11-13-2023, 11:13 AM
Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane
Lehane continues to mine his South Boston roots for novels. This time we go back to 1972 at the time of forced bussing to integrate the schools of Roxbury and Brighton. Against this backdrop, Mary Pat goes looking for her missing daughter Jules. The main theme of the book is racism and how it is handed down from generation to generation and the busing issue is only the latest example, at that time, of how endemic it is. Mary Pat eventually has to go out and harm the people who have harmed her daughter. She also has to confront her own racism as she also deals with the murder of a co-worker's son.
It's always fun for me to read these books that cover Boston history and Boston locations. I know some of the background but not nearly enough. My little town of Burlington was a world away from these racially divided areas. We were already in California when the bussing situation broke out. My parents would talk to their Massachusetts relatives every week. It was not pretty.
Lehane continues to mine his South Boston roots for novels. This time we go back to 1972 at the time of forced bussing to integrate the schools of Roxbury and Brighton. Against this backdrop, Mary Pat goes looking for her missing daughter Jules. The main theme of the book is racism and how it is handed down from generation to generation and the busing issue is only the latest example, at that time, of how endemic it is. Mary Pat eventually has to go out and harm the people who have harmed her daughter. She also has to confront her own racism as she also deals with the murder of a co-worker's son.
It's always fun for me to read these books that cover Boston history and Boston locations. I know some of the background but not nearly enough. My little town of Burlington was a world away from these racially divided areas. We were already in California when the bussing situation broke out. My parents would talk to their Massachusetts relatives every week. It was not pretty.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm