The Sweet Hereafter

*** By Russell Banks. This is another where I haven't seen the movie. Actually, after reading the book, I'm not sure I'd want to see the movie, because...

This book definitely takes advantage of several literary "things" (for lack of a better term) that just don't come off as well in film. The biggie is point of view. The event tipping off the book is a school bus accident that kills more than a dozen children, leaving the driver and one or two kids as survivors. Four characters — the driver, a father of two children killed in the accident, a class-action-suit—bearing attorney, and a child survivor — recount their lives after the accident. As becomes evident, how each person's reaction is not purely a response to the accident itself; it is a culmination of each person's life up to that point, with all it's problems and secrets, that motivate him or her in sometimes unexpected ways.

Anyway, as far as movie vs. book goes, I have the feeling that the four distinct voices would be muddied in the filming. Also, much of the book is in expository prose -- as opposed to scenes -- and since a movie is only seen/scene (heh -- pun), what happens to everything that goes on in someone's head?

The writing is strong and simple, and over all the book is quite powerful. The main feeling I came away with was dread — the knowledge that people's pain can and will twist his/her vision of "the right thing to do."

Posted by Lisa on January 24, 2003 03:11 PM