The Bright Forever by Lee Martin is one of those books I put on my reading list and then couldn’t remember why I wanted to read it. It could be that it was compared to The Little Friend by Donna Tart, which was good, but that is just a guess. Martin has a concise writing style and writes from several characters’ perspectives. On a summer day in a small Indiana town, a 9-year old is missing and at first there seem to be no suspects. Martin moves through the story quickly, introducing two creepy guys. A teacher obsessed with some of his students and his neighbor, a grating guy with no friends and a past of lying about time spent in World War II give their sides of the story. It was an interesting book, though there are a few contrived plot twists and some of the characters are hard to stomach. It does compare well to The Good Friend, though it does not have the depth or engaging characters of Tart’s novel.
4 comments:
Would it make a good Adult Book Group selection, or would you recommend The Little Friend more? I've not read either.
Actually, I think both would be really good. In my opinion, there is more in The Little Friend to get into. The Bright Forever, however, is an easier read and I think stil has plenty to talk about.
Ok, met a guy that reminds me of you. He really likes Nick Hornby and is in a band (which, I know is a narrow way of comparing two people, but...) the last good book he read was Vinyl Junkie and it sounded like something you would like.
Cool, I love getting suggestions fo stuf to read. I'll order it.
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