Bird Loomis did some sabbatical research on elections in 2000 (good choice, Bird), but with all the time he spent in Washington, D.C., he had time to do some reading outside of academe. Once again, he extols an author who "sends" readers to a place. He sent this little note.
"Although Dennis Lehane has made it into Newsweek and other visible spots as an excellent young mystery author, his newest book, Mystic River is a step up from an already high level of writing. Moving away from his excellent detective series, Lehane weaves a fascinating story of troubled families. It happens to be a mystery, but Lehane's narrative takes us beyond the genre.
"Many mysteries depend on the playing out of long-past episodes in their characters' lives, but Lehane accomplishes this with a straightforward introduction (set in the 1970s) and then transports us to the present to witness the denoument of events that were put in motion twenty-five years ago.
"One of my great joys in reading mysteries is finding authors who can authentically convey a sense of place. Mystic River "gets" the blue-collar neighborhoods of Boston as well as any of the many other books that have been set there. The city itself, with its gentrification of working class neighborhoods, becomes an integral part of the story. Great mystery. Great novel. Great read."
Awww! Thanks, Bird. But you and all the rest of the very welcome contributors to this issue are describing so many good books, I'm going to have to give up reading essays for my students and just read books.
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