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Blameless
Book by Reardon, Lisa
342 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2001
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45 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 5, 2015
I love this book! The characters reminded me of people I know; not literal specific people, but they, and their small Michigan town, were as familiar to me as my own small Delaware town and the people who share it with me. The good, the bad, the ugly, they're all here.
Mary is a woman in her thirties who seems like a no-nonsense, independent kind of person. She has been amicably divorced for years and lives by herself in a cute little house in the country. She drives a school bus, plays softball, loves her cat and her 1965 Mercury.
But Mary is tormented. She has terrible nightmares and panic attacks. Gradually we learn why: about six months ago, Mary found Jennifer Colby, a first-grader who rode her bus, dead in her (Jennifer's) bedroom closet, after Jen's brother and sister asked Mary to come into their house to check on her.
Jennifer was killed by a blow to the head and her mother is being charged with her death. Mary is to testify for the prosecution, something that upsets many of the townsfolk, who believe Mrs. Colby's claim that the blow was accidental. Mary keeps insisting that she never saw any signs that Jennifer was being mistreated, and she is prepared to testify in court to that effect, much to the prosecutor's dismay.
Mary's tough, breezy facade begins to crumble. We learn that shortly after finding Jennifer's body, Mary had a breakdown and was hospitalized after trashing her own house. She is beginning to grow tired of her friends and family treating her "like sulfuric acid about to splatter" so she works hard to maintain her facade, but her denial runs deep.
Mary begins to share her memories with us and we see how all her life she has closed her eyes to ugly truths for fear of upsetting her own carefully-constructed perception of herself and her world. Mary slowly acknowledges that her father was unfaithful and an alcoholic, and while she enjoyed her status as his favorite, he tended to use her as a wedge between himself and Mary's mother.
Mary also admits to herself that her husband's leaving her for her best friend hurt her far more than she let on to either of them, and that continuing to be friends with both of them was only a way of shielding herself from having to do without them and find new friends.
And as Mary embarks on a disastrous affair with the married father of a young girl she's become close to, she also must acknowledge the hurt she is causing others.
And finally, mary allows herself to acknowledge that all along, she knew things were not well with Jennifer Colby. Jennifer was not a happy, normal child with a happy and normal family life. Her bruises and burns, her thinness and raggedy clothes, can't all be explained away.
But will Mary have the courage to tell what she knows now? Will she be able to accept responsibility for what she has done, and just as importantly, for what she has not done? And can she come to terms with the fact that she is not so blameless after all?
Mary is a woman in her thirties who seems like a no-nonsense, independent kind of person. She has been amicably divorced for years and lives by herself in a cute little house in the country. She drives a school bus, plays softball, loves her cat and her 1965 Mercury.
But Mary is tormented. She has terrible nightmares and panic attacks. Gradually we learn why: about six months ago, Mary found Jennifer Colby, a first-grader who rode her bus, dead in her (Jennifer's) bedroom closet, after Jen's brother and sister asked Mary to come into their house to check on her.
Jennifer was killed by a blow to the head and her mother is being charged with her death. Mary is to testify for the prosecution, something that upsets many of the townsfolk, who believe Mrs. Colby's claim that the blow was accidental. Mary keeps insisting that she never saw any signs that Jennifer was being mistreated, and she is prepared to testify in court to that effect, much to the prosecutor's dismay.
Mary's tough, breezy facade begins to crumble. We learn that shortly after finding Jennifer's body, Mary had a breakdown and was hospitalized after trashing her own house. She is beginning to grow tired of her friends and family treating her "like sulfuric acid about to splatter" so she works hard to maintain her facade, but her denial runs deep.
Mary begins to share her memories with us and we see how all her life she has closed her eyes to ugly truths for fear of upsetting her own carefully-constructed perception of herself and her world. Mary slowly acknowledges that her father was unfaithful and an alcoholic, and while she enjoyed her status as his favorite, he tended to use her as a wedge between himself and Mary's mother.
Mary also admits to herself that her husband's leaving her for her best friend hurt her far more than she let on to either of them, and that continuing to be friends with both of them was only a way of shielding herself from having to do without them and find new friends.
And as Mary embarks on a disastrous affair with the married father of a young girl she's become close to, she also must acknowledge the hurt she is causing others.
And finally, mary allows herself to acknowledge that all along, she knew things were not well with Jennifer Colby. Jennifer was not a happy, normal child with a happy and normal family life. Her bruises and burns, her thinness and raggedy clothes, can't all be explained away.
But will Mary have the courage to tell what she knows now? Will she be able to accept responsibility for what she has done, and just as importantly, for what she has not done? And can she come to terms with the fact that she is not so blameless after all?
February 4, 2023
Blameless is Lisa Reardon’s second novel and finishing it means that I have now read all three of her novels. (She is also the author of several plays, short stories and some nonfiction.) I discovered her years ago when I read Billy Dead, a book that has stayed with me ever since. I also read and enjoyed her novel The Mercy Killers. She would definitely be an auto buy for me if she wrote another novel.
Mary Culpepper is in her 30s. She lives alone in rural Michigan, the oldest of three sisters. She drives a school bus, plays softball, lives alone and drinks too much. She’s a solitary character, although she is friends with 12-year-old Julianna. Mary is currently waiting to testify at the trial of Patricia Colby, a mother accused of killing her six-year-old daughter Jen. The anxiety of the trial manifests itself as the Night Visitor, a huge stone monster that visits her at night.
Mary’s life has been one of trauma. Her father was a philanderer and her parents’ toxic marriage pitted Mary between them. Her mother cautions her: “Don’t you ever trust a man […] Men are selfish sons of bitches. […] And women are worse. You scratch the surface on any one of ’em and you get a whore.”
It’s hard for Mary to escape the legacy of her mother’s thoughts about marriage and relationships, especially when her own marriage fails. That betrayal is added to the list of reasons Mary has, in many respects, removed herself from the world. Yes, she still goes to Sunday dinner at her mother’s and, yes, she has friends, but just after the discovery of Jen Colby’s body, Mary had a breakdown which required hospitalization.
The she meets Number 34.
I concentrated on the players in the field. Looked for that particular width of Number 34’s shoulders, how the muscles tapered down to the small of his back. There he was in left field, where he’d been all summer. He snagged a fly ball for the second out. Jesus, I wanted to sink my teeth into those shoulders.
Blameless is a quiet novel where nothing much happens. Mary is often her own worst enemy, but as her story is pulled back layer by layer and you come to understand all the ways life has kicked her in the teeth, you just want something, anything, good to happen for her. Reardon has a particular gift when it comes to writing broken characters and I really enjoyed my time with Mary, even though, like her previous novels, the story is pretty grim.
Mary Culpepper is in her 30s. She lives alone in rural Michigan, the oldest of three sisters. She drives a school bus, plays softball, lives alone and drinks too much. She’s a solitary character, although she is friends with 12-year-old Julianna. Mary is currently waiting to testify at the trial of Patricia Colby, a mother accused of killing her six-year-old daughter Jen. The anxiety of the trial manifests itself as the Night Visitor, a huge stone monster that visits her at night.
Mary’s life has been one of trauma. Her father was a philanderer and her parents’ toxic marriage pitted Mary between them. Her mother cautions her: “Don’t you ever trust a man […] Men are selfish sons of bitches. […] And women are worse. You scratch the surface on any one of ’em and you get a whore.”
It’s hard for Mary to escape the legacy of her mother’s thoughts about marriage and relationships, especially when her own marriage fails. That betrayal is added to the list of reasons Mary has, in many respects, removed herself from the world. Yes, she still goes to Sunday dinner at her mother’s and, yes, she has friends, but just after the discovery of Jen Colby’s body, Mary had a breakdown which required hospitalization.
The she meets Number 34.
I concentrated on the players in the field. Looked for that particular width of Number 34’s shoulders, how the muscles tapered down to the small of his back. There he was in left field, where he’d been all summer. He snagged a fly ball for the second out. Jesus, I wanted to sink my teeth into those shoulders.
Blameless is a quiet novel where nothing much happens. Mary is often her own worst enemy, but as her story is pulled back layer by layer and you come to understand all the ways life has kicked her in the teeth, you just want something, anything, good to happen for her. Reardon has a particular gift when it comes to writing broken characters and I really enjoyed my time with Mary, even though, like her previous novels, the story is pretty grim.
November 10, 2015
Lisa Reardon follows what Alice Munro called a "brave, heart-wrenching debut" with another extraordinary tale of pent-up violence, trespass, and redemption."Blameless" -- that's all Mary Culpepper longs to be. Free of the tug of human need. Mary's a big woman, a strong woman: drives the local school bus, hurls a mean softball, likes a cold beer and knows how to make her beloved '75 Mercury run. But she hides a wounded soul behind her capable, even prickly exterior. It is only when she discovers one of her young charges -- a thin, quiet girl, so ordinary, so forgettable! -- lying dead in a closet that Mary must wrestle with the fact that she has retreated from life. In an effort to shake off her horror and grief, she plunges into a heated affair with the father of another young girl who has become, despite their age gap, a good summertime friend. As the noose of this relationship tightens around her, she becomes the small town's pariah for testifying against the mother of the dead child. Will she choose to look away and remain blameless? or to open her heart and let suffering in.
A novel in the tradition of Sue Miller's A Good Mother, "Blameless" is a love story of savage tenderness, and a haunting exploration of moral accountability
A novel in the tradition of Sue Miller's A Good Mother, "Blameless" is a love story of savage tenderness, and a haunting exploration of moral accountability
September 27, 2015
Mary drives a school bus. At least she did until she found one of her riders, a young girl, dead in a closet, with a head wound. Haunted by her discovery, Mary has a breakdown and is put on probation. The novel covers the few days before she is to testify in court. The fate of the girl’s mother depends on Mary’s testimony – and Mary isn’t at all sure about the “facts” surrounding her discovery. She is under pressure to testify that she noticed signs of mistreatment before the event. She doesn’t believe she did, but…. It’s a well written page turner. 4 stars.
September 7, 2023
Ich finde, der Klappentext ist bei dem Buch total irreführend. Erwartet hatte ich einen Thriller oder zumindest Spannungsroman, der sich mit einem ermordeten Kind, der daraus resultierenden Gerichtsverhandlung und einer Gefahr für ein weiteres Kind beschäftigt. Erstmal geht es (bis auf einige wage Anmerkungen erst kurz vor der Seite 200 (von 300!) wirklich um das auffinden des Kindes und die Umstände drum herum. Dann noch mal 40 Seiten später ca 10 Seiten Gerichtsverhandlung und das war es. Das zweite Kind, das in Gefahr gelangen soll hat nichts mit Kind Nummer ein zu tun und es war ohnehin nie körperlich sondern höchstens seelisch in Gefahr aufgrund der Handlungen der Hauptperson. Ansonsten geht es nur um die gestörte, wenn nicht sogar toxische Beziehung der Protagonistin Mary zu nahezu allen Menschen, die ihr Nahe stehen. Ob das jetzt Vater, Mutter, Schwestern, ihre beste Freundin oder ihr Ex Mann ist. Wobei da auch schon mal ein wirklich deutliches, klärendes Gespräch geholfen hätte!
Ich fand die Geschichte nur anstrengend und ermüdend und sie hat mir nicht wirklich Spaß gemacht.
Ich fand die Geschichte nur anstrengend und ermüdend und sie hat mir nicht wirklich Spaß gemacht.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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January 23, 2022This book was ok. I wasn't sure whether I should feel sorry for the heroine or the family and people who surround her or blame her for the way she was or blame them. Definitely a "chicky" book and a quick read. I am moving on to a James Patterson book now for some "fast" action.
June 16, 2020
3 1/2 stars. Book started out slow but then the locomotive picked up speed and I couldn’t put Mary and her train wreck of a life down.
April 10, 2007
yikes. like reading bad teen fiction. overly present author, limp dialogue, amateur plot maneuvers. i put it to rest after two chapters.
October 1, 2007
wirklich überzeugend! schon mit billy hat die frau sich mein herz erschrieben, auch dieser roman ist große klasse!!
May 1, 2010
Not a bad read but a little too much like made-for-TV movie plot. Still, it was pretty entertaining.
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January 23, 2010Very good, it really picked up in the middle.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews