Atticus

by Ron Hansen

Colorado rancher Atticus Cody receives word that his wayward younger son, Scott, has committed suicide in Resurrection, Mexico. When Atticus travels south to recover Scott's body, he is puzzled by what he finds there and begins to suspect murder. Illuminating those often obscure chambers of the human heart, Atticus is the story of a father's steadfast and almost unfathomable love for his son, a mystery that Ron Hansen's fiction explores with a passion and intensity no reader will be able to resist.

Author I believe that it is risk that energizes a writer," says Ron Hansen. "I am challenged when I write from a woman's perspective or set my work in a historical period, because there is so much more that I have to imagine." Hansen has been imaging fictional worlds since his childhood in Nebraska, when stories of old west outlaws helped shape his future writing. In fact his first two novels, Desperadoes and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, retell Wild West legends. His other novels are Mariette in Ecstasy and Atticus, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. Nebraska, a collection of short stories, received an Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. With fellow novelist Jim Shepard, he edited the anthology You've Got to Read Contemporary American Writers Introduce Stories That Held Them in Awe. He also wrote the screenplays for Mariette in Ecstasy and, more recently, for Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.

Hansen graduated from Creighton University in Omaha, and went on to the University of Iowa'sWriters' Workshop where he studied with John Irving. Having spent many years as an itinerant scholar, he is now Gerard Manley Hopkins, S. J., Professor in Arts and Humanities at Santa Clara University in northern California. Hanson earned a Masters degree in spirituality from Santa Clara in 1995.

His strong personal interest in the connection between religion and literature is the focus of his next book, A Stay Against Essays on Faith and Fiction, which HarperCollins will publish in January 2001.

A conversation with Ron Hansen about Hitler's Niece

When did you first hear the nearly forgotten story of the strange love affair between Hitler and his niece, Geli Raubal?

I was reading Hitler and Parallel Lives by Alan Bullock, and he mentions Geli Raubal several times. I had never heard about her, but was struck by the fact that she was the only woman that Hitler every loved or wanted to marry. I at first intended to write a short story about her, a story that would consider what it might have been like to be loved by this evil man, one of the monsters of the 20th century. Was she seduced by Hitler, was she an accomplice, or was she in love with him? I started reading other books, mostly reminiscences of people who knew her, and as I got into it I realized that there was so much more than a short story. I had a novel.

What was it about Geli's story that attracted you and inspired you to write a novel?

I've long been fascinated by Hitler's character. How did this monster have such control over people and almost win his war? He was an unprepossessing character with no education—seemingly nothing going for him except his incredible oratory skills. Why was that enough to sway a whole country? I thought that by looking at Hitler through Geli's eyes, from her perspective, we might gain some insights.

What did you feel you, as a novelist, could bring to the story that may have eluded historians and biographers?

Historians are stuck with the facts as they've been presented, and in some ways they are facts that were massaged by the machinery of the Nazi party. And, in the case of Hitler, there are enormous gaps. But if you read between the lines, it all makes perfect sense. And that's what novelists do. I try to take the facts and fill in based on what I've observed about human behavior—to try to figure out what would be the likeliest way for a character to get from one point to the next. That's what I've done with Geli Raubal in Hitler's Niece.

And, as a novelist, you needed to get inside Hitler and, sometimes surprisingly, imbue him with human characteristics.

I think the one thing we learn from fiction is that people are never totally good or totally bad. As hard as it is to believe, this has to have been true about Hitler as well. He had that extraordinary ability to dominate and control people, to keep people coming back to him. He had to be more than a selfish bore or people would not have been drawn to him.

Many years after the war, Hitler's architect, Albert Speer, was released from prison and he watched film footage of Hitler for the first time in many years. He said he was struck by how dull Hitler seemed on film, as opposed to how he really was. Hitler must have had qualitie...

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Book Club, Literature, Crime, Literary Fiction, Family

Audio Cassette

First published February 1, 1996

About the author

Ron Hansen is the author of two story collections, two volumes of essays, and nine novels, including most recently The Kid, as well as The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, which was made into an Oscar-nominated film. His novel Atticus was a finalist for the National Book Award. He teaches at Santa Clara University.

Reviews

[Lorna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Atticus by Ron Hansen was another literary treasure pulled off of my library shelf where it has been since 1996. This beautifully crafted book is literature at its finest. The novel begins on the high plains of Colorado in the middle of winter just outside the small town of Antelope where we are introduced to Atticus Cody, and there is a similarity to Atticus Finch. But at the heart of this novel is the parable of the prodigal son. Atticus Cody, a cattleman without cattle, six oil rigs and 440 acres of high plains and sandhills in Colorado. Frank is the "good" son and a respected family man and a state senator. The prodigal son is Scott, a forty-year old artist who has moved at least fourteen times in the last twenty years, including a few stints in a mental health clinic. Scott comes home for Christmas, reassuring his family that he has found his home in Resurrecion in the Yucatan peninsula, a town filled with expatriates on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. But alas, not long after Scott returns to Mexico, the family has been notified that he has committed suicide. Atticus heads to Quintana Roo and faces the grim reality of his son's death, but as he immerses himself into his son's life, he begins to suspect that his son was murdered. What transpires is a beautiful and page-turning book.

"From that height he could see the white coastline in its twists and tangles around bahias and bajas along the way north to Cancun. East was the navy blue of the Gulf Stream and the sea changing to azure and finally a lime-juice green as it overran a a higher shelf of the coast and blasted into coffee-colored rocks."

"Even in daylight the great room was all shade and absence, as if spirit and qualities had been subtracted from it. You'd paint it in funeral black, raw umber, sienna brown, vermillion. Caravaggio colors. Colors of loss and impermanence. I was in the belly of the whale. I was with Lazurus in the tomb."

[booklady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Atticus is both the book’s title and the name of the main character. Given the name’s connection to a famous novel, we are supposed to associate the ideal father in To Kill a Mockingbird with this father of two grown sons. Atticus is the modern day retelling of one of Jesus’ most beloved parables, The Prodigal Son, or as it is known in some circles today, The Loving Father. The focus of the first title being on the sins of younger son, whereas by changing the title the locus of the story shifts to that of the mercy shown by the all-compassionate father.

Without giving too much of the story away, Atticus is a widower with two sons. The older son, Frank, has obligingly remained close to his father, married, and produced grandchildren. The younger son, Scott, is a rebel. He comes home for a brief – but happy – visit at Christmas and then returns to Mexico where he lives his dissolute life. The next thing Atticus learns, Scott has committed suicide. Atticus flies south of the border to attend to his son’s personal affects and arrange to have his body returned to the United States. What he finds is nothing like what he expected.

Mariette in Ecstasy was my first book by Ron Hansen and I was amazed by his insight and story-telling ability. Once again, he has produced a fine work of modern Christian fiction. Unfortunately Atticus will fail to make many Christian book-of-the-month club selections due to some of the more unsavory aspects of human life which Mr. Hansen has chosen to portray. This is a loss, but only for those who refuse to read books because they are easily offended. I can assure sensitive readers that Mr. Hansen never goes out of his way to shock through excess, which is what I take exception to in so much of what masquerades as literature these days.

Although it could just be the locale, Atticus occasionally reminded me of The Power and the Glory. I think it was a bit more than the sun-baked Mexican landscape that had me thinking of Greene’s whiskey priest, however. No doubt the younger son, Scott and his unsavory lifestyle, especially his unwillingness to give up his mistress, was reminiscent of Greene's character. Hansen’s writing, although not yet on par with Greene’s, is exquisite. He keeps one step ahead of you and just when you think you've figured out where he's going, he does an intricate little sidestep with his plot that only adds to the story's depth and meaning.

I’ve always loved the Parable of the Prodigal Son, but then I expect most people do. It’s easy to see oneself and God in it, which is the purpose of all of Scripture. We are called to locate our sinful selves in the place of every sinner in the Bible. This parable has the redeeming quality of a visible, tangible, all-forgiving God who rushes out to meet us—despite what we actually deserve. In Hansen’s book, the father persists in loving his son despite circumstances and actions which seem to render him all but impossible to love. Oh but for such a father when we are similarly unlovable!

Here is a passage from Atticus which says it all:

‘She told him, "When I was in college I read a folktale about a father pursuing a son who'd run far away, from one world to the next. The father called to him, 'Please come back!' But his son looked across the great gulf between them and shouted to him, 'I can't go that far!' So his father yelled to his son, 'Then just come back halfway!' But his boy replied, I can't go back halfway!' And finally his father shouted, 'Walk back as far as you can! I'll go the rest of the way!'"’

Firstrate! I want to read everything by Hansen!

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

"You two are so interesting. You're the formidable figure he idolized and struggled not to become, and he's who you'd be if you didn't have all your good habits and rules and boundaries."

Ah, the complex relationships between fathers and sons. It seems that one is forever on trial and the other is forever the judge. The trick is to somehow meet outside the courtroom.

When Atticus Cody travels to Mexico to claim the body of his son, he becomes convinced that it was a case of murder and not suicide. Receiving no help from the local authorities, he sets out to discover the truth about his son's death...and life.

One of the characters mentions that the name Atticus means simplicity, purity and intelligence, and those words perfectly sum up this involving. well-written mystery.

Thanks for putting this one on my radar, Mantan!

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book followed all the Ten Commandments of Good Writing:

1. Thou shalt not take the crisis out of the protagonist's hands.
2. Thou shalt not make life easy for the protagonists.
3. Thou shalt not give exposition for exposition's sake -- dramatize it.
4. Thou shalt not use false mystery or cheap surprise.
5. Thou shalt respect thy audience.
6. Thou shalt know thy world as God knows this one.
7. Thou shalt not complicate when complexity is better.
8. Thou shalt seek the end of the line, taking characters to the farthest depth of conflict imaginable within the story's own realm of probability.
9. Thou shalt not write on the nose -- put a subtext under every text.
10. Thou shalt rewrite.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just reread this book. It was well written, spare and it had a particular resonance for me. It reminded me of Plainsong by Kent Haruf...another favorite novel of mine.

[debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Evan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hansen is a fine writer. "Atticus," for all the acclaim it received, is not among his best books, likely because it crosses genres between a character study that is classic literary fiction, a mystery, and a warm-and-fuzzy heartlifter. There is no arguing the quality of the writing: Hansen strings words together as well as anyone writing fiction today, and he's able to draw his pictures effectively by implication rather that explication. Yet, by the end, I found myself indifferent to the title character's plight, largely because there's a lengthy explanation of the mystery (written in first person -- the only portion of the book that is) which is both fantastic -- a plus -- and lacking in credibility -- a huge minus.

[Mick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I recently became a Ron Hansen fan after reading his historical novel The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford, one of the best reads I've enjoyed in years. I fell in love with Hansen's simplistic, descriptive style--by his colorful reliance on similes that makes the reader smile with recognition. So with great anticipation I began Hansen's novel ATTICUS, a story about 67-year-old Atticus Cody, a quiet, unassuming Colorado rancher with a problematic prodigal son. When Atticus receives the news that his son committed suicide outside a Mexican resort, he journeys south to retrieve his son's body--only to find clues and disturbing signs his son was murdered. The novel is broken into two narratives: a third person account of Atticus's experiences in Resureccion, Mexico; and a first person account of a most unpleasant person, Scott Cody, Atticus's son.

I encountered several problems as I plodded through this novel. Unlike Hansen's "The Assassination of Jesse James" the prose in ATTICUS I often found awkward and confusing--as was the timeline. Yet even more bothersome than the mechanics was the lack of character development. Yes, Atticus Cody is a simple man, but the reader never really gets inside his head, finds out what he's truly thinking. We know he's a widower, that his wife was killed several years ago in a car accident, with Scott the driver. We never know how this tragedy shaped his feelings for his son, because we really don't know what his feelings are. Yes, we know he's grieving over the news of Scott's suicide, but the grief is never fully vetted because he's walking around looking for clues--yet what's motivating him to get to the truth is blurry and undeveloped. In summary, this is a novel with a protagonist going through the motions.

An unexpected plot twist launches the Scott Cody narrative, a plot twist making the story even more distasteful and disturbing. Because of his dysfunctional, self-centered actions--because he not only ruins his own life, but the lives of so many others--I found this portion of the novel literally repulsive. Yet here, Hansen has no difficulty having Scott relate his feelings and emotions, but as the reader I was unmoved because I didn't care for the character at all. Much of what transpires in this narrative is farfetched and requires too much suspension of disbelief, and then ATTICUS just ends with very little resolution. One of the most disappointing reads I've had the displeasure to finish.

[Mr. D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Atticus Cody, the eponymous hero of this book by Ron Hansen is a retired Colorado businessman who has been as successful as his son Scott has been a failure. Despite the dissapointments and disasters Scott has caused for his father, Atticus is nonetheless devestated when he learns one day his son is dead. A suicide, they say. But when he travels to the Mexican town of Resureccion, where Scott had lived, he quickly begins to suspect that Scott was in fact murdered. In an expression of fatherly love, he seeks to uncover who is responsible.

There is something about this book that made me love it in the first few pages. The prose takes its time and lingers when it wants to on small descriptions. The tone is simply so unlike the average murder mystery. True, the place and person names are often very heavy handed (Atticus, Resureccion), as are the allusions to the Biblical story of the prodigal son. But the book was still a delight.

Then I got to the final fifty pages. Ugh! What a disappointment. The point of view abruptly changes to a much less likable or engaging voice who fills the end of the book with a rehashing of what "really" happened throughout the book. Read this book and then burn it before you get to the end.

[Audrey Ashbrook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Atticus by Ron Hansen is a fictional novel about a sixty-seven-year-old rancher, Atticus Cody, who receives the news that his son, Scott, has committed suicide after returning to Mexico from his Christmas visit in Colorado with his family. Atticus travels to Mexico to sort out Scott's affairs and finds things he is not expecting surrounding the circumstances of his son's death. 

This novel is a retelling of the parable of the prodigal son, and what a novel it was. I wasn't expecting the ending at all. I would have liked for Hansen to have went deeper and offered more at the conclusion. If this was just a mystery novel, I would give it three out of five stars. Since it is a retelling with a "point" and despite disliking most of the characters besides Atticus, who I loved, I'll give it four out of five. Not my favorite Hansen novel, but Hansen is a great writer and dealt with the topic of grief in a very interesting way in this novel, and I always look forward to reading more by him.

[Book Concierge · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the book jacket: Ron Hansen’s new novel opens in winter [in] Colorado, where rancher Atticus Cody receives an unexpected visit from his wayward young son. An artist and wanderer, Scott has recently settled into a life of heavy drinking and recklessness among expatriates and Mexicans in the little town of Resurreccion on the Caribbean coast. Weeks later, Atticus himself goes down to Mexico to recover the body of his son, thinking he has committed suicide. Puzzled by what he finds, he begins to suspect that Scott has been murdered.

My reactions
In many ways this story echoes the parable of the Prodigal Son from the bible. While there is certainly a mystery at its core, the novel is more about the father-son relationship: the father’s fierce and unfaltering love for his son, the son’s need to atone for past mistakes and despair at feeling unable to make amends, and the failure of both of them to openly communicate and understand one another.

The plot has several twists and turns that kept me intrigued and turning pages. But the star of the novel, to me, was the writing and the exploration of these characters and their motivations. I was completely engrossed in their story, and wanted to cheer at the end.

[Stuart Drake · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was very surprised with this book. The author writes in a compelling and expressive manner that allows the reader to paint a vivid picture in his/her mind throughout the entire story. This book was easy-to-read and offerred powerful insights into the depths familial love. Plus, the ending was incredible and further developed the characters from a different perspective. I truly enjoyed reading this novel and would recommend it to anyone interested in exploring the trials and tribulations of a father's love for his son.

[Jim Teggelaar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was blown away by the writing of Ron Hansen when I first read this in the late 90's. This was my third time through it and it still packs a wallop. An examination of a father's love for his son, a murder mystery, a textbook for aspiring writers, and a near perfect novel.

[Terry Southard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this book. Love Ron Hansen.

This is a retelling of the Prodigal Son parable, brought up to modern day. His writing is spare and beautiful. Worth the read. Will be recommending it to my book club for next year.

[Jerry Peace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book needs to be read for the pure beauty of Hansen's writing. Now you can read it for lots of reasons I guess-family, tragedy, the West, Mexico, drunks, art. But the best reason is the writing. Hands down.

[Angela Greene · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a compelling tale of the prodigal son and the constancy of parental love. The conservative, religious culture of the heartland is sensitively portrayed in the character of Atticus. In these divided times, it is important to look beyond stereotypes and see the good in people that we think are very different from us. This book was written in 1996 and is the first book by Ron Hansen that I've read. A friend recommended Mariette in Ecstacy and I decided to try one of Ron Hansen's other books while I waited for Mariette in Ecstacy to arrive from the library. I am so glad I did. I'll be back for more!

[Patrick Barry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Atticus is the strong father figure in To Kill A Mockingbird, With a tip of the cap to that great novel, this Atticus is also a strong father figure who will do anything for his wayward son. In an overview sense it is the tale of the prodigal son and forgiveness. The details are a man who sets off to Mexico to find his son's body home. Along the way Atticus runs into people in is son's life and slowly comes to an understanding of his son that he did not have before this journey. This book is also an amazing exploration of forgiveness and worth all of its 5 stars.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a ride this was; I knew nothing of Atticus when I picked it up at a used book store, and I certainly didn't expect it to be this good. It's heavy on Catholic symbolism and imagery, but in the way fantasy novels often have their own magical systems (at least that's how I took it). The character depth and gravitas of Atticus himself, as well as the surprises along the way made this one of my top reads of 2025. I'll be recommending this forgotten gem to anyone who'll listen to me.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the type of book I would normally read. In the end there was a story. I liked some of the characters and I disliked some of the characters. So I got something out of it and I was entertained.

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hansen rides the "genre vs. literary" edge well, if a little tilted toward literary. I was pleasantly surprised by the Gospel overtones at the end.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow.

[Ian Schaefer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this one up on a whim at a 2nd hand bookstore. Pleasantly surprised with a good story. 3.5/5

[AJ Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story. Reads like a bit of a blend of literary and mystery and ends up being surprising. Not the best book but certainly not the worst.

[Aubrianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A prodigal son story told with haunting Americana brushstrokes. A western odyssey in microcosm.

[Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

Atticus Cody is a 67-year-old Colorado rancher who had his first name to himself until "To Kill A Mockingbird" was published in the 60s.

When he receives a call that his troubled younger son has committed suicide, he goes to Mexico to pick up the pieces. But the longer he spends there, the more convinced he becomes that his son was murdered.

This National Book Award finalist is a wonderful novel of father and sons, love and loss, and guilt and redemption.

Ron Hansen writes like a painter, capturing the feel and colors of each scene. But, more importantly, he also writes like an author, smartly combining words and phrases in a fast-paced, evocative style that pulls you into Atticus's world and makes you care about him.

I was attracted to the book by his name and the sterling reviews from the New York Times and Elmore Leonard (how's that for a wide spectrum?). But I am glad to have found a second very likeable and intelligent Atticus who cares for his children as a prime directive.

[LyndaIn Oregon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Colorado rancher receives word that his rakehell younger son has committed suicide in Mexico, and sets out to claim the body and bring it home for burial. But he quickly discovers that things in Mexico are not quite what they seem to be.

Up to this point, the novel seems a pretty run-of-the-mill tale of a grieving man sussing out the oddities of a loved one's death, refusing to believe the official story, and trying to determine what really happened.

Then Hansen pulls the rug out from under the reader in the last chapter and the story becomes something else entirely.

[Jean Hoefling · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first Ron Hansen book, and now I'm sure I'm hooked. Atticus had been recommended as a novel loaded with superb imagery, and I wasn't disappointed. And even more, this is a story full of wonderful, believable characters who are like all of us. It is the tale of the Prodigal Son told in a way that absolutely honors the heart of Christ's most famous parable.

[marymurtz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific writing, and a great story. The character development was stellar. Hansen's writing reminded me a little of Kent Haruf's, but more stripped down. I am looking up his other works so I can read them. What a great book!

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could smell the Cerveza on the drunk's breath and feel the humidity in the air.
Gritty, beautiful, sad, and triumphant. It doesn't get a whole lot better than that.

[Sherri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deeply moving. I was a little dissatisfied with a lack of justice for certain crimes committed, but that's one of the difficulties of issuing grace freely in this old broken world.