Bleeding Kansas

by Sara Paretsky

In Kansas, on land that once saw some of America's bloodiest antislavery battles, three families have coexisted for more than one hundred fifty years: the Grelliers, the Fremantles, and the Schapens. Once allies in the fight against slavery, today the Schapens and the Grelliers disagree on every subject, from organic farming to the war in Iraq, but above all on religion.

Into their lives comes Gina Haring, a relative of the Fremantles who is house-sitting the derelict family mansion while she puts her own life in order. Her lifestyle and beliefs will put her at odds with her neighbors...and test the mettle of a community being swept up in events beyond its control.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Historical Fiction, Book Club, Audiobook, Crime, Thriller

448 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Sara Paretsky is a modern American author of detective fiction. Paretsky was raised in Kansas, and graduated from the state university with a degree in political science. She did community service work on the south side of Chicago in 1966 and returned in 1968 to work there. She ultimately completed a Ph.D. in history at the University of Chicago, entitled The Breakdown of Moral Philosophy in New England Before the Civil War, and finally earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. Married to a professor of physics at the University of Chicago, she has lived in Chicago since 1968.

The protagonist of all but two of Paretsky's novels is V.I. Warshawski, a female private investigator. Warshawski's eclectic personality defies easy categorization. She drinks Johnnie Walker Black Label, breaks into houses looking for clues, and can hold her own in a street fight, but also she pays attention to her clothes, sings opera along with the radio, and enjoys her sex life.

Paretsky is credited with transforming the role and image of women in the crime novel. The Winter 2007 issue of Clues: A Journal of Detection is devoted to her work.

Her two books that are non-Warshawski novels are : Ghost Country (1998) and Bleeding Kansas (2008).

Reviews

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sara Paretsky was one of the very first serial mystery fiction authors I began reading after Agatha Christie. I enjoyed her realistic slice of the harsh life with hardcore characters and a very strong female protagonist. I wasn't concerned over whether she'd do well writing a non-mystery, non-serial fiction novel; however, I was concerned whether I'd actually like it, but rest assured, there's no reason to be worried.

She spins quite a tale in this fiction work. The characters are quite vivid and come from very strong families that very likely existed in this country years ago. For those who like to test their authors in different genres, this is a case of a successful transition. It carries over all the things you'll love about a family drama with an air of mystique. About Me
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novel is not a V I Warshawski book but I read it now because I am going through Sara Paretsky's books in the order in which she published them. The only other non-Warshawski novel so far was Ghost Country but that one was set in Chicago, as are all the Warshwskis. This is a stand-alone set in Kansas.

I guess because of the title I thought it would be about the bloody conflict over slavery, John Brown, etc. Since I read The Good Lord Bird earlier this year, I figured that would be fine.

Actually the story, though it does take place in Kansas, is set in the very early years of the 21st century, shortly after 9/11 and during the war in Iraq. Sara Paretsky grew up in Kansas, so her sense of place is acute and her experiences with Kansans shows in her characters.

Anyone familiar with her work knows that the author is a longtime liberal. As she says in her introduction, she was raised on the Kansas Territory history of anti-slavery that earned it the "Bleeding Kansas" epithet. She feels she shares a heritage of resistance against injustice. In the novel she also reveals a sharp wit.

Two farm families who histories have intertwined for generations and who have managed to co-exist on neighboring farms have finally come into conflict due to widening political differences. The Schapens are fundamentalist right wingers while the Grelliers are liberal. After the Grelliers lose a son in Iraq and a Schapen son is discovered hiding certain misdeeds behind his grandmother's fundamentalist reputation, 16 year olds Lara Grellier and Robbie Schapen progress from friends to being in a relationship. Confrontations arise and emotions are stirred up to monstrous proportions leading to a sobering climax.

It is in some ways quite a melodramatic story but Paretsky keeps a firm hand on all the characters, including a Wiccan and an alcoholic aging female hippie, as well as on the incendiary incidents. The result is a fast paced read that sheds both light and humor on the divisive political and religious elements in our society as they play out in everyday life.

I was nicely surprised though I would recommend Bleeding Kansas to my liberal friends and relatives while keeping it out of the hands of conservative types. They don't seem to like being laughed at so probably would not get the humor.

[Clif Hostetler · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quotation from the book that caught my attention:

"The hardest thing about adolescence is that everything seems too big. There's no way to get context or perspective, ..... Pain and joy without limits. No one can live like that forever, so experience finally comes to our rescue. We come to know what we can endure, and also that nothing endures."

This is spoken by a high school English teacher to a student who has lost interest in school because of personal problems. In the context of the story she seems like the teacher sent from heaven. This is an example of touching the future by being a teacher.

Excerpt from the book:

"Mute wife behind him, distraught daughter in front of him, him in the middle." This is a description of a man struggling to hold his family life together.

Another Excerpt:

"When Jesus returns in glory, it just may be due to local farmer .....".

This is from a newspaper article announcing the appearance of the "perfect red heifer" described by the biblical book of Numbers.

The book is about how history and various religions interact in a current rural Kansas setting. The narrative brings together the following religions (or world views) in a story with numerous conflicts and misunderstandings; (1) Liberal Christian (open & accepting), (2) Conservative Christian (fire & brimstone), (3) Wiccan (witchcraft), (4) No Religion (poor white trash), (5) Ultraorthodox Jewish (rebuild the temple), and (6) Religious Skeptic (homeless alcoholic leftover from the 60's hippie scene). The book contains flashbacks to the Civil War "Bleeding Kansas" era as well as ties to the antiwar riots in of city of Lawrence and on the KU campus that occurred in the late 1960s. Everybody in the story has problems they need to face which provides plenty of tension and suspense for the plot line. However, the tale of the unblemished red heifer is so filled with irony and humor it caused me to laugh out loud. The story ends with some adrenalin pumping excitement. It's a heck of a story.

Paretsky's writing is well done. That's why I placed excerpts from the book first in this review. They're better than anything I can say about the book.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This library book interweaves present day Kansas with Kansas of the 1850s in the Kaw river valley, site of the Lawrence 1863 massacre by Quantrill and his raiders. They murdered hundreds of people. Descendants of the free settlers are the focus of the present day story, the Schapens and the Grelliers. The Schapens are self righteous bullies and the Grelliers try to get along with everyone. Then a woman by the name of Gina Haring arrives. She is a Wiccan and the ultra conservative Schapens call her a witch and start harassing her.
There is also a Romeo and Juliet love story and a final climactic scene with a terrible fire.
This book was published in 2008 and some of hate can be glimpsed in one word:"feminazi(p.300)."

[L · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think we're supposed to like Susan. I don't. She is just that annoying! I do, however, dislike most of the Schapens as thoroughly as is expected.

I guess this is Paretsky's ode to her home. The cover promises a "gripping novel," a "strong and stark protrayal of the heartland." Well, it does seem to be a solid, good read, populated with real people. The writing is as good as we expect frm Paretsky. For instance, " . . . she's one more teenager in a place where everyone seems to lead disturbed or disturbing lives." And while there are tense scenes that you don't want to leave until they are resolved, on the whole, the novel simply isn't all that gripping.

Mind you, it rings true--the people, the situations, the small-mindedness of the place. Maybe that's the problem. If this is the heartland, I'm staying away. Lives are constricted. The Bible-thumpers rule. There is more than a hint that they can do the most horrific things, with no repercussions, legal or otherwise. The reasons for this are not altogether clear, though one--and this might be the most powerful, at least for a city girl--these people are your neighbors. This doesn't mean the same thing in the country as it does in a place like Miami or Cleveland. "Neighbor" doesn't last the term of the lease or even the seven years it takes the average American to move. "Neighbor" lasts for generations. Decisions have to be made with this in mind.

There is a story here. More than one, actually. The oppressiveness of the place was part and parcel of the large & smaller stories. I guess the reason to read it, beyond Paretsky's many skills, is for that way in which place and story are intertwined.

[Larry Bassett · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have been reading some of Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawski series and enjoying them. I got this book by mistake thinking it was part of the series. It is not. On GR it is misidentified as a mystery. It is only logical: Paretsky writes mysteries. Paretsky wrote Bleeding Kansas. Therefore, Bleeding Kansas is a mystery. Hardly. Fiction is what it is.

This is a book full of extremes. It has Wiccan. It has Hassidic Jews. It has born again Christians. It has locals who vehemently support and oppose the war – at that time Iraq. It has the urban rural dichotomy. It takes place in the farm country immediately around Lawrence, Kansas, a small urban city and college town, but still a far cry from Paretsky’s usual haunts in Chicago. Paretsky, who has lived in Chicago for over forty years, grew up near Lawrence, Kansas.

“Bloody Kansas” alludes to the bloodshed over slavery that marked Kansas’ entry into the lead up to the Civil War. The events later known as Bleeding Kansas were set into motion by the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854, which implemented the concept of popular sovereignty. An ostensibly democratic idea, popular sovereignty stated that the inhabitants of each territory or state should decide whether it would be a free or slave state; however, this resulted in immigration en masse to Kansas by activists from both sides. On January 29, 1861, Kansas was admitted to the Union as a free state, less than three months before the Battle of Fort Sumter which began the Civil War. The families in Bleeding Kansas date back to that period. Some historic material, but not enough to call it historical fiction, is included in the book thanks to one of the main characters, Susan Grellier, who is an amateur local historian and another one of Paretsky’s strong women.

Sara Paretsky gives Susan Grellier, age 45, the task of carrying the feminist banner in this book. She can bake an apple pie, enjoy sex with her husband, be an active partner in the farm operation and also tries to establish a co-op farm market and then grow certified organic sunflower seeds in her spare time. Her new neighbor, Gina Haring, a Wiccan recently arrived from New York City brings a radical spirit to the area and gives Susan the courage she needs to move toward the political left. Soon she is increasingly alienated from the rest of her family and participating in Wiccan celebrations and anti war demonstrations. She is the Paretsky model: free spirited, self sufficient, enthusiastic and passionate. However, she falls precipitously into lethargy and depression for months when her eighteen year old son is killed in Iraq, the war she is protesting. The strong woman suffers greatly in this iteration. She evidently comes back to normal by saving the life of her daughter in a burning house. No thanks to therapy.

I almost stopped reading in the first fifty pages. But it takes a lot to stop me from reading a book I have started. I thought of the word sophomoric and wondered if that was the right word to describe the book. The people on the pages seemed like sophomoric caricatures to the extreme. But I had started the book so I was not going to stop just because I was disappointed in an author whom I thought I liked.
Then something happened. There was an intensity in the story that was captivating, that made me want to keep reading page after page. It was about humanity dealing with change and setbacks. I remembered when I was young and occasionally read a book from cover to cover in a day. This is how it felt even though now I have too many responsibilities to kick back for a whole day with a book. (Right then the dog needed to go for a walk.) But it was a nice feeling for a while.

But then that intensity morphed into a diatribe against a fundamentalist church that took over the book. Maybe a book about rural Kansas, or maybe rural anywhere, must have some fundamentalist Christian religion. Derision and ridicule is heaped on the Salvation Through the Blood of Jesus Full Bible Church by Sara Paretsky. Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate a good diatribe against fundamentalism as much as the next ethical humanist. But she does overdo it, I think. Jerry Falwell would not like this book. Pat Robertson would not like this book. Ted Haggard, Oral Roberts and Jimmy Swaggart would not like this book. Yes, it did get into some serious bashing of Christian fundamentalism. Paretsky, by her vehemence, suggests they deserve it.

I am a fan of religious institutions that devote a good deal of their resources to being social service deliverers for their members as well as the larger community. As a protestant for the majority of my life I have sought out churches that help people meet their human needs. (Human Need, Not Military Greed) For me this has meant food for the hungry, housing for the homeless, the means for those in poverty to improve their lives by providing income, goods, training/education and services. I did not see these enunciated as significant tasks for any of the religions touched on by Bleeding Kansas.

A telling political truism for me is this: if you tell a lie enough times, people will begin to think it is true. One corollary is that if people are taught something (like a specific religion) all their lives, they will believe it. It is said of fifteen year old Lara in Bleeding Kansas “she had listened to her church’s theology every week her whole life and believed it to be the truth.” The idea of a blank slate or “tabula rasa” embodies the concept. Religion begins early. “Suffer the little children to come unto me.” We see the results in Bleeding Kansas where fundamentalism is severely derided. The Wiccan religion is only given limited evaluation although the dancing naked around a blazing bonfire gets a couple of mentions.

Congregationalists, a more liberal church, are represented in the book by Riverside United Church of Christ. They make some effort to house the homeless and minister to the ill. The Jewish faith, represented by Hasidic men presents another significant aspect of the book: the perfect red heifer/cow that would be spoiled by being exposed to any woman. Women should stay in the kitchen fixing the refreshments. But nothing is a significant counterbalance to the thrashing given the ludicrous fundamentalists.

The GR star system spooks me again with this book. If I had known that religion, especially fundamentalism, played such a significant role in this book, I would never have picked it up. By getting to the end of the book, I have satisfied my irrational need to finish a book that I start. Sara Paretsky is a good writer and this book is mostly well written. But the plot – yuck! So I am going to give it two stars (“it was OK”) three stars for the writing skill displayed in most of the book and one star for the plot. Presto, two stars! Sorry, Sara. But I look forward to getting back to Warshawski soon.

[Tamela · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've read Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski novels and I assumed this would be similar. Unfortunately, I let myself be influenced by my enjoyment of the Warshawski novels, and was therefore completely blindsided by "Bleeding Kansas." This is one time Paretsky should have stuck to the knitting. "Bleeding Kansas" was not well written, the characters felt like caricatures rather than believable actors and the whole thing felt disjointed, sort of like a cake with raspberry filling and pickle-flavored frosting: the parts just don't work together. There were too many disparate elements: Lesbians, Wiccans, the military, farmers, Orthodox Jews, Christian fundamentalists, and angst-ridden teenagers, all overlaid with a pioneer ancestor heritage that was supposed to be a guiding force, but instead felt like it was tacked on at the last minute. The whole mix made for a contrived, unbelievable, and not-very-compelling story. I had more empathy for the heifer than any human character in the entire story.

[Harley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best known for her V.I. Warshawski detective novels set in Chicago, Sara Paretsky recently took a left turn out of her driveway and headed south on an old gravel road until she discovered the Grellier farm in Kansas where she spent time becoming friends with the Grelliers and their neighbors. The novel, Bleeding Kansas, was the result. And nowhere is Warshawski to be found.

With this novel, Paretsky has stretched her writing legs and discovered a whole new world. Many writers, artists and musicians long to break out of the mold that created their success and create something new, exciting and different. This is probably one of the reasons Sara Paretsky wrote this novel. And she succeeded. On one level it is a cross between Judith Guest's Ordinary People and Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres with some of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet thrown in for good measure.

Unlike the Warshawski novels which are told in the first person through the voice of the detective, this story is told in the third person from the point of view of multiple characters — mostly the Grelliers. The reason I love the Warshawski novels is that I love V.I. Warshawski. Unfortuately, there is no one character in Bleeding Kansas that I can love unconditionally. I enjoyed being in the company of Susan Grellier, the mother and farmer's wife, until her son is killed in Iraq and she goes off the deep end and almost disappears from the story. She is replaced by her daughter and her husband who have problems coping with their strong mother and wife becoming weak and pitiful.

I recommend this novel to all fans of Paretsky and hope that it garnishes her a whole new group of fans as well.

[Kristie · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I could have given 1/2 of a star, I would have because this was such a poorly written book. I am embarrassed to say I helped to choose this one for my book club and it was unanimous--each of us was thoroughly disappointed in the story and all of the historical inaccuracies. (The good thing is we now have a new low for a baseline when we don't like a book--is it as bad as or worse than "Bleeding Kansas"?)

The story was convoluted with every societal issue possible--teenage sex, over the top religious antics, adultery and lust, animal abuse, bullying, feminism, depression, suicide attempt, war, and gay sex. I am sure I even left some things out! If Ms. Paretsky had only tried to tackle a few of the issues the story would have been stronger and perhaps, even believable.

I was ready to read this book because of the location (northeast Kansas) which is close to my home. I recently finished the book, The Moonflower Vine which took place in Missouri, where I grew up. It was such a pleasure to read I had high hopes for finding its equivalent, only set in Kansas. I will keep looking!

[Shruts · Rating 2 out of 5]

This paperback weighs in just under 600 pages. As one might expect, this results in some pretty slow sections, particularly early on.

A long-time fan of Paretsky's VI Warshawski detective series, I was intrigued by this book's premise: connecting the pre-civil war strife in Kansas to modern days "warfare" between long time neighbors in the same town 150 years later. So I was rather surprised when I found I could easily put this book down with astonishingly transparent excuses.

I started this before Christmas and just finished in mid-January. The book finally heats up around page 300 or so, but there is no way to start in the middle.

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The negative reviews I have read regarding this book deal mostly with the stereotypes portrayed in this book. However, knowing a real-life family just like the Schapens from a small-town farming community in Illinois, I knew that the religious-zealots portrayed in this story were not entirely fabricated. My friend’s mother was EXACTLY like Nanny Schapen!!! That is not why I disliked the book; in fact I really liked it up until the events on Halloween (near the end). My reason for giving this book 2 stars lies with the ending: there is none!!! The book delves so deeply into the activities of its characters throughout the book; then after the climatic fire scene: a broad summary of what happened in the months afterward. Literally. It jumps from Halloween night to the next spring, and it’s the shortest of explanations. There are story threads that portrayed significantly and went nowhere at the end...just left hanging and never really addressed. And there is one character that departs Kansas entirely for Chicago; given the caustic relationships between the families outlined in the previous chapters, it’s HIGHLY improbable that would occur. And NOTHING at all happens to the firestarters? Even if the one is taking the blame, they were both there and there were witnesses…..ugh, I could go on and on as to this HORRIBLE ending. I get the author’s point that life continues on in the small farming town, just like the crops, but really…this ending could have been much, much better while still keeping with the theme of “life goes on.” It’s as if Paretsky just got tired of writing the book after the climactic scene and ended it as an afterthought. Don’t waste your time, as you’ll be annoyed when you get to the end.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

My previous exposure to Sara Paretsky was through her V.I. Warshawski novels. Warshawski is a tough lady detective pursuing criminals through the gritty landscape of urban Chicago. The setting for this novel is a far removed from Chicago, both geographically and culturally and without Warshawski. A forth generation Kansas farm family finds itself dealing with a quickly changing modern world, yet one that is still deeply rooted in the past. Jim Grellier is committed to his farming legacy and loves farming, with its predictable cycles and unpredictable challenges but Kansas has a violent heritage going back to the Civil War and even more recently the conflict in Vietnam has left a bitter taste in the mouth of many of his neighbors. Combined with patriotic platitudes, fundamental religion and war in the mid-east, Jim’s life becomes anything but pastoral. A bright and emotionally charged teen-aged daughter, a slightly older teen-aged son who has lost interest in farming and a wife who has become obsessed with family ancestry---to the point of distraction---add to the stew, until calamity strikes and his life and family change forever. This is a well paced and powerful novel with believable characters that you can care about.

[Rod Horncastle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just about the freakiest story i've ever heard. (and yet it reminds me of 100's of people i've met.) YES, these folks do exist. From Wiccans to Charismatic lunatics to just REALLY mean folks who use the Word LOVE in a hateful way.

But it's all horrifically fun! Imagine a small Kansas town with Christian liberals and Charismatics generally trying to avoid each other - then add some Naked Wiccan Fire dancers... Splendid chaos that ends up with the Chosen Red Heifer (Think Jewish Temple Altar sacrifices and prophecy) being stolen by a drunk, mentally unstable, hippy left-over. What's not to love?

Every religious person should be forced to read this. Just to see where they fit in. But honestly many of these religious folks weren't religious at all - just atheists abusing religion for their own desires and hatred. To truly be religious should mean putting your religion's core doctrines and God suggested behaviors before petty human lusts and insistence's. It's best not to make gods in your own image - but many still do.

I fully enjoyed the Romeo & Juliet scenario playing out amongst the Hatfield's and McCoy's. Well done with a modern twist.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sara Paretsky's Bleeding Kansas has a strong sense of place, especially for those who are familiar with the Lawrence area. However, the characters aren't developed as flesh and blood people, but as signifiers for attitudes. The extremist right-wing Christians are too extreme even for someone like me who has little love for these people and their interfering ways. Jim, the patriarch of the good farm family, is too good to be true, always moderating his attitude and telling his daughter to avoid saying bad things about people. Further, I had to keep reminding myself that the teenagers around whom a great deal of the story revolves weren't still ten years old. Chip, the unfortunate young man who dies in Iraq, is hardly memorable enough for a reader to mourn his death.

Having heard Paretsky speak and read several times and having read all of the V.I. Warshawski novels to date, I always look forward to a new Paretsky book. As a native Kansan, I wanted to love this book. I liked it well enough to finish it, but I was never completely engaged in the story.

[William · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did I miss the interweaving of the Civil War Kansas into the story that honestly I found boring. I thought maybe we’d have some parallel story between events in the past and events today. I don’t care for any of the characters and yeah growing up I know these seem families who hate each other because they attended different churches. I sure don’t care about some red cow. I don’t know why I feel compelled to complete a book, but this sure would have made to the dnf pile if had one. But part of me felt there was not real story. I was a bit interested in the fire but this was not a 14 disk story. So much could be cut and given a better pace and maybe been more interesting. On one level you can’t even say it shows how religious makes these people dumb it doesn’t even feel that way. I was in high school during the first Iraq war and yes people would have not look favorably on anyone claiming to be wiccan. Being a Missouri resident I felt this time period, and these people but still the overall story felt boring.

[Del · Rating 4 out of 5]

New favorite author alert! There's nothing I love more than reading a terrific book and then finding out the author has other books on the library shelf! This is one of those authors. The story was good, the characters were real and I couldn't put it down.

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

After glancing at the reviews, I see that I am definitely in the minority in my rating. However, I will stand by it. I really liked this book!

From the title, I thought this book was going to be about the activities in Kansas both preceding and during the Civil War, which gave Kansas the title 'Bleeding Kansas.' There are some references to these events, but most of the novel centers around a farming family, the Grelliers, living in Northeast KS, and the story takes place during the Iraq war. There is a lot going on in this novel. Some reviewers have compared it to a 'Peyton Place' drama and I would definitely agree with that.

There is a certain amount of the story that has to do with farming and I could really relate to that since I live in a rural part of Kansas and have family members who are farmers. Perhaps that is part of the reason I felt so drawn to this novel. Jim, the father, appears to be a very down-to-earth kind of man who does his best to get along with everyone. One of his repeated refrains is that a person cannot farm in an area if he makes enemies of his neighbors---or something like that. He has a good relationship with his wife and children, although the one with his son is becoming much more difficult. Susan, the mother, is a person who goes from one 'passion' to another but doesn't stick to them. She is also passionate about the family's history. She ends up getting caught up some activities which lead to dire consequences for her. Their son, Chip, a senior in HS has become moody and ends up in a serious conflict with his mother when she becomes involved with anti-war activities. Lara, the high school daughter, is the 'good' girl who tries to keep peace in her family but also cannot resist sneaking around to find out what's going on.

Other important characters in the novel are the members of the Schapen family, who are neighbors of the Grellier family. This is a very dysfunctional family with a grandmother living with her son and his 2 boys, Junior and Robbie. Everyone in this family except Robbie hates the Grelliers. They also practice a cultish type of religion.

When a woman named Gina Haring, niece of the former owners of a nearby farm, moves into the farmhouse on that farm, she sets off all kinds of havoc. She is a Wiccan and is involved in an anti-war group. Susan becomes involved with her activities.

Add to this a red heifer calf owned by the Schapens which is supposed to become the perfect sacrifice for an extremist group of Jews living in Kansas and you have even more drama!

Although some people might view all of this as a bit far-fetched, I don't think most of it except perhaps the drama involving the red heifer calf. I found myself really caught up in all the drama and it was a definite page-turner for me.

Although there are references to Christian beliefs, I would not consider this Christian fiction.

[Nancy Brady · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to categorize this novel, but it is mainstream; it is not a mystery.

Three families (some ultraconservative, some freethinking), who have lived in Kansas since it became a state, come to blows when a young woman, a Wiccan, moves into one of the families' house.

The birth of a red heifer and the death of a son of the one of the families sets off a chain of events that will affect them all, and nothing will be the same.

[Katy M · Rating 3 out of 5]

2019 Pop Sugar Reading Challenge-A book about a family

The Schapens are the worst kind of "Christians." Modern day Pharisees. But, unfortunately, I know such people exist. The only character I really liked out of the whole book was Robbie. But, the story was pretty compelling, although at times, to me, a bit nonsensical. There were a few passages of beautiful imagery of the Midwest landcapse. Overall a so-so book

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I know this is fiction but it's also a total Crock of Shit.
I'm a resident of Lawrence & graduated from LHS, and have lived my whole life in Kansas.
I don't claim that Lawrence is a perfect town, but none of what is written in this horrible story happened here and never would.
If in 2008 if the Associated Press really thought this was "a strong and stark portrayal of the Heartland" they have no idea of what they were talking about and I've lost all respect for their opinions.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve re-read this book now that I own it, and am amending the review! This is an amazing, stand-alone (not in the Warshawski series) book by Sara Paretsky. It tells a contemporary story of small town and rural Kansans who are or encounter horridness, perhaps evil, and, kindness in their neighbors and themselves, heightened by a series of dramatic events. 5 Stars, not 3! Clearly worth re-reading.

While Sara Paretsky is one of my favorite writers (I even got to meet her in person twice!) for some reason I never got around to reading Bleeding Kansas until now-now that I live in Lawrence, Kansas! This is an intense book, but that’s no surprise with Paretsky. I thought about giving the book 3 stars, because initially I found it a bit hard to keep the characters straight. The “voice” is omniscient with some limits, and starts somewhat from the point of view of teenager Lara, so that could’ve made the characters a bit harder to discern. But, then I got into the story and the very real characters, so more stars it is! I do think Paretsky’s first person narrator V.I. Warshawski in her mysteries works a bit better than this approach. But, back to the KS book - the use of the device of interspersing letters of the main family’s great great Grandma from back in the days of the violent pro-slavery Quantrill’s Raiders works very well, both in fleshing out the Lawrence, KS area history and as a mirror of contemporary violence. The book is set around the time of its publication, 2008. Paretsky grew up in this area west of Kansas City, which nicely intensifies her descriptions of the sky and the land (she’s lived in Chicago for decades though, so interviewed many and researched much for this book, she states). Paretsky’s novels require one to think, and demand one be up to the task of examining one’s own values. In that sense they are challenging to read. But on the other hand they are so well written and engrossing, they will captivate you! I am so glad I got to read this book about disruptions in the lives of small town and country people outside Lawrence, KS just a few months after moving here. Regardless of where one lives, though, this book is worth the read.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first picked this book up at the library because of the author. I love her mysteries, so I didn't read the back of the book. It was the unabridged audio version. I started listening and was waiting and waiting for the mystery to kick in but needless to say it didn't. I almost quit listening but then it hooked me.

This is a story of a small town and 3 of the families that live there: Grelliers, Schapens and Burtons. It addresses old conflicts in a modern era and Paretsky does it remarkably. The book is mainly seen through the eyes of Lou Lou Grellier after a major loss in the family. Her struggles after her mother shuts down, dealing with old feuds and trying as a child to keep her head above water.

I thought Bleeding Kansas was well written, intense and after I got into it I didn't want to stop listening till the end. As a reader I could actually feel the conflict, get angry with some of the characters and feel bad for them at the same time.

[Tabatha · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the WORST book I ever finished. The author chooses to set a novel about bible belt Christians in one of the most liberal towns in all of the midwest and plains. This is just one of the improbabilities and extremes in this story. The characters have no redeeming qualities except Jim. He is the only one who seems "real." She sets the novel with some attention to detail about local history and geography then makes up fictitious locations that would have relevance to the story. The story has no happy or unhappy ending, it just stops, partly coming to a conclusion. It touches the surface of mental disorders (depression/bipolar), sexual identity, religous zeal/extremism, coming of age and community relations without delving into any of them enough to connect with the characters. This book is proof that best sellers are made by pubilshers.

[Susan (aka Just My Op) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A novel about a farm family living in the husband's ancestral home where the battles between abolitionists and pro-slavery caused many deaths. The wife is obsessed with the history and not very grounded, has named her older child Etienne after an ancestor and won't accept that he hates the name and goes by Chip. The younger child often has to be the adult in the family. The husband does his best but is wrapped up in his farm and doesn't always put the kids first. There are hateful neighbors who blog about all the evils everyone in the community is doing. An okay read, not as much of the historical fiction as I expected.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were too many characters in the book. It was difficult to follow. I live fairly close to the location to the story and went to school at Lawrence. There were some locations that fit the area, but the people of the area do not fit the people of the town. The title was misleading and let me to believe that the story was set pre civil war which is what the title refers to. I am sorry the author left such a negative impression of the people of the area. There were some interesting characters but they were not very well developed. There was not a character that you really like. There was also a lot of things that did not follow through in the book. I did not enjoy the book.

[Tomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I dithered about what rating to give this book, but after I found myself reliving it and yelling at the characters while running errands this morning, I realized it deserved 4 stars. It is a novel about consequences. There are only three characters who are even remotely decent people and they are the ones who suffer tremendously due to what others (the jerks) do. Most of the characters are downright evil, despicable toads - Paretsky does an excellent job of describing them. I hated them all. Perhaps the saddest thing of all is that I know people like this... Read this book. And think of the consequences before you act.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. Not really sure why. It could certainly come under the 'soap opera' category; Who's dating who? Is So-and-so gay? Backstabbing. Love letters. Diary excerpts. It's all here. I could certainly understand BK ending up on your DNF list. But amongst the suds I found characters to cheer for, settings I could relate to, and an interesting drama detailing the challenges faced by 2 farming dynasties.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book more than I expected to. I almost sent in back to the library unread. An interesting look at faith and morality in modern times, as well as a look at the dynamics of farming communities in the twilight of the American family farm. This is also the second book I've read this month that concerns the "unblemished red heifer."

[Sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrible. Probably the worst book I've ever read. Disjointed plot, two dimensional and unsympathetic characters, stiff dialog. And boring. The only thing I enjoyed about it was the references to places in Kansas that I know, and the novelty of that wore off within the first couple hundred pages. If you're looking for a good book with a Kansas setting, look elsewhere! This was painful to read.

[Lucy Suitcase · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book offended me in every way possible! As a Kansan, as a farm girl, as a Christian, as a Jew, as a woman, as a pacifist, as a environmentally aware, conscientious human who tries to put thought Into every action and as a lover of literature! I am appalled that this was actually published. Someone slept while 'editing'!