Centerville

by Karen Osborn

It is 1967 at the end of a long, hot summer. On a Saturday afternoon in Centerville, a sleepy Midwestern town, a disaffected husband enters a busy drugstore where his estranged wife works and sets a bag with a homemade bomb on the floor. Outside the drugstore, a fourteen-year-old girl places her hand on the door, then inexplicably turns away and keeps walking. Moments later, standing safely inside a bowling alley with her best friend, she hears a sound like thunder.

With one devastating explosion, the town is changed forever. In the next few days, four lives become entwined, as the townspeople face sudden loss and new, unpredictable realities.

Set against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement and the escalating Vietnam War, Centerville forms an engrossing meditation on the complex questions that arise in the wake of senseless violence.

Genres: Fiction

248 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2012

About the author

Karen Osborn is the author of five novels, Patchwork, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, Between Earth and Sky, The River Road, Centerville, winner of the Independent Publishers Gold Award, and The Music Book, which is newly published. In reviews, she’s been compared to Ian McEwan, Jodi Picoult, and Russell Banks. The New York Times has called her work, “psychologically sophisticated,” and The Washington Post has said her writing is “an extraordinary effort to engage the American condition as we find it now.” She teaches fiction writing in Fairfield University’s M.F.A. program.

Reviews

[Kristan Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though set in 1967, the issues that are addressed - terrorism, racism, violence against women, faltering faith in self and God because of all of the above - resonate now. Osborn handles these topics without being heavy handed or preachy and the passage that most struck me (in a work that is rife with observations that did the same) is: "Sandi heard the dismissive quality in Marge's voice, but still the hugeness of the truth washed over her. Every second was tied to every other second, and one second's change in something as small as a glance or a word could change all other seconds. It made her shiver a little despite the heat." (pg. 125) It's such a simply put statement that is universal and the core of this story. One insane act sets off such a chain of reactions - both literally in the explosion so expertly described, and in the way it has affected the four main characters - that the story reminds me of New York City in September of 2001. Regardless of the fact that it was set in a small Midwestern town decades ago. Once you get to know the core characters, you want to meet them and it's easy see the world they inhabit through their eyes.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story chronicles the lives (especially thoughts) of those who were affected by a small town bombing in the 1960s. It's an interesting read about those left behind and the roles they might have played in the past and going forward.

[Marti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this alongside "We Were the Mulvaneys." They remind me of each other.

[Whitney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoy Karen Osborn's writing style. It reminds me a lot of John Updike; one of my favorite authors. Her writing is clear and lacks embellishment, but that's what makes it shine. Reading her book I was reminded of the lake at my grandparent's house where years earlier my grandfather had trucked in sand and stones to smooth the surface floor. On a calm day, you could look down at that sand and each particle of sand would become distinct and reflecting the sun would shine back up at you. Her characters are a lot like those grains of sand, separate and distinct, and each full of their own wonder. She manages to create characters completely without artifice or ornamentation, characters that live and breathe, and in their simplicity feel very real to me.

The topic of the story itself, a small town that is racked by violence when a jealous husband bombs the store where his wife works and kills several community members, is less interesting to me. Even set as it is against the "backdrop of the civil rights movement," does very little for me. She throws in references to Malcolm X, race riots, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and JFK, but at no point do any of these feel very relevant to the centrality of the story or the wall of grief that she has built for her main characters. I'm sure she was trying to draw some larger connections and make a greater point then she does, but I don't feel like this is ever done particularly effectively. If she is trying to demonstrate that the violence of the civil rights movement is as senseless as the violence that this small town experiences, and that such violence is hard to ever fully understand and even harder to move beyond, than I think she does not do this very successfully. Still, I would recommend this book if for nothing else than her writing style, which as I've already mentioned, I simply adore.

[Kayla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Centerville should be a quick read since it's less than 250 pages, but it took me over a month to finish it. The plot was intriguing, but I was never pulled into it enough to read more than a chapter or two at a time. I was never bored reading it, but there was never a strong desire to turn the page until I was about 3/4 through the novel.

Osborn writes beautifully, and many of the images are evocative, but I never cared too much about the characters. In a book with such emotional themes, like love and loss, I am shocked that I didn't feel the devastation that the town encountered. Spoiler Alert! It didn't help that nothing was ever resolved. Yes, life is unpredictable, and many times there aren't solutions, but I don't enjoy reading books that don't provide any kind of end. It wasn't even a questionable end where you can infer some solutions of what happens to the town and the characters; it appears as though several pages are missing from the back of the book.

If you're already struggling with a loss, this is not the book to pick up; it will leave you feeling unsettled and helpless. The imagery may be beautiful, and the words may have been carefully chosen, but that's not enough to make a great book--one that stay with you after the back cover flips closed.

[Julee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Spoiler alert!

Interesting story idea but it wasn't very well written. By the time you hit the last 50 pages you realize that the author is not going to have time to resolve the story before the end of the book and that's exactly how it ends. The bomber doesn't get caught. The main characters don't find resolution the book just ends. It feels like the author just decides to stop writing in the middle of the book. I wouldn't recommend reading this. I understand that real life doesn't get resolved but this is fiction. Why invest hours reading about characters that will be left in a mess at the end of the book?

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

First book I have read by this author and I found it very interesting. It takes place in 1967...the Vietnam war and race riots...many things that have left their mark on American History. Unrest in people's lives were and have never been limited to major happenings in the world...those are just the ones we all focus on.

This story takes place over several days in a Midwestern town of Centerville. With one explosion, the town changes forever. People's lives are entwined, sudden loss and unpredicted realties in the wake of a senseless act of violence.

[Marschel Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Osborn weaves the views of many characters impacted by a small town trauma in the late 1960s in america. A man, crazed by the rejection of his wife, destroys her and others by blowing up the local shop where she works. The aftermath is devastating to some of her featured characters. By the end of the story, which takes place over a few days, the readers can glimpse who will survive the tragedy and who may not. This book won an IPPY Gold Medal award in popular fiction in 2013 and that is why I selected it for my summer reading list. I'm glad I found it!

[Michelle Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the minute I opened the book I was intrigued. I stayed continuously intrigued even to the end. The story was so full of actions and plots it continued to amaze me. The story not only shows us to take each day as if it could be our last it also showed us forgiveness. We all make choices, good and bad that can affect us everyday. This book shows that its how we choose to react to our mistakes and the mistakes of others. Though we hurt at times we must always get back up, be strong and do our best. This book is a definite must read for all. Karen Osborn is definitely a great writer!

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book ... thought provoking, well-written, engaging all around. The characters and their town as a character itself are well developed and the premise allows for extremely interesting questions of ethics and faith and the nature of human emotions to be explored. I will want to read more by her now.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it did have a 'small town in the midwest' feel to it... being from such a place I could relate to much in the description... & could imagine that might be what it might be like in our small town if such a thing would happen there. I wasn't overly happy with the ending, but after giving it some thought, it too, might be appropriate.

[Gretchen Stein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the bad reviews I read about this book, it was very good. About a man estranged from his wife places a bomb in a drug store she works at. It is 1967 time frame, so much political unrest as well. The story revolves around the 10+ deaths and those who were left behind to deal with the tragedy.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the story of a man who detonates a bomb in the small town of Centerville. The narrative follows some of the survivors, members of the community, and the bomber. The book is not especially well written or interesting.

[Ruthy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great beginning and it could have been a great book but the author's urge to have everyone healed in such a short time was a shame. I did enjoy it and some of the scenes and thoughts were really good.

[Angie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was set up so well; a disgruntled husband places a bomb in the drugstore where is estranged wife works, killing several other people as well as his wife. The follow-through was not good! The focus on the aftermath of the explosion was on the WRONG people.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written. Enjoyed all of the book except for the end. Hated that.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

read a bit slowly after the beginning.

[Catherinne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good story until I reached page 200- then the pages were duplicated in error by the published and their were about 10 pages missing before it started back up again...

[Jonathan Rosenthal · Rating 3 out of 5]

A gripping story that touches on race, class, identity and family with a warm and compassionate hand. I enjoyed the voices of many of the characters but wanted more depth....

[Sheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started this and could not put it down. I really wanted closure and it never came for this small town.

[Maureen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok, not great. None of the characters except for maybe Elizabeth and Reverend Edwards felt real to me.

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intense novel, but enjoyable depiction of small town America dealing with major tragedy in the form of a major bombing. Complex emotionally.