Overview

"""Rich in imagery and the detail of small-town life and haunting in its portrayal of ordinary men and women struggling to understand loss. Under Mr. Banks's restrained craftsmanship, what begins as the story of senseless tragedy is transformed into an aspiring testament to hope and human resilience."" -- Atlanta Constitution In The Sweet Hereafter, Russell Banks tells a story that begins with a school bus accident. Using four different narrators, Banks creates a small-town morality play that addresses one of life's most agonizing questions: when the worst thing happens, who do you blame? Here is a stunning novel of ""compelling moral suspense"" (Los Angeles Times Book Review) from one of America's greatest storytellers."

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9780060923242

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Reviews

"""Banks poses many questions, and his canvas is far larger than any thumbnail sketch of its components can suggest."" -- San Francisco Chronicle ""Without sentimentalizing them in the least, Banks has extended the themes explored in his previous novels . . . to show that wiser, possibly even better people can emerge from the ordeal: that some old American decencies still prevail, against all the odds."" -- Chicago Tribune ""A novel of compelling moral suspense . . . [a] superb book . . . a remarkable book, a sardonic and compassionate account of a community and its people."" -- Richard Eder, Los Angeles Times Book Review ""A finely observed portrait of small town life . . . It's as though he has cast a large stone into a quiet pond, then minutely charted the shape and size of the ripples sent out in successive waves . . . It is often gripping, consistently engaging and from time to time genuinely affecting."" -- Michiko Kakutani, New York Times ""Mr. Banks's colorful characters are so believable they could have stepped out of the Rendez-Vous tavern across from the Bide-A-Wile motel . . . The Sweet Hereafter is rich in imagery and the detail of small-town life and haunting in its portrayal of ordinary men and women struggling to understand loss. Under Mr. Banks's restrained craftsmanship, what begins as the story of senseless tragedy is transformed into an aspiring testament to hope and human resilience."" -- Atlanta Constitution ""Russell Banks's fiction holds such a simple, internal authority . . . The story he tells is grave and unusually urgent, his prose as careful as a trail of stones left in the forest . . . These voices ache with a particular brand of reality [and] Banks evokes each of his characters with fluid authenticity . . . Russell Banks is a writer of extraordinary power."" -- Boston Globe ""The Sweet Hereafter . . . is a close and haunting story of a small town in distress . . . unflinching and quietly powerful."" -- Mirabella ""This beautifully written book's most brilliant strategy is . . . to explore the complexity of grief and hope."" -- Vogue"

Russell Banks's fiction holds such a simple, internal authority . . . The story he tells is grave and unusually urgent, his prose as careful as a trail of stones left in the forest . . . These voices ache with a particular brand of reality [and] Banks evokes each of his characters with fluid authenticity . . . Russell Banks is a writer of extraordinary power. -- Boston Globe Banks posses many questions, and his canvas is far larger than any thumbnail sketch of its components can suggest. -- San Francisco Chronicle Without sentimentalizing them in the least, Banks has extended the themes explored in his previous novels . . . to show that wiser, possibly even better people can emerge from the ordeal: that some old American decencies still prevail, against all the odds. -- Chicago Tribune A novel of compelling moral suspense . . . [a] superb book . . . a remarkable book, a sardonic and compassionate account of a community and its people. -- Richard Eder, Los Angeles Times Book Review Mr. Banks's colorful characters are so believable they could have stepped out of the Rendez-Vous tavern across from the Bide-A-Wile motel . . . The Sweet Hereafter is rich in imagery and the detail of small-town life and haunting in its portrayal of ordinary men and women struggling to understand loss. Under Mr. Banks's restrained craftsmanship, what begins as the story of senseless tragedy is transformed into an aspiring testament to hope and human resilience. -- Atlanta Constitution The Sweet Hereafter . . . is a close and haunting story of a small town in distress . . . unflinching and quietly powerful. -- Mirabella Mr. Banks . . . does a smoothly professional job of giving the reader afinely observed portrait of small town life . . . It's as though he has cast a large stone into a quiet pond, then minutely charted the shape and size of the ripples sent out in successive waves . . . It is often gripping, consistently engaging and from time to time genuinely affecting. -- Michiko Kakutani, New York Times This beautifully written book's most brilliant strategy is . . . to explore the complexity of grief and hope. -- Vogue

Author Information

Russell Banks, twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, was one of America's most prestigious fiction writers, a past president of the International Parliament of Writers, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His work has been translated into twenty languages and he received numerous prizes and awards, including the Common Wealth Award for Literature. He died in January 2023 at the age of eighty-two.

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