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Before and After
by Rosellen Brown
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Dell (1993-09-01)
ISBN: 0440216540
EAN: 9780440216544
Dewy Decimal #: 813.54
Paperback
Release Date: 1993-08-02
SKU: 123397
Condition: New
Comments: 0440216540 MMPB free of markings. Cover shows very minimal shelf wear. This book shows no evidence of having been used; gift quality, pretty. Your book will be carefully protected for transit in sturdy, weather-resistant packaging. We are prompt, efficient, communicative.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
The Reisers were a typical American family. Two loving parents. Two bright teenagers. A lovely home in a small New England town. But then one day the doorbell rang, bringing news of a shattered crime that would turn their son into a stranger and tear their lives in half...A novel that dares us to ask how well we, as families, really know each other and ourselves...dares us to see that one event can change every-thing... dares us to confront the fine and shattering line between guilt and innocence, and between love and rage.
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Customer Reviews
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Heart wrenching
Rating  (4)
Date: 2006-09-27
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
The plot of is simple, like its title, "Before and After." Into the stable routine of an affluent happy family drops a bombshell which rips them asunder and throws them together. Carolyn and Ben Reiser's 17-year-old son, Jacob, is accused of a brutal murder.
Chapters alternating between Ben, Carolyn and their pre-adolescent daughter, Judith, explore their reactions and, through memory, yearn for the way life had been.
Brown's themes are anything but simple. Love is central but around it swirl murky questions of alienation, moral choice, duty, forgiveness, good, evil and truth.
At first shock brings the Reisers together. New Yorkers transplanted to bucolic New Hampshire, they are instantly outsiders again. Jacob has vanished, leaving only questions. The future yawns like the unimaginable black hole. Hope -- kidnappers, maniacs -- is to be clung to.
Then time works its magic. Jacob's whereabouts still a mystery, Carolyn grows restless, considers returning to her work as a pediatrician. Ben, a man of action who destroyed evidence in Jacob's car without hesitation, recoils from thoughts of "normal" activities. Judith goes back to school and endures the taunts of her peers in silence. Tension simmers at the surface, obscuring darker roilings beneath.
Finally even the reader grows impatient. Get on with the story so they can go on -- somehow -- with their lives.
And, at last, Jacob is found. Ben, however miserable, is in his element, taking charge, wholly committed to his son. It's more difficult for Carolyn. She can't forget the murdered girl. She wonders how well she ever knew her son. Ben is passionate and focused, Carolyn is sensitive and tortured by the rigors of soul searching. Judith cleaves to a world where right and wrong are simple truths.
Brown's ("Civil Wars," "Tender Mercies") exploration of character is riveting. Her characters' memories and struggles seem as real as our own. Almost too real. Heart-wrenching truths cut close to the bone, leaving no room for the comfort of "It can't happen here."
One minor complaint -- New Hampshire has no death penalty and too much of the story depends, unnecessarily, on the fiction that it does. Life in prison is horror aplenty.
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The Darker Side of Human Decision Making
Rating  (3)
Date: 2006-05-21
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Caught in a seen where a decision must be made to either preserve the family or betray their son, the family faces a moral decision. Telling the decision from their own words and their own perspectives, the novelist explores the darker side of human decision making.
Very emotional.
The movie does not follow the book. In the movie, the son's murder is an accident. In the book, it's intentional. The producers of the movie thought it might be a better story if the murder was unintentional with the outward appearance of guilt than an actual intentional murder.
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A welcome twist to the crime novel.
Rating (4)
Date: 2005-02-12
2 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
The setting is small town New Hampshire. The secret girlfriend of high school student Jacob Reiser is found dead in the snow and all of the clues point to Jacob.
"Before and After" is a crime novel with a big twist. Rather than following a policeman or the fleeing criminal, it follows the family of the accused and what they go through. The book's title refers to life before and after the crime and how the seemingly perfect family is ripped apart.
It is told in the first person from the perspectves of mom, dad and sister (interestingly, never from Jacob's point of view). The brother and son they thought they knew is now a stranger.
At times, this book is an emotionally abusive roller coaster, but it would be an interesting read for a discussion group concerning the reactions of the family, especially the father and his criminal acts to cover up evidence and his obsession to help his son.
I'll give this book a "B+" for finding an interesting way to add a welcome twist to the crime novel.
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I've read much better
Rating  (2)
Date: 2004-12-15
2 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
I didn't care for the way that each chapter was written about the thoughts of each family member, except for the murderous son. We never hear much from him. Enjoyed the beginning, then I kept skipping pages waiting to read about what really happened. The family didn't seem bothered that their son had killed a girl, rather that he may go to jail. The mother was the only one who showed some concern for the girl's parents. The book could have gone into more detail about the trial, but most of the book was about the father's thoughts. Don't recommend it. When I saw Merryl Streep was in the movie version, I know the movie must be pretty slow moving, as are all of Merryl's movies.
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Moral Dillema
Rating (3)
Date: 2004-01-21
2 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
This book was thoroughly engaging in terms of how each character tried to deal with such a horrific event. I think that if I ever had a child who committed such a crime I'd probably want to protect him or her as much as possible too. It is interesting to see how each character decided what was the "right" thing to do. Perhaps it would have been nice if the parents had tried to discuss the "wrongness" of what he did with him. However, nothing they can say or do can bring that girl back and all the talk (in previous reviews) about wanting to see the son are warranted, but seem very extreme. The section with the "molestation" has been overly emphasized in previous reviews. In my humble opinion, that was nothing more than a curiosity explored and was fairly non-sexual. This isn't the most exciting and fast paced book, but is worth a read just to hear Brown's excellent use of language.
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