Before and After

Rating:
Summary: Gripping, but ultimately disappointing
Review: Ben and Carolyn Reiser live a placid middle class existence in bucolic New Hampshire. Carolyn is a doctor, Ben a sculptor, and they have two kids, Judith and Jacob. Things could not appear more mundane for this family of four. But then one night while working the emergency room, Carolyn is confronted by the brutally beaten corpse of a teenage girl whom she recognizes. What she does not realize is that it was her son Jacob who bludgeoned the girl to death with a car jack. This killing will explode in the midst of the family, driving both parents to reckless actions, pitting one against the other, mother against son and daughter against all. Narrated alternately by husband and wife and finally by Judith, Brown presents all sides of the contentious battle that ensues as Jacob goes to trial for murder. Ben unquestioningly supports Jacob from the word go, even going so far as to destroy evidence and lie to cops, courts and his own lawyer. Carolyn is more troubled, particularly as evidence mounts that, not only did Jacob commit this crime, he is a borderline psychopath who has molested his own sister. Finally, unable to deal with her own guilt, Carolyn sides with the prosecution. And so on and so forth.

Rosellen Brown is to be commended for making the effort to turn out a page turning thriller that also tackles substantial issues of family loyalty, moral responsibility and the limits of love. But the book has one huge flaw at its center--we so loathe the Reisers that there is nothing sufficiently horrible that could happen to them. Jacob is after all a predator. As I was reading I found myself regretting that he could not get the death penalty here in New Hampshire. So, suffice it to say, I did not feel much sympathy with the father who aided and abetted in the cover up of the crime. And it takes so long for Carolyn to screw up her courage and do the right thing, that by then I couldn't give her any credit. In fact, when she does finally cooperate with the authorities, it is not out of any sense of right and wrong, she is driven purely by guilt. Her action follows the best, most authentic, scene in the book, when she attempts to commiserate with the murdered girls mother, telling her that the crime has shattered both families. The girl's mother reacts with a righteous indignation that has the reader cheering. Here is the character that we can identify with, at last. And it is only after this that Carolyn finally realizes that she is not herself a victim and folks don't feel sorry for her. When she testifies, it is a selfish act, an attempt to reclaim her own reputation, regardless of the consequences to her vile little offspring.

But Ben is no better. The son he is trying to protect is some idealized golden child who bears no relation to the monster he raised. His refusal to cooperate with the authorities is less about protecting a beloved son than proving something about himself. These are not characters who love one another. Each of them is merely an object to the other and relations among them are premised on how others perceive them, not on any genuine sense of caring and family.

Ms Brown's depiction of this Baby Boomer couple and their completely self-centered reaction to these events may well be accurate. And such folks may even be so self absorbed that they could bring up this repellent child without noticing that he is evil. But their obliviousness strained credulity and once we accept it, we necessarily think less of them. This inevitably creates an emotional distance from the characters and saps the story of much of its drama. By the time I got to the weirdly happy ending, she'd completely lost me.

American society has developed a really troubling aversion to the concept of whistleblowing. Communists and mobsters are celebrated for refusing to testify about massive criminal conspiracies. Linda Tripp became the most hated woman in America by exposing wrongdoing in the Oval Office. And people were genuinely shocked when the Unabomber's brother lead the FBI to him. I don't know what the heck people are thinking. But here's a memo to friends and family, if you happen to cave in a young girl's head with a car jack, unless she's someone who was profoundly annoying, I'm not going to help you get away with it.

GRADE: C

Rating:
Summary: odd
Review: Ben and Carolyn Reiser live a placid middle class existence in bucolic New Hampshire. Carolyn is a doctor, Ben a sculptor, and they have two kids, Judith and Jacob. Things could not appear more mundane for this family of four. But then one night while working the emergency room, Carolyn is confronted by the brutally beaten corpse of a teenage girl whom she recognizes. What she does not realize is that it was her son Jacob who bludgeoned the girl to death with a car jack. This killing will explode in the midst of the family, driving both parents to reckless actions, pitting one against the other, mother against son and daughter against all. Narrated alternately by husband and wife and finally by Judith, Brown presents all sides of the contentious battle that ensues as Jacob goes to trial for murder. Ben unquestioningly supports Jacob from the word go, even going so far as to destroy evidence and lie to cops, courts and his own lawyer. Carolyn is more troubled, particularly as evidence mounts that, not only did Jacob commit this crime, he is a borderline psychopath who has molested his own sister. Finally, unable to deal with her own guilt, Carolyn sides with the prosecution. And so on and so forth.

Rosellen Brown is to be commended for making the effort to turn out a page turning thriller that also tackles substantial issues of family loyalty, moral responsibility and the limits of love. But the book has one huge flaw at its center--we so loathe the Reisers that there is nothing sufficiently horrible that could happen to them. Jacob is after all a predator. As I was reading I found myself regretting that he could not get the death penalty here in New Hampshire. So, suffice it to say, I did not feel much sympathy with the father who aided and abetted in the cover up of the crime. And it takes so long for Carolyn to screw up her courage and do the right thing, that by then I couldn't give her any credit. In fact, when she does finally cooperate with the authorities, it is not out of any sense of right and wrong, she is driven purely by guilt. Her action follows the best, most authentic, scene in the book, when she attempts to commiserate with the murdered girls mother, telling her that the crime has shattered both families. The girl's mother reacts with a righteous indignation that has the reader cheering. Here is the character that we can identify with, at last. And it is only after this that Carolyn finally realizes that she is not herself a victim and folks don't feel sorry for her. When she testifies, it is a selfish act, an attempt to reclaim her own reputation, regardless of the consequences to her vile little offspring.

But Ben is no better. The son he is trying to protect is some idealized golden child who bears no relation to the monster he raised. His refusal to cooperate with the authorities is less about protecting a beloved son than proving something about himself. These are not characters who love one another. Each of them is merely an object to the other and relations among them are premised on how others perceive them, not on any genuine sense of caring and family.

Ms Brown's depiction of this Baby Boomer couple and their completely self-centered reaction to these events may well be accurate. And such folks may even be so self absorbed that they could bring up this repellent child without noticing that he is evil. But their obliviousness strained credulity and once we accept it, we necessarily think less of them. This inevitably creates an emotional distance from the characters and saps the story of much of its drama. By the time I got to the weirdly happy ending, she'd completely lost me.

American society has developed a really troubling aversion to the concept of whistleblowing. Communists and mobsters are celebrated for refusing to testify about massive criminal conspiracies. Linda Tripp became the most hated woman in America by exposing wrongdoing in the Oval Office. And people were genuinely shocked when the Unabomber's brother lead the FBI to him. I don't know what the heck people are thinking. But here's a memo to friends and family, if you happen to cave in a young girl's head with a car jack, unless she's someone who was profoundly annoying, I'm not going to help you get away with it.

GRADE: C

Rating:
Summary: honest reactions
Review: Brown says, "I take very seriously the idea that novelists raise questions and don't necessarily answer them," and that "Novels are where we learn what it feels like to be someone else, where we learn to be patient with ways of looking at things that are not our own." (These quotes are from an interesting overview of the writer at ..., which is a great source for all sorts of literary stuff.) I think that some of the readers on this page need to keep this approach in mind before dismissing the book because they don't like the characters. I think Brown would say they're missing the point.

What was most notable about this book to me was that the situation is so ghastly, you can't imagine how you'd deal with it. I liked the way the main characters reacted so differently, and that the father did something that seems as terrible as the son, and yet, while you want to slap him and tell him to snap the hell out of it, you have to recognize the emotional truth of his reaction. Some readers seem to want a clear-cut resolution, but to do so would immeasurably flatten the book and diminish the power of the story. For instance, in writing off the son as an irredeemable creep while lauding the daughter's characterization, readers are ignoring her loyalty to her brother, which clearly doesn't spring out of a vacuum.

The characters are extremely flawed and complex, and they get into your brain. You may want to hug them or shake them or yell at them, but whatever your reaction, they seem incredibly alive. Brown's a poet, and some of her descriptions are beautiful if a fair amount of the dialogue, particularly early on, isn't esp. natural; small price to pay for some of the lines, which are beautiful, simple, and true. Good book, and a fast read as it's extremely compelling.

Rating:
Summary: Deja Vu!
Review: I am halfway through reading this book and am stunned at the similarities between it and Judith Kelman's "After the Fall". In Kelman's book, a New England couple are stunned when their teenage son is accused of attacking a neighborhood girl. The mother is a doctor; the father is more of a house husband, and they have a preadolescent daughter, too....the same cast of characters as in "Before and After"! The simliarities don't end there....as the couple struggle to cope with the accusations, they are faced with neighborhood gossip, harassing phone calls and a lot of unanswered questions from their uncooperative son. I feel as though I am reading the same exact book for the second time!

Rating:
Summary: The Family that Slays Together, Stays Together
Review: I am halfway through reading this book and am stunned at the similarities between it and Judith Kelman's "After the Fall". In Kelman's book, a New England couple are stunned when their teenage son is accused of attacking a neighborhood girl. The mother is a doctor; the father is more of a house husband, and they have a preadolescent daughter, too....the same cast of characters as in "Before and After"! The simliarities don't end there....as the couple struggle to cope with the accusations, they are faced with neighborhood gossip, harassing phone calls and a lot of unanswered questions from their uncooperative son. I feel as though I am reading the same exact book for the second time!

Rating:
Summary: Deja Vu!
Review: I am halfway through reading this book and am stunned at the similarities between it and Judith Kelman's "After the Fall". In Kelman's book, a New England couple are stunned when their teenage son is accused of attacking a neighborhood girl. The mother is a doctor; the father is more of a house husband, and they have a preadolescent daughter, too....the same cast of characters as in "Before and After"! The simliarities don't end there....as the couple struggle to cope with the accusations, they are faced with neighborhood gossip, harassing phone calls and a lot of unanswered questions from their uncooperative son. I feel as though I am reading the same exact book for the second time!

Rating:
Summary: I've read much better
Review: I didn't care for the way that each chapter was written about the thoughts of each family member, except for the murderous son. We never hear much from him. Enjoyed the beginning, then I kept skipping pages waiting to read about what really happened. The family didn't seem bothered that their son had killed a girl, rather that he may go to jail. The mother was the only one who showed some concern for the girl's parents. The book could have gone into more detail about the trial, but most of the book was about the father's thoughts. Don't recommend it. When I saw Merryl Streep was in the movie version, I know the movie must be pretty slow moving, as are all of Merryl's movies.

Rating:
Summary: I enjoyed the book a great deal.
Review: I found it very thought provoking. Just how far would I be willing to go to protect my child in similar circumstances? I felt the characters were very believable and their actions and reactions in character. I thought the device of telling the story from the point of view of different characters to be an interesting one. If you have ever had a child in trouble - even a little bit - and have wondered about whether you were handling the situation correctly, I can't imagine that you would not be caught up by the dilemmas presented in this book.

Rating:
Summary: I disagree with the Chicago reader's comments!
Review: I loved "Before and After!" I found the prose powerful and effective. I did not find that the author forced her point of view upon the reader, but rather that the characters took on rich and gripping lives of their own. By the way, the book is FAR superior to the movie, so I recommend skipping the flick and heading straight for the book.

Rating:
Summary: A Big Disappointment
Review: I was looking forward to reading this book. I felt the story had great potential but the overanalysis of the character's thoughts and feelings slowed the book down. I didn't care enough about any of the characters. A real bummer!