Genre Fiction
![William Kent Krueger - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B001H6KG50.jpg)
Ordinary Grace
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE 2014 EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL
WINNER OF THE 2014 DILYS AWARD
A SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF 2013
From New York Times bestselling author William Kent Krueger, a brilliant new novel about a young man, a small town, and murder in the summer of 1961.
"That was it. That was all of it. A grace so ordinary there was no reason at all to remember it. Yet I have never across the forty years since it was spoken forgotten a single word."
New Bremen, Minnesota, 1961. The Twins were playing their debut season, ice-cold root beers were selling out at the soda counter of Halderson's Drugstore, and Hot Stuff comic books were a mainstay on every barbershop magazine rack. It was a time of innocence and hope for a country with a new, young president. But for thirteen-year-old Frank Drum it was a grim summer in which death visited frequently and assumed many forms. Accident. Nature. Suicide. Murder.
Frank begins the season preoccupied with the concerns of any teenage boy, but when tragedy unexpectedly strikes his family-which includes his Methodist minister father; his passionate, artistic mother; Juilliard-bound older sister; and wise-beyond-his-years kid brother-he finds himself thrust into an adult world full of secrets, lies, adultery, and betrayal, suddenly called upon to demonstrate a maturity and gumption beyond his years.
Told from Frank's perspective forty years after that fateful summer, Ordinary Grace is a brilliantly moving account of a boy standing at the door of his young manhood, trying to understand a world that seems to be falling apart around him. It is an unforgettable novel about discovering the terrible price of wisdom and the enduring grace of God.
WINNER OF THE 2014 EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL
WINNER OF THE 2014 DILYS AWARD
A SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF 2013
From New York Times bestselling author William Kent Krueger, a brilliant new novel about a young man, a small town, and murder in the summer of 1961.
"That was it. That was all of it. A grace so ordinary there was no reason at all to remember it. Yet I have never across the forty years since it was spoken forgotten a single word."
New Bremen, Minnesota, 1961. The Twins were playing their debut season, ice-cold root beers were selling out at the soda counter of Halderson's Drugstore, and Hot Stuff comic books were a mainstay on every barbershop magazine rack. It was a time of innocence and hope for a country with a new, young president. But for thirteen-year-old Frank Drum it was a grim summer in which death visited frequently and assumed many forms. Accident. Nature. Suicide. Murder.
Frank begins the season preoccupied with the concerns of any teenage boy, but when tragedy unexpectedly strikes his family-which includes his Methodist minister father; his passionate, artistic mother; Juilliard-bound older sister; and wise-beyond-his-years kid brother-he finds himself thrust into an adult world full of secrets, lies, adultery, and betrayal, suddenly called upon to demonstrate a maturity and gumption beyond his years.
Told from Frank's perspective forty years after that fateful summer, Ordinary Grace is a brilliantly moving account of a boy standing at the door of his young manhood, trying to understand a world that seems to be falling apart around him. It is an unforgettable novel about discovering the terrible price of wisdom and the enduring grace of God.
Editorial Reviews
"Pitch-perfect, wonderfully evocative. . . . In Frank Drum's journey away from the shores of childhood-a journey from which he can never return-we recognize the heartbreaking price of adulthood and its ‘wisdoms.' I loved this book." -- Dennis Lehane, New York Times bestselling author of Live by Night and The Given Day
"Krueger's elegy for innocence is a deeply memorable tale." ― Washington Post
"A respected mystery writer turns his attention to the biggest mystery of all: God. An award-winning author for his long-running Cork O' Connor series, Krueger aims higher and hits harder with a standalone novel that shares much with his other work.... 'the awful grace of God,' as it manifests itself within the novel, would try the faith of the most devout believer. Yet, ultimately, the world of this novel is one of redemptive grace and mercy, as well as unidentified corpses and unexplainable tragedy. A novel that transforms narrator and reader alike." ― Kirkus Reviews (starred)
"...elegiac, evocative.... a resonant tale of fury, guilt, and redemption." ― Publishers Weekly
"Once in a blue moon a book drops down on your desk that demands to be read. You pick it up and read the first page, and then the second, and you are hooked. Such a book is Ordinary Grace. . . . This is a book that makes the reader feel better just by having been exposed to the delights of the story. It will stay with you for quite some time and you will always remember it with a smile." ― Huffington Post
"One cannot read Ordinary Grace without feeling as if it is destined to be hailed as a classic work of literature. Ordinary Grace is one of those very rare books in which one regrets reaching its end, knowing that the experience of having read it for the first time will never be repeated. Krueger, who is incapable of writing badly, arguably has given us his masterpiece." ― BookReporter.com
"My best read so far this year." ― ReviewingtheEvidence.com
"A thoughtful literary mystery that is wholly compelling and will appeal to fans of Dennis Lehane and Tom Franklin. . . Don't take the title too literally, for Krueger has produced something that is anything but ordinary." ― BookPage
"Not often does a story feel at once fresh and familiar. But Ordinary Grace
"Krueger's elegy for innocence is a deeply memorable tale." ― Washington Post
"A respected mystery writer turns his attention to the biggest mystery of all: God. An award-winning author for his long-running Cork O' Connor series, Krueger aims higher and hits harder with a standalone novel that shares much with his other work.... 'the awful grace of God,' as it manifests itself within the novel, would try the faith of the most devout believer. Yet, ultimately, the world of this novel is one of redemptive grace and mercy, as well as unidentified corpses and unexplainable tragedy. A novel that transforms narrator and reader alike." ― Kirkus Reviews (starred)
"...elegiac, evocative.... a resonant tale of fury, guilt, and redemption." ― Publishers Weekly
"Once in a blue moon a book drops down on your desk that demands to be read. You pick it up and read the first page, and then the second, and you are hooked. Such a book is Ordinary Grace. . . . This is a book that makes the reader feel better just by having been exposed to the delights of the story. It will stay with you for quite some time and you will always remember it with a smile." ― Huffington Post
"One cannot read Ordinary Grace without feeling as if it is destined to be hailed as a classic work of literature. Ordinary Grace is one of those very rare books in which one regrets reaching its end, knowing that the experience of having read it for the first time will never be repeated. Krueger, who is incapable of writing badly, arguably has given us his masterpiece." ― BookReporter.com
"My best read so far this year." ― ReviewingtheEvidence.com
"A thoughtful literary mystery that is wholly compelling and will appeal to fans of Dennis Lehane and Tom Franklin. . . Don't take the title too literally, for Krueger has produced something that is anything but ordinary." ― BookPage
"Not often does a story feel at once fresh and familiar. But Ordinary Grace
Readers Top Reviews
TW286Book Bonkers
Having studied the previous reviews (nothing lower than a 4) the bar was set pretty high for this one. It still delivered. Two quick markers of how good it is. 1. I finished it at 2:30am. There aren't many books that have me so gripped that I keep reading until the early hours 2. It put me in mind of "To Kill a Mockingbird" (surely in everyone's ten favorite books) But crossed with Bill Bryson's "Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid", another personal favourite It has it all - a rattling good plotline, characters you care about, some wonderful turns of phrase, warmth, wit and (just in case you fear it might just be a feel-good book) some serious reflections on life. If I could have given it 5.5 I would have
R T TwinemTW286Bo
Frank Drum is a 13 year old boy growing up in the small town of New Bremen in the mid western US state of Minnesota. He lives with his mum Ruth an accomplished artist and pianist, his dad Nathan a Methodist minister, his brother Jake and his oh so talented sister Ariel who will surely set the world on fire with her virtuoso piano playing. But in this carefree summer of 1961 Frank will begin his transformation into adulthood and his future will be shaped by soon to be acquired knowledge that death can come in many forms and this visitation will shape and mould the basis of his adult life. At the centre of the story a tragic event occurs, an event that will have lasting repercussions not only on the Drum family but many of the residents of this tight knit community, where so many lives are entwined and affected by the decisions of others. The author expertly captures life in a small rural enclave and is told through the voice of Frank Drum as he looks back some 40 years with sadness and warmth. The writing is sublime combining the magical elements of a "Walton's" story with reality, harshness and struggle of everyday living. Yet it is the elegance of the prose that draws the reader in, making a lasting impression and asking us to question our moral values in an attempt to understand what is really important in this life we live...."I set on the steps of my father's church thinking how much I loved the dark. The taste of what if offered sweet on the tongue of my imagination. The delicious burn of trespass on my conscience. I was a sinner. I knew that without a doubt. But I was not alone"......."And what is happiness, Nathan? In my experience, it's only a moment's pause here and there on what is otherwise a long and difficult road".........."Whatever cracks were there the war forced apart, and what we might otherwise have kept inside came spilling out"......."because I was little more than a child wrapped in a soothing blanket of illusion"......"We entered a period in which every moment was weighted with both the absolute necessity of hope and a terrible and almost unbearable anticipation of the worst"...... I found out about the writing skills of William Kent Krueger through my active involvement with the book social forum "Goodreads" and what a delight and pleasure this has been. I look forward to reading so much more by this great author and will close this review with yet another astute observation of the human condition...."Being dead was a thing and not a horrible thing because it was finished and if you believed in God, and I did, then you were probably in a better place. But dying was a terribly human process and could, I knew, be full of pain and suffering and great fear"......Highly, highly recommended.
Charla WilsonR T
I started listening to this book on the way home from a long trip. The length of the book was right at 11 hours, which was about the amount of time it would take me to get home. However, about half way through there was a technical issue and no matter what I did I couldn't get it to work. And, to make it even worse, it stopped at a cliff hanger point, and I worried about it all the way home. When I got home I found that it was available through Kindle Unlimited ( my preferred method is to read a story), so I couldn't wait to find out what happened. I would say that at least the first third of the book is dedicated to character development, so when the action started happening, it was wonderful. However, the long time spent on character development paid off, because I truly felt like I knew and understood the characters very well. When the story picks up steam, it will keep you glued to it until the end. The story is centered around the Drum family who lives in New Bremen, Minnesota. The family consists of a Dad who is a pastor and a Mom that feels she has wasted away in a small town. The children include, 16 year old Ariel, (the apple of Mom's eye) who is getting ready to begin school at Julliard, 13 year old Frank ( the story teller), and Jake, the youngest child. It starts with the death of one of Frank's schoolmates, Bobby. Bobby was ran over by a train and his death is suspicious, because it appears that he just sat there and waited for the train to run him over. Shortly after Bobby's death, Frank and Jake find another dead man not far from where Bobby was killed. As if this wasn't enough tragedy in this small town, there is eventually another death that devastates the Drum family personally. It is not known whether or not the deaths are connected and approximately the second half of the story is dedicated to solving this mystery. I loved the audio part of the book and feel the narrator did a great job reading it. However, the Kindle Unlimited book was full of grammatical errors, which made it a little frustrating to read. Perhaps these errors occurred during the transference from written to digital. These errors were definitely not in the audio version.
Robert B. LammKat
I know I'm spitting in the wind with a "mere" three-star review, but I kept waiting for this book to ignite, and it just never did. I'll also acknowledge that I have wavered between three and four stars; I ultimately opted for three because of all the rave reviews it's gotten -- undeservedly in my view -- and my wish to balance things out. Ordinary Grace is not a bad book, but it couldn't make up its mind whether it was a mystery or a rite-of-passage book. As a result, it ended up being neither. There wasn't any real suspense, and the book reminded me of nothing so much as an extended episode of Lassie -- OK, there was no dog, but the hero (Frank, not Jimmy) learns 1.7 life lessons per 20 pages. And everyone, even the villains, are so good or otherwise not responsible for their evil deeds, so we end up feeling sorry for them instead of focusing on their bad acts. I need to eat a pickle or some wasabi to get all that cloying, pastoral sweetness out of my head.
K. FischerRobert
This might not be the most helpful review, as I really don't think I can articulate why I loved this book so much - I just did. Maybe due to its setting in a simpler time (early 1960's), in a small town (in Minnesota) - it almost made me wistful. While the story itself is terrific, the author did such a wonderful job telling it from a young boy's point of view, and I felt like I was right there with Frank Drum. I just so appreciated the messages in this book as well. I can tell you that it's been a long time since I was sad to see a book end, but that definitely happened with Ordinary Grace. Again, not a super helpful review, but just wanted to put my 5 stars out there. So very well done, Mr. Krueger.
