Rating  - "It required a state of suspended disbelief. Otherwise you might go insane..."
It really takes a lot for a book to really grip me these days, especially since I have the awful habit of starting a lot of books and never finishing. Nine out of ten times it's no fault of the writer, mind you. I end up seeing something else at the bookstore and want to start that as opposed to finishing the current book I'm reading. I found no such problem with "Reservation Road" by John Burnham Schwartz, as the book completely hooked me in from the first page. It's a heartbreaking and surprisingly tense work of art that gives you honest-to-god real characters who despite all of their flaws and shortcomings, you care for each and every one of them.
Sometimes it only takes that one random event that can cause everything to fall apart. This happens on such a night when a boy is killed by a hit-and-run. Ethan is the boy's father and cannot even begin to comprehend what has happened. He is further torn apart when he sees that the justice system that he thought he could rely on cannot even bring him the closure he wants. Grace is his wife, and after the accident she is completely disconnected from everyone and everything, not caring about her appearance or her daily activities and duties as a mother to their remaining child. Dwight Arno is the man responsible for accidentally running over the boy, and even though he knows that he should've stopped and turned himself in, he keeps on driving fearing any interruption that'll keep him away from trying to make up on being a good father to his son. Still, that doesn't take away the guilt and the pain he feels for what he has done and he knows there's no going back to normal, no matter how hard he tries to pretend.
The story is masterfully told using three POV's and switches between them. From Ethan's and Dwight's POV, the story is told in first person and from their account and feelings. The POV of Grace is told using third person, which I think is an excellent decision being that Grace, as you'll read, seems to be the more disconnected and distant from everything. Using three first person narratives would've thrown the novel over-the-top and have it become vulnerable to being melodramatic. Because we are given true insights to these characters, we cannot help but feel and care for them. And this is why it is so easy for the reader to get absorbed and lost into the world that Scwartz has painted for us. It's not a pretty or uplifting picture, yet we still read on. There is a lot of tension and suspense, but not from action. It is because we are given the privilege to know and feel what these people are thinking and we have no idea what they are capable of doing. The tension is subtle, but it definitely makes one's heart pound a little faster at times.
Without giving anything away, I do understand why some people might be upset with how the book ends. My advice is that after you read it, you allow the ending soak into you a little. Even re-read it a few times, for if you do you will realize that this is the most appropriate ending. To end it any other way would have been gimmicky or a cheat. Even though some of the critics try to call this a sort of "thriller," it is really anything but that. There were at least five different ways I thought it was going to end, and I am happy that it wasn't any of them. The more I re-read the last few pages, the more I see the brilliance of it all.
"Reservation Road" is a fantastic and epic novel about how we deal with life's tragedies, and how it can bring the best and worst out of us. I feel sorry for the next book that I read by any author immediately after reading this, because it's going to take a lot to grab me the way that this novel did. Stunningly character-driven, heart-breaking and even insightful, "Reservation Road" delivers a painful and dark journey that we know once we start, there is no turning back. -Michael Crane
Rating  - A view of hollow lives
I picked this up in a book store for a long plane trip. I was expecting way more from the reviews and got way less.
Many parts of the plot were simply unbelievable and I kept wondering where the author dug up these empty miserable people who had no inner substance to fall back on when a crisis struck. I have had a tragedy with a child and having been there these people simply did not ring true from the accident/crime to both of the men's wives and other relationships, to the shallow and unrealistic ending.
I was disappointed and can't imagine a movie after this book. The middle especially drags on, re-stating things you already know about the characters. I even speed read through parts of it looking for new information, slowing down when I found some. Characterisations can tend to do this and only the best of authors have the skills to prevent it. This one fell flat.
I felt the most sympathy for the perpetrators son and the surviving sister of the dead boy. No sympathy whatsoever for the adults in the book. They were simply pathetic. They all wallowed in self pity and irresponsibiliy. When it happened to my family we did not treat our friends that way nor did they treat us that way. Nothing in this book seemed real, everything seemed to come from the fog of people not living in reality either before the accident or after the accident.
It was not the "page turner" as advertised. I fell asleep twice on the flight with book in hand. I only finished it because I brought nothing else with me to read and the flight was long and boring.
There is a lot out there to better spend your time on than this one. I won't be making "reservations" for the movie nor any other books by this author.
Rating  - Amazing study in dealing with loss
A dark summer's night. One father allows his son to stand near the side of the road despite his misgivings. Another is driving too fast because he's late to return his son to his ex-wife. One son dies, the other lives--but both fathers have lost their sons.
And both fathers feel guilt and blame over their actions. "Reservation Road" is the story about how these two men try to deal with that loss. It's a hard and touching book to read and a suspenseful one as you see the story unfolding.
I can't say this is an enjoyable read. "Reservation Road" is enlightening and if you have ever experienced the loss of a child, it stirs up a pot of emotions you may not be prepared for.
The book's very well written and clearly from an author who understands all the subtle elements of grief.
Rating - "Redemption Road " would have been a more apt title...
...because the main characters, the two fathers, are each looking for redemption in their own way. Ethan, the father of the victim regrets he didn't insist his son get out of the road, which was his responsibility as a parent to a 10-yr old. Dwight, the other father, and driver of the car that hits Ethan's son, seeks his own emotional redemption. Because of a situation with his own son, he chose not to stop at the scene of the accident, an action he will regret but can never undo. Both fathers are likeable, good men, realistically flawed and human, but with a love for their sons that no reader could ever doubt.
As other reviewers have already stated, this sad, sad story is written extremely well, and from the point of view of 3 characters, the father & mother of the victim, and of the man driving the car that killed him. I was mesmerized by it, and could not get the characters out of my mind, all of them, even the wives, and the victim's younger sister. I found myself thinking about how fast something can happen and how one little thing could have prevented it. Each character felt that they could have prevented it in some way, and they could have, "if only" ....
It slowed down, and for me, dragged a bit in the middle, but the prose is so captivating, one doesn't mind, it makes the wait worthwhile. More than one reviewer has complained about the ending, I think it ended appropriately, the only way it could have. A few extra sentences in the last paragraph would have brought a more satisfying conclusion and perhaps closure in regards to the relationship between Dwight and his son, but alas, we are left to assume.
This heartbreaking novel is excellent, but not for everyone. I know people that refuse to read it just because of the subject matter. It is disturbing, yet compelling. It will be interesting to see what is done with the movie, as most of this novel is "introspective thinking" not so much dialogue or fast paced situations.
Rating  - Excellent until it got to the last chapter!!!
I read this book because of the promotion they were giving to the movie. It's one of those books that once you start you want to finish to see the end. I personally can say that the end was "sloppy" . It seems to me that the author ran out of thoughts on his last chapter.
But I gave it 3 stars because of the plot.
Highly Recommend: The Kite Runner, Water for Elephants.
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