Reservation Road (1998) by John Burnham Schwartz

 1001 Novels: A Library of America

Reservation Road (1998)

by John Burnham Schwartz

Stamford, Connecticut

Connecticut: 4/9

   Not to be confused with Revolutionary Road (1961) by Richard Yates, which is also set in Connecticut and is also on the 1001 Novels list.  This isn't quite a legal procedural- the story is about a hit and run where a young boy dies and the impact of the crime on both families, neighbors in Stamford, Connecticut.  The story is told in rotating chapters told from the POV of the perpetrator, Dwight, a disgraced attorney desperately trying to reconnect with his son after a messy divorce, Ethan, father of the victim, a literature professor at a local liberal arts university, and his wife, who is a basket case for the entire book.

  Reservation Road is another book where my professional experience impeded my enjoyment- like- a major issue in the book is that the police do not make much progress in finding the perpetrator and generally give father Ethan a "what can we do" type of attitude.  Now, I know full well that in communities like Stamford, Connecticut, the local authorities do not just throw up there hands when a child is murdered in a hit and run. 

  The whole story struck me as ridiculous up to and including the death of the child itself which happens because this 10 year old boy walks out into the middle of the street and fails to hear or see the approach of a speeding vehicle that hits him.  Again, I grew up in an area that was in many ways the west coast equivalent of Stamford, Connecticut and I know for a fact that in places like that you can hear a car coming away, literally, for miles, because there is no other noise happening.

   Seriously though keep me away from literature dealing with contemporary crime and punishment- I'm not a good audience for those books.