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By Accident: A Novel
A grieving mother finds solace from her son’s death in a relationship that quickly blurs the line between friendship and intimacy.
By Accident portrays a year in the life of a woman after the accidental death of her teenage son. Laura Lucas is numbed by the loss, a loss that is paralleled in the spate of upscale construction—and attendant destruction—in her starter-home neighborhood. It’s about Laura's relationship with a young tree surgeon who slowly becomes a replacement for her son—but also an object of desire.
The story reveals the delicate nexus where solace becomes sex; the role of men and women as unmarried friends; and examines grief in a marriage. It portrays the pain of change and the poignancy of acceptance through Laura's eyes, and occasionally, through the quirky outlook of her ten-year-old daughter. And before the story ends, another brutal, random accident will redefine Laura's life once again.
305 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 5, 2010
21 people are currently reading
73 people want to read
About the author
Susan Kelly
7 books18 followersI've lived most of my life in North Carolina, and have set my books here, at both the mountains and the beaches. I have a BA in English from UNC-Chapel Hill and a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Warren Wilson's Program for Writers. Warner Books published my first two novels (believe it: the first one, HOW CLOSE WE COME, won a contest and got picked up by the big boys) and Pegausus Books is my current publisher. I've had a checkered publishing past, including 5 agents, and a book that came out concurrent with 9/11... and vanished. My complete bio can be found on my website, http://www.susanskelly.com
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 4, 2011
Her teen aged son dies in a car accident on his way to their summer vacation rental, the last summer before he leaves for college. I almost put the book away then because I have a son and I couldn't bear the weight my own empathy. But the author sucked me in with her pure, authentic recitation of what loss like that robs you of, and leaves you with. Then a plot started to peek through like the sun on a mostly cloudy, rainy day. I stayed, for the possibilities and I was rewarded with a raw portrait of changing seasons, changing alliances,sudden and painful love, and finally, hope. Good book.
February 7, 2013
I just finished this book abuzz with thoughts. By Accident is a story about a family coping with the accidental death of their son, a teenager, who was set to embark on the next stage of his life. The novel begins with Whit's graduation from boarding school. And thus the beginning of the story is a beginning for Whit. I found it harrowing to know what was coming. We are introduced to Whit through his mother's eyes and so the reader views him as larger than life. He is the first born, who will set out for college. He is ripe and maturing - at a cusp, ready to move forward. Thus while the tenor of the graduation is celebratory, knowing more than the characters, knowing what will come, means the reader is hesitant to plow forward.
But the story barrels forward as the family prepares for a trip to their summer cottage. Mother and son set out in separate cars as the father and daughter are getting a ride later with close family friends. The family needs two cars at the cottage; it makes sense for the son to drive. Here it comes, I thought.
Kelly's writing is sparse, yet vivid. We understand Laura Lucas's inner thoughts. We get a full sense of the moments before. And yet the aftermath is less full. The actual accident is never detailed. Instead we, like Whit's own mother, do not see the accident happen. Kelly writes, Laura thinks: "He is simply, suddenly, not there."
Laura's grief is vivid and human. Susan Kelly clearly understands the thought process of a mother. She writes: "You think if you can get them past the conventional childhood perils, past drowning, past drinking Lysol, past closing themselves up inside refrigerators, past getting run over on their bikes on the way to school, that you are free and clear." I am sure if I was a mother I would nod in agreement. (Although potentially Jewish mothers are wired to see the dangers endlessly - the muggers and lurking strange men at every corner). Laura cannot move forward after Whit's death and instead stays inside all day watching the world through closed blinds. Her husband is more logical, less emotional; he wants her to stop "brooding." I know studies have shown that parents who suffer the loss of a child have a higher rate of divorce, and Kelly's evocative novel provides an explanation for this phenomenon. Laura and her husband Russ grieve in different ways. Their son's death shows how differently they have come to view life, their neighborhood, the world, family. Instead of reaching for each other they find solace in other people, other activities.
It is a young tree surgeon who is able to help Laura rejoin the world. Eliott Hacker becomes a stand-in son, a friend, an object of desire. I found Laura's response to Whit's death incredibly realistic. The loss of a child is unimaginable and it must be that much harder when the loss is so sudden, so seemingly preventable and at a point when Whit was truly coming into his own. Before his death, Whit says something about only having so many summers left before he must find a job and enter the working world. And Laura mourns deeply the fact that in reality Whit had even less left. There is such a rawness, a wrongness in a life cut short so soon after a milestone such as graduation. It is unnatural. It is a violent break in the normal life path. Of course losing a child is always unnatural, wrong. But there is something so tragic about a person about to set out on a pathway, and dying right before they reach that pathway.
I found this story so wonderfully compelling and poignant. So many of the details were lifelike, real, textured. The characters were complex and colored-in. The representation of life after loss so vivid. And I particularly liked that some of the chapters are told from the viewpoint of 10 year old Ebie, Whit's younger sister who loved him adoringly. I think my only criticism is that I wanted a fuller picture of the aftermath of the accident. I appreciate that Kelly left out the particular details - as those were irrelevant truly to the story. But I found myself wanting to know about the funeral, the reaction of the grandparents who sent a present for his graduation but are otherwise not mentioned. I was also curious about the reaction of Whit's peers. We get some sparse details about condolences sent by one classmate's parent, and about the reaction of Whit's childhood playmate who is Laura's goddaughter but no one else.
But, overall I appreciated the choices Kelly made as an author. I love the meaning that the title comes to take on at the end of the story. I also appreciated the various questions Kelly tackles. As the blurb stated: "What constitutes betrayal between husband and wife? Can a saviour be a a lover? And are either ever justified?" And additionally: "What is the line between friendship and desire? There was ultimately something incredibly refreshing in the honesty and pacing of this story. I randomly picked it up in the library without any knowledge of the author, and yet I so deeply enjoyed becoming spellbound by her words.
But the story barrels forward as the family prepares for a trip to their summer cottage. Mother and son set out in separate cars as the father and daughter are getting a ride later with close family friends. The family needs two cars at the cottage; it makes sense for the son to drive. Here it comes, I thought.
Kelly's writing is sparse, yet vivid. We understand Laura Lucas's inner thoughts. We get a full sense of the moments before. And yet the aftermath is less full. The actual accident is never detailed. Instead we, like Whit's own mother, do not see the accident happen. Kelly writes, Laura thinks: "He is simply, suddenly, not there."
Laura's grief is vivid and human. Susan Kelly clearly understands the thought process of a mother. She writes: "You think if you can get them past the conventional childhood perils, past drowning, past drinking Lysol, past closing themselves up inside refrigerators, past getting run over on their bikes on the way to school, that you are free and clear." I am sure if I was a mother I would nod in agreement. (Although potentially Jewish mothers are wired to see the dangers endlessly - the muggers and lurking strange men at every corner). Laura cannot move forward after Whit's death and instead stays inside all day watching the world through closed blinds. Her husband is more logical, less emotional; he wants her to stop "brooding." I know studies have shown that parents who suffer the loss of a child have a higher rate of divorce, and Kelly's evocative novel provides an explanation for this phenomenon. Laura and her husband Russ grieve in different ways. Their son's death shows how differently they have come to view life, their neighborhood, the world, family. Instead of reaching for each other they find solace in other people, other activities.
It is a young tree surgeon who is able to help Laura rejoin the world. Eliott Hacker becomes a stand-in son, a friend, an object of desire. I found Laura's response to Whit's death incredibly realistic. The loss of a child is unimaginable and it must be that much harder when the loss is so sudden, so seemingly preventable and at a point when Whit was truly coming into his own. Before his death, Whit says something about only having so many summers left before he must find a job and enter the working world. And Laura mourns deeply the fact that in reality Whit had even less left. There is such a rawness, a wrongness in a life cut short so soon after a milestone such as graduation. It is unnatural. It is a violent break in the normal life path. Of course losing a child is always unnatural, wrong. But there is something so tragic about a person about to set out on a pathway, and dying right before they reach that pathway.
I found this story so wonderfully compelling and poignant. So many of the details were lifelike, real, textured. The characters were complex and colored-in. The representation of life after loss so vivid. And I particularly liked that some of the chapters are told from the viewpoint of 10 year old Ebie, Whit's younger sister who loved him adoringly. I think my only criticism is that I wanted a fuller picture of the aftermath of the accident. I appreciate that Kelly left out the particular details - as those were irrelevant truly to the story. But I found myself wanting to know about the funeral, the reaction of the grandparents who sent a present for his graduation but are otherwise not mentioned. I was also curious about the reaction of Whit's peers. We get some sparse details about condolences sent by one classmate's parent, and about the reaction of Whit's childhood playmate who is Laura's goddaughter but no one else.
But, overall I appreciated the choices Kelly made as an author. I love the meaning that the title comes to take on at the end of the story. I also appreciated the various questions Kelly tackles. As the blurb stated: "What constitutes betrayal between husband and wife? Can a saviour be a a lover? And are either ever justified?" And additionally: "What is the line between friendship and desire? There was ultimately something incredibly refreshing in the honesty and pacing of this story. I randomly picked it up in the library without any knowledge of the author, and yet I so deeply enjoyed becoming spellbound by her words.
June 9, 2010
Laura Lucas is grieving the death of her son, who should have been college bound in the fall. She grieves as an island - isolated and disconnected from everything and everyone she used to love. Then she and her daughter, Ebie, meet the young man next door and Laura begins to show signs of life again. By Accident examines relationships between men and women, husbands and wives, parents and children.
By Accident is beautifully written. I could feel the heaviness of Laura's grief and her frustration with her husband as he tried to force her out of it. I understood her anger at the construction happening in her neighborhood. The changes are happening too quickly and she is unable to hold on to what once was and what should have been.
Relationships are at the heart of the story. Laura and her husband go in different directions after their son's death. Russ and his business partner go in different directions as well, in part causing Laura to lose her best friend of many years. New relationships develop when Elliot moves in next door. Lines are drawn in the sand, crossed, and redrawn as the characters try to find their place in a world that keeps shifting under their feet and throwing them off balance.
I loved the beginning of the book and felt that it ended exactly how it should have. There were a few things in the latter half that bothered me but it was only because I didn't want the characters to make those choices, even though I saw how they got there and how those choices led to the ending. I think the chapters in Ebie's voice were a wonderful break from Laura's heavy grief and gave a different perspective to the story.
By Accident is beautifully written. I could feel the heaviness of Laura's grief and her frustration with her husband as he tried to force her out of it. I understood her anger at the construction happening in her neighborhood. The changes are happening too quickly and she is unable to hold on to what once was and what should have been.
Relationships are at the heart of the story. Laura and her husband go in different directions after their son's death. Russ and his business partner go in different directions as well, in part causing Laura to lose her best friend of many years. New relationships develop when Elliot moves in next door. Lines are drawn in the sand, crossed, and redrawn as the characters try to find their place in a world that keeps shifting under their feet and throwing them off balance.
I loved the beginning of the book and felt that it ended exactly how it should have. There were a few things in the latter half that bothered me but it was only because I didn't want the characters to make those choices, even though I saw how they got there and how those choices led to the ending. I think the chapters in Ebie's voice were a wonderful break from Laura's heavy grief and gave a different perspective to the story.
July 11, 2010
I thought By Accident was a lovely telling of a tragic situation, with such honesty and detail I felt the characters emotions myself. I thought it was realistic, honest, emotional and well written. I loved the ending, and the intermittent chapters told from a different point of view than the main character's first person point of view. I will look for other books by this author to read based on my experience with this book.
November 11, 2010
I don't know if I just wasn't in the mood to read a book with so much reflection in it or if it really was boring. I found myself skimming over pages where the author would go on and on about her thoughts....looking at a tree and comparing it to her life, etc. So I don't know...I should probably just give it 1 star cause I really wouldn't recommend it to another soul....
April 11, 2012
Painful and real, to read of Laura's loss. This book was filled with the ambiguity, raw beauty and, pain that sums up life.
Attachment brings grief. A lot of truth in that statement. And the loss of a child brings the greatest pain and grief imaginable.
The book was beautifully written, the characters well drawn and real, the emotion almost breathtaking at times.
Attachment brings grief. A lot of truth in that statement. And the loss of a child brings the greatest pain and grief imaginable.
The book was beautifully written, the characters well drawn and real, the emotion almost breathtaking at times.
July 26, 2010
I grew up with Susan and, (like everyone), adored her father who she dedicated the book to. Of her works this is my least favorite most likely due to topic. I love reading her descriptions of folks and locations, etc. from childhood.
July 15, 2010
I really didn't like this book, I should have just taken it back to the library without finishing it. i didn't like the morals in the story or the way it ended.
January 19, 2012
I thought this book was great. It was interestingly written, tackled a tough subject matter, and kept me engrossd the entire time.
July 22, 2012
Solid story
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews