A book I can’t stop thinking about

I often recommend books, but I don’t write full reviews. A couple of sentences, and I’m onto the next thing. This isn’t a proper review, but the novel moved me in a powerful way, and I believe it deserves more than a passing note.

The book is Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane. The setting is Boston … the summer of 1974, when a judge’s order to desegregate schools meant busing students between predominantly white and black neighborhoods would begin in September.  

The key character is Mary Pat Fennessy, an angry, 40-something single mom from the housing projects of Southie, a tight-knit community of Irish Americans. She has already lost a son to drugs, and now her 17-year-old daughter doesn’t come home one night. On that same night, a young black man was killed under mysterious circumstances.

Mary Pat starts to put the mystery together, and her daughter, still missing, is central to the crime. As Mary Pat investigates, she seeks revenge and has some rather unpleasant encounters with the Irish mob.

These people are vile, racist and profane, and it’s sometimes hard to read. No one is hiding their prejudices in this story. Mary Pat is awful and filled with rage but actually quite funny. You want to hate her, but there’s something more to Mary Pat than you realize at first, and she goes after some seriously bad guys.  

This is not your ordinary crime thriller. I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s easy to hate these people, but you begin to see how hate is a disease that gets passed down from generation to generation, and you realize with great sadness the damage it does to everyone, and like Mary Pat, you ultimately figure it has to stop somewhere.

An exceptional book. That’s all I can say.

Number 37

In other news, I finished number 37. It’s interesting for me to see how my art has evolved. I started with just abstract designs drawn freehand, because I’m not good are drawing real things freehand. But then I started adding images and linking them together with abstract lines. I’d say the newer stuff is more mural-like.

Most images I draw freehand even if they are a bit crude, but others are simply beyond my skill level. In this piece, I printed out a clipart illustration of a lobster, traced it and transferred it by putting the pencil side down and retracing the lines. It transfers just enough of the pencil marks to give me an image I can work with. Same for the taco, although I did some of the filling freehand.

Finally, I have a brilliant quote to share. A friend from my Army days found me through the blog, and we have been corresponding. It has been so great to catch up after all these years. She is also a cancer survivor, and her ordeal makes mine look like look like a walk in the park.

In her last email, she wrote this:

“Sometimes I think: I lived from cancer–how can I justify my luck when others die. What can I do? But maybe we only owe the world community a little niceness, vaccinations, and not buying any assault weapons.”

It’s good to have smart friends.

11 thoughts on “A book I can’t stop thinking about”

    1. Thank you. I have looked at Zentangle for inspiration, but some of those little doodles are hard!

  1. Oh, no matter how good that book, it sounds like the kind of book that wouldn’t allow me to sleep nights, my thoughts would be so unhinged. Some of the foreign series and movies that my husband watches at night lead me to turn on Monty, the British gardener on Britbox, for the 2 or so hours before I go to bed after he does, just to calm my mind. Sometimes I have to actually leave the room and go into the back. I assure him that I’m not asking him to not watch it, I just have to leave, and he’s come to accept that I’m not disapproving of his choice, it’s just not for me. I do like a good book that makes you think, but I’m a wuss if there is violence or cruelty of any kind, especially if based on facts. I can’t seem to disconnect from it once it gets into my head.

    I love your art. I just looked through your gallery and what growth in your art over time! That has to feel good. Makes me feel good. We are never too old to learn new things and to grow our abilities.

    Lastly, what a beautiful and thoughtful quote from your friend. It would be hard to improve upon her insight into her bout with cancer, and her sound advice.

    1. It’s a dark story but told in a way that’s actually not frightening. I laughed out loud through much of it, which now seems kind of odd in retrospect. But I hear you on some books or movies being over the top of violence or cruelty.

      I really do like that quote from my friend. So simple.

  2. That is quite some quote from your friend – no wonder you chose to share it. I didn’t realise you’d been in the military – how interesting. Was that before or after women were permitted into war zones?

    That book sounds interesting, if challenging. As you know, I’ve a voracious reader and I like to take a step outside my normal and particularly enjoy crime/mystery for this type of detour. I’ve added it as I’ve gotten to that point in my Kindle where not much is grabbing me (clearly I need to be more disciplined and targeted with my purchases!)

    1. I was in the Army from 1974-1977, before women were in war zones. I was stationed in Germany and Ft. Bragg, N.C. I was a journalist, writing and editing base newspapers mostly. I went to college after and majored in journalism. My career was in corporate communications, so I did pretty well for someone who can’t do math.

      I’d love to hear your thoughts about the book if you decide to read it. You can always email me directly.

  3. I’m looking forward to reading it. It does sound like alot of his books. In terms of the characters. His books turn into movies almost better than any author I know.

    1. I’ve read he really enjoys writing for “premium” TV — the subscription channels and all that — and has thought about abandoning novels. I sure hope not!

      1. Me too!

        My greater family actually has a long going interpretive discussion argument on the reality of shutter Island (book vs movie) that continues to pop up at get together

  4. I am reading Small Mercies – wow!
    I was in my mid-twenties in ‘74. I remember Viet Nam, Nixon, civil rights, the women’s movement – it was a time of upheaval. I thought my generation was on the road to figuring it all out and that the future was bright. This book has made me realize that not a lot has changed.

Comments are closed.