The book is not bad. However, the author's description of Lawrence, Kansas and Douglas County is not based in reality. I've lived in the area for decades and, perhaps, there was once a Douglas County like the one Paretsky describes, but if so it hasn't existed for a long, long time. Lawrence, is in fact, one of the most liberal towns in the country, not the quaint little farm town described in this book. Paretsky writes about a protest of the Iraq war which draws 80 people. She writes that a protest like this in Lawrence is almost unheard of. Not so. Much larger anti-war protests take place in Lawrence all the time...and they are not generally organized by groupings of farm wives, but by anarchists, students, feminists, anti-war activists and the like. Fundamentalist Christians no doubt exist in Douglas County, just as they do everywhere, but they are a small minority of the population and have little influence these days. Instead of the modern, left leaning town that Lawrence is today, Paretsky descirbes some sort of strange 1800s farm town transported to the 21st centruy. Paretsky writes in her introduction that after the turbulent 60s and 70s there was a "Republican" conservative backlash that took over the town. Quite the contrary, Lawrence turned toward the left in those years and never looked back. Sara, you should go home more often.

I've been a little puzzled by the mixed reviews this book has received. I do, however, accept that the book's themes are not understated and that subtle characterisation is not a trait one associates either with this book or with its creator more generally. This is not Jane Austen, and one reads Paretsky for action, drama, tight writing and skilful plotting, as well as for the injection of a socio-political context which (OK, when she doesn't go overboard and lecture us, especially on women's issues) is frequently central to the text.

I found the book riveting: I read it in about three days (not all the time!) and that may have been both cause and effect of my enjoyment of it. The central character, Lara (a.k.a. Lulu for those reviewers who were mystifyingly confused by the characters) is a young adolescent girl whose characterisation, though not especially original, is nonetheless powerful and, at its best, moving, and which constituted for me the dominant theme of the book - coping with change, grief and development while her family and society crumble around her. The book reminded me slightly (though I wouldn't want to push the analogy too far) of Donna Tartt's The Little Friend, another book that might, perhaps, confuse the unwary or inattentive: probably if you liked that you'll like this (and vice versa, of course).

So basically it's a a coming-of-age, personal working-out melodrama, with Iraq, witchcraft, Judaism and Christian fundamentalism woven into the themes. Love and loyalty, Paretsky seems to be saying, will endure, and to the extent that (and not an inch further) they infuse the Christianity, Judaism, witchcraft etc., these belief systems serve as metaphorical expressions of a greater good. Once such systems depart from the pathway of love, however,they become mad, evil and fundamentally self- as well as other-destructive

Not the most original theme in the world, and I doubt whether Paretsky will (or expects to) be a Nobel candidate; but I enjoyed and admired the book, which simultaneously constitutes a departure from, and a continuation of, the Warshawski novels for which she is best known.

This is one of the worst books I've ever read. I only stuck with it out of allegiance to V.I., who, I am relieved to hear, returns next year.

I agree with the other reviewers who found the first 70-plus pages confusing and disjointed. As a high school English teacher, I kept thinking that this read like a teenager's first attempt at writing a novel. I am pleased to say that the last third of the book moved rather quickly, but it wasn't enough to make reading _Bleeding Kansas_ worthwhile.

I enjoyed this book very much and I am looking forward to reading it with my book group. I found the characters to be detailed and interesting and the subject matter to be worthy of further discussion.

Sara Paretsky's BLEEDING KANSAS receives Susan Ericksen's warm and inviting experienced voice as it tells of two families linked by both heritage and dark family secrets. Modern violence holds roots in the past and teens become embroiled in a family war in this gripping saga.

There are too many stories here. None of them are developed, nor are the flat, predictable characters. The teen dialog seems straingt out of Leave it to Beaver. If this were a first novel, it would never make it to the shelf. SP is such a good writer that I can hardly believe she actually wrote this!

I grew up in Lawrence, Kansas and we studied the rich local history in grade school and middle school, so the history of Northeast Kansas and Lawrence in particular were familiar to me, as are the geographic setting and the local history from the '60s and '70s. And I knew and know some of the author's family so of course I had to read this book. And I could not put it down; my 88 year old mom had trekked down to get a signed copy on a cold January evening in Lawrence, at my insistence after I heard about the book. She loved it too.

What's with some complaints about characters? The main characters are Jim Grellier and his daughter Laura, or "Lulu". These two are richly developed and very compelling. But some readers might find Jim's wife Susan and Laura's boyfriend Robbie Schapen ( from a family that shared the anti-slavery fervor a hundred years before but is now part of a radical Christian sect)equally compelling, and they are just as well developed, all with humor, pathos, conflict, and some really cool adventures when they interact with some of the minor characters.

I still cannot figure out which ones I like best.

Paretsky obviously put a lot of work into research not only on history, which is fairly easy, but on esoteric farm matters and science, which she manages to make interesting, a big part of the character of Susan, where she touches also on the subject of depression. At first I thought I wanted to encounter a failed "family therapy" session here, but the alternative treatment by the author--a visit by Laura's teacher to the home--is way better, and another example of her skill in using minor characters to make major points.

It's a great read. I read it while visiting Lawrence last week and coincidentally attended a lecture by another Lawrence High School graduate, Professor Bart Ehrman, author of GOD'S PROBLEM. I guess the one thing I would have liked to hear Ehrman talk about is something I missed in this novel, a discussion of how even a liberal city like Lawrence has come to have a number of these fundamentalist crazy sects, while they were few and far between thirty years ago.

I hope the author will write a sequel to this. The sweet romance between Laura and Robbie might offer an ideal reconciliation between the two families. I have a feeling we will see a sequel.

I've read most of Paretsky's VI Warshawski novels, and looked forward to reading something of hers in a different genre. I found the story choppy and disjointed, the characters wooden and unsympathetic. Didn't seem like the work of an experienced novelist--just a big disappointment.

I just don't understand how some reviewers claimed to be unable to follow the cast of characters. I read this book on a vacation as did my 13 year old daughter, we both thought it was amazing and had no trouble remembering who was who. This is a fabulous story of two farm families with a long history. The only disappointment for me was in the final pages. I really wanted the "bad guy" to get it more in the end. All in all it was a tremendous story and I would highly recommend it.

I was very pleasantly surprised by Ms Paretsky's novel "Bleeding Kansas". Previously I had only read her mystery novels. This book had really good characterization and a memorable plot line. I would highly recommend this book.

I so looked forward to a new Sara Paretsky novel and was terribly disappointed. The dialog, numerous "plots" and lack of Paretsky's regular descriptive narrative make me wonder if she really wrote this. I'm glad I borrowed it and did not purchase it.

The author leaves windy Chicago and her heroine, to take the reader to rural Kansas where Sara had spent most of her childhood youth. It is a spell-bound novel where two ancient farm families fight a bitter feud concering histories from the past which includes the lawlessness of the 70s and a powerful church which manipulates most of the congregation. I think you will haunted for a while by several horrible scenes in the book.

Ursula Jaramillo

Bleeding Kansas by Sara Paretsky
$17.13 Used & New from: $10.98
This was one of the best by Sara Paretsky. She went back to her best gift- that of storytelling. The characters were real and the plot kept you engaged even though it wasn't a mystery like some of her others. I've loved all of her V.I. Warshawski novels and I loved that they were set in Chicago, but this one was different and knowing she grew up in a like setting made it all the more likeable.

Although Paretsky writes well, I've never really enjoyed her V.I, Warshawski series, because the lead character is so cold, and unlikeable. Now she's created a group in Kansas who similarly have nothing warm about them, and who irritate, rather than engage the reader. Her political views bleed all over the pages--conservative, that's bad--fundamentalist, that's crazy--but at least she shows us one Christian who isn't crazy--the same can't be said for the Jews. Her Jewish characters are, as she puts it, "loonies", and it takes her until the last few pages to bring in one Jewish character with any, well, character, but she's married to a gentile, so I guess that's why Paretsky likes her. Sadly, she seems to know very little about Orthodox Judaism, and what she does know is inaccurate,so she paints that which she doesn't understand very harshly. Ignorance isn't really an excuse--doesn't she do research for her books?

Setting aside V. I. Warshawski to allow her to recuperate from her travails in the last episode, Sara Paretsky has written a novel of monumental proportions. It is set in the Kaw (Kansas) River Valley, where the author grew up, and traces the lives of several founding families who settled there in the pre-Civil War days when the pro- and anti-slavery forces vied against each other.

The novel takes place in current times, with references to the past, and looks at the social politics and farm life of the area, including religion, pro- and anti-Iraq War, persecution, the hard lives of farmers and other themes. It is a far cry from Dorothy's Kansas which, at least, had a rainbow.

The characters are well-drawn, the story engrossing. The novel raises a variety of questions on a broad array of themes, including fundamentalism and scientific evolution, but more importantly, hope. The book should be read and is highly recommended

This book is as different as can be from the VI Warshawski series that I have been reading for long time, and that I love. Ms. Paretsky herself says that she has had to wait this long to write this book. In it she reveals a lot about herself, and about where she grew up. She was born and raised in Kansas. This book is about Kansas and the people that live there. There is some history in the excerpts from a pioneer woman's diary that she places at various times in the narrative. This book is a story about two families, the Schapens and the Grelliers. These two families, though neighbours have been rivals for many years, and it takes two young people (one from each family) to bring this mostly simmering rivalry to a head. The result is a Hallowe'en night that cannot be forgotten. I really enjoyed this book, and I think that Ms. Paretsky has shown herself to be a novelist of some repute with the release of this book.

I have read all of Paretsky's fiction and I really liked this novel. It reminded me in a way (in terms of mood) of her novel "Ghost Country". If all you have read are her V. I. Warshawski books then don't expect that sort of book. Those tend to be formulaic. This is a beautifully paced book. Unlike other reviewers I did not struggle at all with this book. Every time I picked it up I was immediately sucked in and resented any interruptions! Most (not all) of the characters are well developed and show multiple aspects of their personalities. Even the good guys are flawed....
I loved the descriptions of life on a Kansas farm even though a few of the farming references were clearly inaccurate (for example, if you are going to fertilize 1200 acres for the next years wheat crop, you are not going to be using bagged fertilizer! You would be buying it in bulk!). I also enjoyed the historical information about pre and post civil war struggles in Kansas. I had no prior knowledge of this history. I thought this book was heartfelt and conveyed a genuine love of the land.

Bleeding Kansas is a NOT a V.I. Warshawski novel. It is also NOT a mystery.

Having dealt with what the book is not, let me address what it is:

Sara Paretsky has illuminated small town living in a farm community where three sets of neighbors represent different values and attitudes (not to mention different religious beliefs). In telling her story, she draws on a context of three conflicts that have occurred among the people of Kansas (Civil War fights between pro- and anti-slavery factions with the heavy violence being done by the pro-slavery people, the Vietnam era split between pro- and anti-war people, and the current split between religious fundamentalists and those with a more secular view).

The Schapen and Grellier families have been neighbors and poles of opposition for some time in the Kaw River Valley. A lot of what each family does is intended to be competitive with the other family. There used to be a third farm family, the Fremantles. The latest generation of Fremantles has moved away from the Fremantle home and land . . . until a remote relative, Gina Haring who is recently divorced and wants to find herself, moves into the house. The Christian fundamentalist Schapens are outraged by the lesbian, Wiccan Haring. The church-going but pro-science Grelliers are divided over Haring and what she adds to the community. The tension among the homes is increased when the Schapens produce a totally red calf which Jewish fundamentalists want to use to help re-establish the ancient temple in Jerusalem. As the residents interact more than is their custom, other events are set in motion that have unexpected consequences.

Bleeding Kansas is a very hard book to get into. You have lots of names (past and current) thrown at you in the space of a few pages. It's also hard to get an initial handle on what kind of book this is.

If you can stick it out until around page 125, the narrative begins to take off in a recognizable direction. From there, I think you'll be able to follow the story and characters fairly easily as more time is spent with each character and the number of characters mentioned at one time drops.

The plotting of the story leaves a lot to be desired. There are long stretches where not enough happens. And where there is action, it's often hard to understand what is being described.

The characters are quite exaggerated away from what you might expect of a person living today with just a few exceptions. As a result, I found myself thinking of the characters as characters that I was reading about rather than identifying with one or more of them and living inside the story.

Much of the plot development is pretty predictable once you understand the premise. I found it hard to motivate myself to finish the book.

My advice is that unless you want to read everything that Sara Paretsky writes, skip this book. My advice to Ms. Paretsky is to stick to her excellent V.I. Warshawski series.

Ms. Paretsky can write about whatever she chooses. However, she can't be too shocked when her fan base turns on her. We've enjoyed the VI series for years, we're devotees of the mystery/detective genre, we've eagerly awaited the release of the next in the series. So much so, we would get it virtually sight unseen - because it's by Sara Paretsky and because in every advance blurb we saw, it mentioned the VI series. We are NOT interested in stories about farmers in Kansas. We are insulted by the hubris that we'll buy just anything if it's by her and by the feeling that we've been manipulated. In spite of the glowing (bought and paid for) reviews, make no mistake - this is NOT a VI and it is not an enjoyable read!

While I have not been a reader of Sara Paretsky's mysteries featuring private investigator V.I. Warshawski, I have long been aware of one of Chicago's finest writers. It was with great interest, therefore, that I received my copy of BLEEDING KANSAS, which represents a major departure for Paretsky. Instead of the grim streets of Chicago, the setting is Lawrence, Kansas, a community of farmers and University of Kansas students and teachers. Rather than a bang-bang mystery, it is a thoughtful work focusing on issues that paint the contemporary political landscape. The book's title reminds us of the Kansas territory of 150 years ago and the battle between pro- and anti-slavery forces. The novel itself serves as a thoughtful reminder to readers that the philosophical battle of that era in American history continues today.

Paretsky's father was a faculty member at the University of Kansas. Her family moved to Lawrence when she was four years old, and she resided there until her permanent relocation to Chicago. BLEEDING KANSAS, while not autobiographical in the purest sense, is a reflection upon what she experienced and observed in a unique community, a blue-state island in the red state of Kansas. The novel is a deeper exploration of many of the same issues discussed by Paretsky in her recently published WRITING IN AN AGE OF SILENCE, a series of essays that offer her views on a number of the hot-button issues that confront our nation.

BLEEDING KANSAS is the story of three families whose roots are deep in the Jayhawk State. The Grellier family has been farming in Kansas for generations. The father, Jim, his wife Susan, and children Lara and Chip seem to be the ideal American farm family, combining solid traditional values with a contemporary 21st-century view of life. But ugly events will doom their lives. Tension grows between the Grelliers and the Schapens, a neighboring farm family whose fundamental religious views are anathema to the Grelliers. The Schapen family includes the stern matriarch Myra, her deputy sheriff son Aaron, and his two boys, Junior and Robbie. The romantic relationship between Lara Grellier and Robbie Schapen serves as a Shakesperean-like backdrop to the conflict of Paretsky's narrative.

A third family, the Freemantles, appears mostly in a historical context through a diary and an ancient farmhouse that has been the site of mysterious historical events. The house will be temporarily occupied by Gina Haring, a Freemantle niece who has traveled from New York in an effort to re-focus her life. Haring's anti-war and liberal views are the flint that will spark confrontation in the community.

After the 2004 election, author Tom Franks used his home state of Kansas to ask crucial questions of political significance. Why do so many of us vote against our economic interests? Where is the outrage at corporate manipulators? And what ever happened to middle-American progressivism? These were the riddles of WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH KANSAS?, one of the bestselling political tomes of 2005. BLEEDING KANSAS confronts many of those same questions and continues that discussion through Paretsky's fictional portrayal of the ongoing debate in our nation over the relationship between religion and public policy. Since the birth of America, citizens have debated these issues in discussions that have gone beyond words and ended in violence. For some, the debate has raged for so long that they have forgotten what they are fighting over.

For Paretsky, an accomplished and talented writer with a large following, BLEEDING KANSAS represents a noteworthy change of style. Perhaps that is why the novel seems to start slowly. But as the characters are fleshed out and we learn more about their lives, the book's insight and universal truths --- whether found in Chicago, Illinois, or Lawrence, Kansas --- become evident. Paretsky has traveled a long distance from V.I. Warshawski's Chicago, and her audience will enjoy the journey.

--- Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman

I love the VI Warshawsky mysteries, but figured that was because I enjoy Sara Paretsky's writing. When I saw she had a new book out, I didn't hesitate.

If you have ever read "A Thousand Acres" by Jane Smiley... you'll be so disappointed in this book! As previous reviewers mentioned, characters have no depth. Additionally, they are charactateurs of people, with the "bad" people having absolutely no redeeming characteristics whatsoever... they just keep getting more and more "bad" throughout the book. A fantasy novel might work that way, but not one set in Kansas, featuring alleged human beings!

I was troubled from the very beginning of the book. In the Forward, Ms. Paretsky writes about her family moving to the country to escape "the poisonous segregation of the era... My family lived in that house for forty years, but locals still call it the Gilmore house, never the Paretsky house." The way this was written, I felt that Ms. Paretsky saw this as a slight to her family, perhaps because they were Jewish. As someone who grew up in small town America, I feel very confident that it was intended as a tribute to the original builders... anyone who makes it into something more has an axe to grind. My feeling was that Ms. Paretsky was using this book to grind axes about the beautiful land and the horrible people she remembers from her time in Kansas.

The part of the VI Warshawsky books with which I have always taken issue is the venom with which some of the supposedly affectionate characters talk to one another (the exhanges that VI has with Lottie, especially). I asked Ms. Paretsky about it once and my understanding of what she said was that she thought women had been brought up to "be nice" and she didn't hold with that. I do. I think generally the world would be a nice place if we were nicer to each other. I think Ms. Paretsky had a lot of "not nice" she wanted to make public in this book. I hope she is able to forgive and move on.

If you can wade through the first third of this book, it gets more interesting. I hope the rest of the world doesn't see Kansans the way they're represented by Paretsky. Oh, yes, I guess they do. Now people have Paretsky and Fred Phelps as the basis of mental visuals of us, which by the way, seem to be similar. Just because the book is set in Kansas, don't assume any of the setting or characters resemble anything but fiction.

I also had a little difficulty with the character development, but if you hang in there past the first 40 pages, the characters really come to life. I thought the story was very interesting and exciting and although I was hoping for a different ending, it made sense to end it the way she did. That's reality. I've never been to Kansas, and it creeped me out a little to think there are places like that. I imagine people from Kansas are fuming over this story. A very enjoyable read!

This is quite simply one of the worst books I have ever read. Ms Paretsky would have done well to set the story in the 70s, the last time she seems to have spent any significant time in the area--or perhaps just to have refrained from writing at all about something she clearly knew nothing about. Her delusional grasp of the demographics of Douglas County and Lawrence and her complete ignorance about paganism in general and Wicca in particular appall me. At every turn I am confronted with evidence that she holds some bizarre nostalgic idea about Kansas that bears no resemblance to the Kansas I have been living in for the last fourteen years. The mealy-mouthed speeches Gina Haring offers ("No one writes about us like real people"..."Witches...don't do magic") are unrealistic, the pagan characters a badly-written representation of every negative stereotype of paganism that exists.

This book is oddly-paced, the characters are poorly written, relying more on stereotypes than genuine development, and the details of daily life, whether Kansan or pagan (or both) are brutally inaccurate. Save your money.

Maybe if I had hung in with this book longer, it would have become fabulous and engrossing but after 155 pages, it was just not worth the struggle. Sara Paretsky has taken a brave step in writing a novel that comes from her heart and history and should not be judged by the same standards as you would evaluate a chick-mystery. However.... The dialogue is tedious with far too many details, words and little content. There is not much depth to the characters and it is, even with concentration, a chore to bring everybody together in to a meaningful whole. It is grammatically flawed and I am quite certain that the 5th commandment deals with killing vs. one's relationship with parents. (p.72) All in all, an effort that really missed the mark for me.

Preordered this book thinking it was another VI Warshawski mystery. I was eagerly awaiting it's arrival, and I was so excited when it finally came. I settled down for some light hearted mystery reading about a female sleuths adventures. What a let down !! I tried to read it because I'm a fan of the author, but had a headache by chapter three trying to keep up with the characters and story line. I'm confused as to why Amazon had it listed under the "female sleuths' catagory. It's sooo NOT !!

Sorry for another bad review !! I'm sure someone else will appreciate this type of story !! It's too much like "homework" for me.

I pre-ordered this book thinking it was a VI Warsahwski mystery because Amazon had it listed as a forthcoming book under "women sleuths." They now have it listed under bestelling books-"women sleuths"--which is extremely misleading because this book is not a mystery per se, and definitely not a VI book. I was initially very unhappy when I unpacked it and found out it was "just a novel about some people in Kansas." I then went on Amazon to read the existing reviews, and decided to try it rather than sending it back. I am very glad I did, because I stopped complaining once I started reading it! This is a very interesting and well-written book.

I am not a fan of non-mystery novels in general, but this one is very compelling and complex, about people who seem so very real. I'm not going to discuss all the plot details, because others already have. I just want to explain why I thought it was good, and why I think others will like it. Sara Paretsky really has a feel for people's emotions and motivations, and she got me hooked from the beginning when I was figuring out what was going on with Lara in the cornfield. The way it mixes the past and present also really kept my attention.

I agree somewhat with a prior reviewer that it is sort of like a Barbara Delinsky book, because it is about the joys and sorrows of people's lives--but it also has Paretsy's trademark hard edged approach--which makes for a more complex, darker, and gripping read. This is not a light book, but it's not a total downer either. It hits the highs and lows of real life.

I also agree with a prior reviewer that there are a lot of people and relationships to figure out and to keep straight. Her comments were helpful because, but being forewarned, I started reading with the knowledge that I would have to figure things out and keep it all straight, so I didn't have a problem. In fact, it was kind of fun to feel I was being challenged to think and remember things in order to fully understand the characters and their lives.

So, if you are a disappointed VI fan who thought this was a new one in the series--give this a try anyway. The same thing goes if you don't like the VI mysteries--give this novel a try. Ms. Paretsky is an excellent storyteller, and this book deserves a wide audience.

Susan Firtch

Nears the town of Lawrence in the Kaw River Valley in Kansas, two families the Grelliers and the Schapens have farmed the land for over one hundred and fifty years. Both families barely tolerate each other because the Schapens who belong to a fundamentalist church believes the Grelliers are godless heathens. Into this atmosphere comes Gina Haring, a Wiccan and a lesbian, who is the catalyst for a series of events that ends in tragedy and death.

Susan Grellier is attracted to the Wiccan holidays and attends the bonfire which gets the Schapens up in arms. Junior Schapen makes life miserable for Chip Grellier. Life gets worse for Chip when his mother becomes an anti-war activist and the town looks upon her as a hippie. Tired of the constant fighting, Chip enlists in the army and sent to Iraq where he dies less than a month after he arrives. Susan has a breakdown and doesn't relate to anyone causing the family to fall apart. The Schapens have a baby red heifer that the ultra conservative Jews want to buy in three years if she is perfect as both Jews and Christians believe such an animal is needed for the temple to be built and for Christ to come again. Tired of the loathing the Schapens stir up, some people set in motion a deadly series of events that culminates on Halloween.

BLEEDING KANSAS is nothing like the author's V.I. Warshawski crime capers. This is more like a novel written by Barbara Delinsky about families and the internal and external strife each individual deals with. There is a lot of depth to this novel and though it can be read for entertainment, it deals with lots of social issues such as religious intolerance, same sex relationships and people who don't conform to mainstream thinking. The heartland of America is shown as a microcosm of society in general and deals with timely issues that divide us.

Harriet Klausner

I'm sure this is a wonderful book, if I could make it past page 34 without having to re-read the previous pages so I can pick up the thread of all these names again. I've been reading it for THREE NIGHTS and still can't keep the cast of characters straight. There are Schapens, Greynards and Grelliers, and Fremantles, and others. Are Jim and Susan married? Is Chip their son or Lulu's father? Who is John Fremantle related to? Who are Robbie, Kathy, Arnie, Myra, Blitz and Curly, Doug and Mimi? Lara and Lulu-- is that the same person? Who is she related to again? WHEW.

To make it worse, pronouns then enter the picture. "Arnie and Chip walked down to his house to put his horses away in time for his mother (who is that again?) to bake the biscuits," etc.

Then, characters are sometimes referred to by name, but other times by "Gram" (I still don't know who that is), etc.

Frustrating. What a shame. Sorry for the bad review. Maybe others can make heads or tails of it...

I'm sure this is a wonderful book, if I could make it past page 34 without having to re-read the previous pages so I can pick up the thread of all these names again. I've been reading it for THREE NIGHTS and still can't tell the Schapens from the Grelliers, or keep it straight if Jim and Susan are married? Is Chip their son? Who is John Fremantle related to? Who are Robbie, and Kathy, and Arnie and Myra, and Blitz and Curly, and Doug and Mimi. And Lara and Lulu, is that the same person? Who is she related to again? WHEW.

To make it worse, pronouns then enter the picture. "Arnie and Chip walked down to his house to put his horses away in time for his mother (who is that again???) to bake the biscuits," etc.

Then, sometimes people appear to be called by name, othertimes by "Gram" (I still don't know who that is.)

Frustrating. What a shame. Sorry for the bad review. Maybe others can make heads or tails of it...

This is a book to savor. We are transported to the Kaw River Valley near Lawrence, Kansas where we meet the Grellier and Schapen families. These two farm families have become bitter enemies and the bad feelings erupt in violence in this book. We are allowed to feel much sympathy for the Grelliers, but we only feel dismay at the antics of the Shapens. The Grelliers are grieving for their dead son, Chip, while the Schapens are airing negative comments about this family on a web site. A very humorous sub-plot is the birth of a "perfect" heifer to the Schapen family. The Jews in the area are interested in this heifer, and they want to sacrifice it when it is three years old in order for a Temple to be built so that Jesus can return. The lengths that the Schapen family go to protect this heifer are very funny. The powerful climax will leave you breathless. This is just a wonderful book, one to curl up with and lose yourself in its magical words.