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Rating: 
Summary: A hidden treasure
Review: (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."
Rating:
Summary: A hidden treasure
Review: (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."
Rating: 
Summary: Truth Has a Price
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: 3 drops Poe, 1 drop Melville, 1 drop Conrad
Review: what else is there to say
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