by-stewart.html