Helpful Score: 2
This is a good book about a father who comes to Resurreccion Mexico to recover the body of his son who has just committed suicide. As he mourns, he becomes aware of details that don't fit the story, and he begins an investigation of his own into his son's death. It is a well done mystery where the "detective" doesn't even know he's investigating at first.
Helpful Score: 2
Atticus is a story about a father and his prodigal son. It is also an engaging murder mystery.
The writing was sincere and powerful. The description of the wild Mexican landscape and the people of Resurreccion were done to perfection. This was a novel where you could see and smell and feel what the characters were experiencing.
The love that Atticus feels for his son Scott, no matter how messed up, rotten and selfish Scott has been, is so sincere.
The writing was sincere and powerful. The description of the wild Mexican landscape and the people of Resurreccion were done to perfection. This was a novel where you could see and smell and feel what the characters were experiencing.
The love that Atticus feels for his son Scott, no matter how messed up, rotten and selfish Scott has been, is so sincere.
Helpful Score: 2
excellent book! couldn't put it down, lots of twists and turns.
Helpful Score: 1
This is a story about a man who finds out his long lost younger son has committed suicide in Mexico. When he goes to Resurreccion to recover his son's body he is very puzzled by situation and feels his son was murdered. I found the book interesting and it was a good read. Not one of my favorites, but definitely worth the time.
Helpful Score: 1
An excellent read. Reads as a detective-type of story, with a father investigating his son's death. I found the characters to be interesting, with much depth and emotion. A great afternoon read with many interesting twists and turns. Definitely recommended.
Great book. Great writing. Ron Hansen really has a way with words. My only criticism is that it was a bit predictable.
A Colorado rancher receives word that his rakehell younger son has committed suicide in Mexico, and sets out to claim the body and bring it home for burial. But he quickly discovers that things in Mexico are not quite what they seem to be.
Up to this point, the novel seems a pretty run-of-the-mill tale of a grieving man sussing out the oddities of a loved one's death, refusing to believe the official story, and trying to determine what really happened.
Then Hansen pulls the rug out from under the reader in the last chapter and the story becomes something else entirely.
Up to this point, the novel seems a pretty run-of-the-mill tale of a grieving man sussing out the oddities of a loved one's death, refusing to believe the official story, and trying to determine what really happened.
Then Hansen pulls the rug out from under the reader in the last chapter and the story becomes something else entirely.
From Publishers Weekly
Demonstrating masterful versatility, Hansen, whose acclaimed Mariette in Ecstasy probed the spiritual experience?and its physical manisfestation?of a young, cloistered nun in upstate New York, writes here about Atticus Cody, a 67-year-old Colorado cattle man who goes to Mexico to retrieve the body of his younger son, an artist, alcoholic and, finally, a suicide. The story of Atticus, with elements of a murder mystery and a close focus on aspects of character generally considered to be male attributes, resembles Mariette, however, in its exploration of love in a purified and highly potent form. A deeply grieving Atticus meets Scott's friends in the town of Resurreccion and copes with the unknowns of a culture far removed from his ranch, where only recently "carrots of ice were hanging from the roof's iron gutters." As the Cody family history, which includes the death of Atticus's wife (mother of Scott, and his older, successful brother) in a car accident in which Scott was driving, is gradually revealed, Atticus comes to believe that Scott's death may have been at another's hand. Effectively employed contrasts?in setting and in character, especially between honorable, disciplined Atticus and the impulsive Scott and his circle, for whom love and failure seem intertwined?carry the story through its increasingly gripping plot. A few, though central, coincidences are the only improbabilities in a story that is stunning for the credibility of its cast and their actions.
Demonstrating masterful versatility, Hansen, whose acclaimed Mariette in Ecstasy probed the spiritual experience?and its physical manisfestation?of a young, cloistered nun in upstate New York, writes here about Atticus Cody, a 67-year-old Colorado cattle man who goes to Mexico to retrieve the body of his younger son, an artist, alcoholic and, finally, a suicide. The story of Atticus, with elements of a murder mystery and a close focus on aspects of character generally considered to be male attributes, resembles Mariette, however, in its exploration of love in a purified and highly potent form. A deeply grieving Atticus meets Scott's friends in the town of Resurreccion and copes with the unknowns of a culture far removed from his ranch, where only recently "carrots of ice were hanging from the roof's iron gutters." As the Cody family history, which includes the death of Atticus's wife (mother of Scott, and his older, successful brother) in a car accident in which Scott was driving, is gradually revealed, Atticus comes to believe that Scott's death may have been at another's hand. Effectively employed contrasts?in setting and in character, especially between honorable, disciplined Atticus and the impulsive Scott and his circle, for whom love and failure seem intertwined?carry the story through its increasingly gripping plot. A few, though central, coincidences are the only improbabilities in a story that is stunning for the credibility of its cast and their actions.
