Apr 20, 2004 08:21 PM
2614 Views
(Updated Apr 20, 2004 08:30 PM)
Whenever I have read a book and a movie comes out based on that book, I always think the book was much better than the movie. About 2 years ago in the U.S, a movie titled Mystic River came out, to rave reviews. For a change I decided to bypass the movie and just read the book because it most likely will be better anyway.
Mystic River authored by Dennis Lehane, is by definition a murder mystery book. However, just as much time is spent looking deeply into the lives of three men, and how they got to where they are today. The book is based in the city in Boston in the 1970's and 25 years later. The 3 protagonists are Sean Devine, Jimmy Marcus, and Dave Boyle. In the beginning of the book, the 3 are childhood friends. Sean is the kid with a stable family and lives in the Point, a decent working class neighborhood, he has plans for college and a career.
Jimmy Marcus and Dave Boyle live in the Flats, a poor neighborhood that sits right next to the Point. Jimmy has a alcoholic father and a mother who is always tired. He is the idea person of the three, but also a troublemaker. Dave has no father, and his mother is crazy, he is a scrawny hanger-on, especially listening to what Jimmy says. Sean is friends with Jimmy because their fathers work in the same candy factory, Sean's father is Jimmy father's boss.
The three have a life changing experience when they are approached by two men who pretend to be cops and sensing Dave was the weakest, take him away. The two are actually kidnappers and while Dave escapes 4 days later, the horrors inflicted on him change him forever and makes him a a outcast. Sean and Jimmy feel sorry for Dave, but even so the three split up, Dave doesnt hang out with Jimmy anymore, and Sean and Jimmy dont hang out because Sean's father fired Jimmy's father.
The story then moves forward 25 years, and we see how all three of them have ended up. Sean is now a State Police officer, and a good one, but his is estranged from his wife, this gets him suspended from the police force (the book explains why). Sean is only back a couple of days from his suspension, and he is called to the Flats for a murder investigation.
The victim turns out to be Jimmy Marcus' daughter, Katie. Jimmy grew up to be a criminal, one of the best thieves in the city, but reformed himself after his release from prison, started a legitimate business and raised Katie up by himself after his wife died from skin cancer. Dave Boyle is married and has a son, he actually married Jimmy's cousin Celeste. The rest of the book deals with who committed the murder, but it again spends a lot of time show how all three men think and live.
Mystic River has a story line, (the solving of the murder), but all mysteries have those. What separates a good mystery apart from the mediocre ones is the surrounding plot and character development, and in this Mystic River delivers. All the main characters are fleshed out very well, so we can see logically why each character does what he does, and why he does it.
Lehane also does a very good job of writing his settings, I have been to Boston many times, and his writing transports me there instantly. The murder mystery is solved with a decent amount of realism, but this book is more about showing us what makes the characters tick than about solving the murder.
Overall, I liked this book very much. I did not agree with all of the turns Lehane makes his characters take, but that is a personal thing, it's not like they could never happen. I refuse to give out the ending, but it is not everyone lives happily ever after, but again for me that is a good thing.
