Items related to Reservation Road
Synopsis
Film tie in edition
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review
"Explain this to me: One minute there is a boy, a life thrumming with possibilities, and the next there are marked cars and strangers in uniform and the fractured whirling lights. And that, suddenly, is all the world has to offer." This is the voice of Ethan Learner, a college professor who has just watched his 10-year-old son, Josh, die in a hit-and-run accident on a silent Connecticut road.
John Burnham Schwartz's Bicycle Days (1989) received favorable reviews but seemed very much an autobiographical first novel. His second fiction, Reservation Road, however, is a book that resists genres: a tragedy where all the characters are flawed and none are entirely guilty; a thriller where the killer, Dwight, wants to be caught but is too laden with self-loathing to turn himself in; and an experimental novel where the narrative jumps gracefully among three perspectives.
In the opening pages Schwartz establishes strong connections between fathers and sons. Moments before the accident Ethan watches his son standing precariously close to the curb; he sees possibilities in Josh, a shy boy whose musical gifts indicate a sensitivity that is no less present, though more mature, in his father. At the same time, Dwight and his son, Sam (also 10), are rushing home from an extra-innings Red Sox game where Dwight tries to rebuild the fragments of attachment left after a bitter divorce. Schwartz reveals depth in simple gestures--a hand, for example, placed in a hand, only to be self-consciously pulled away. Dwight drives on after hitting Josh, though he slows in a moment of hesitation in which Ethan hears him calling "Sam" or "Sham"--he's not sure which. Out of grief, and with only scattered clues, Ethan begins his quiet pursuit of the killer, a pursuit that fuels the novel to its poetic conclusion. In Reservation Road, John Burnham Schwartz has crafted a lasting work of literature, a page-turner that's also a rich character study. --Patrick O'Kelley
From the Publisher
"This is a shattering book, imagined with startling emotional precision and generosity. And though it begins in catastrophe, Reservation Road turns out to be a kind of map of connectedness: Touch a child here and the whole world trembles out of orbit; everyone bleeds; finally, perhaps, after great pain, everyone heals. John Burnham Schwartz is awfully young to own this much wisdom, but there it is, on every page."
--Rosellen Brown
"A powerful and affecting novel...haunting...highly suspenseful...compelling to read."
--Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
"Spellbinding...a haunting tale"
--Booklist
"A poignant thriller...quietly breathtaking...a suspenseful literary novel"
--Betsey Osborne, Vanity Fair
"A pleasure to read. Suspense is redefined here..."
--Sandra Scofield, Newsday
"A lovely book, full of life and feeling"
--Peter Matthiessen
"One of those rare--very rare--novels that you don't so much read as inhabit...But it's the novel's conclusion, as perfect as it is sudden, shocking and completely unexpected, that will stick in your memory."
--Tom Dehaven, Entertainment Weekly
"A beautiful novel. An important novel"
--David Bowman, New York Observer
"Both a beautiful, wrenching story of redemption, and a novel of exquisite suspense"
--Anne Lamott
"A first-rate work of fiction disguised as a page-turning thriller"
--David Halberstam
"An unexpected pleasure...It will leave the reader entranced as well as moved."
--Erica Noonan, Boston Herald
"A non-stop read...a wonderful writer"
--Ward Just
"A triumph of form, pacing and power...character-driven as it is, it reads like a thrille, swift and complete."
--Kit Reed, New York Times Book Review
"It possesses a conclusion of such power that it would be a literary crime to reveal it."
--Deirdre Donahue, USA Today
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherVintage Books USA
- Publication date2008
- ISBN 10 0099513188
- ISBN 13 9780099513186
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages292
- Rating
Other Popular Editions of the Same Title
Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace
Stock Image
Reservation Road
Seller: More Than Words, Waltham, MA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Good. . . All orders guaranteed and ship within 24 hours. Your purchase supports More Than Words, a nonprofi t job training program for youth, empowering youth to take charge of their lives by taking charge of a business. Seller Inventory # BOS-H-12i-01474
Quantity: 1 available
Stock Image
Reservation Road
Seller: WorldofBooks, Goring-By-Sea, WS, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Paperback. Condition: Good. The book has been read but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact and the cover is intact. Some minor wear to the spine. Seller Inventory # GOR007669215
Quantity: 2 available
Stock Image
Reservation Road
Seller: AwesomeBooks, Wallingford, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Very Good. This book is in very good condition and will be shipped within 24 hours of ordering. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far. Money back guarantee if you are not satisfied. See all our books here, order more than 1 book and get discounted shipping. . Seller Inventory # 7719-9780099513186
Quantity: 1 available
Stock Image
Reservation Road
Seller: Goldstone Books, Llandybie, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Paperback. Condition: Good. All orders are dispatched within one working day from our UK warehouse. We've been selling books online since 2004! We have over 750,000 books in stock. No quibble refund if not completely satisfied. Seller Inventory # mon0006543123
Quantity: 1 available
Stock Image
Reservation Road
Seller: Bahamut Media, Reading, United Kingdom
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
Condition: Very Good. Shipped within 24 hours from our UK warehouse. Clean, undamaged book with no damage to pages and minimal wear to the cover. Spine still tight, in very good condition. Remember if you are not happy, you are covered by our 100% money back guarantee. Seller Inventory # 6545-9780099513186
Quantity: 1 available
Stock Image
Reservation Road
Seller: Y-Not-Books, Hereford, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Bumped edges Creased Cover Creased Pages Slight Scratches to Cover Sun damage to edge of pages Next day dispatch. International delivery available. 1000's of satisfied customers! Please contact us with any enquiries. Seller Inventory # mon0000312046
Quantity: 1 available
Stock Image
Reservation Road. John Burnham Schwartz
Seller: Kennys Bookstore, Olney, MD, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Very Good. 2008. Paperback. Good clean copy. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland. Seller Inventory # KSG0016136
Quantity: 1 available
Stock Image
Reservation Road. John Burnham Schwartz
Seller: Kennys Bookshop and Art Galleries Ltd., Galway, GY, Ireland
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Very Good. 2008. Paperback. Good clean copy. . . . . Seller Inventory # KSG0016136
Quantity: 1 available
Stock Image
Reservation Road
Seller: Book Haven, Wellington, WLG, New Zealand
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Good. A tragic accident sets in motion a cycle of violence and retribution in John Burnham Schwartz's riveting novel Reservation Road. Two haunted men and their families are engulfed by the emotions surrounding the unexpected and horrendous death of ten-year-old Josh in a hit and run accident. Ethan, a respected professor of literature at a small New England college and father of Josh, is wracked by an obsession with revenge that threatens to tear his family apart. Dwight, a man at once fleeing his crime and hoping to get caught, wrestles with the overwhelming guilt and his sense of obligation to his own son, Sam. As these two men's lives unravel, Reservation Road moves to its startling conclusion. This is an astonishing tale of love and loss, rage and redemption, that is as suspenseful as it is emotionally compelling. 304 pages. Seller Inventory # 1111629
Quantity: 1 available
Stock Image
Reservation Road
Seller: Barclay Books, York, WA, Australia
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Paperback. Condition: 2008. A near fine copy. 10-Aug. A tragic accident sets in motion a cycle of violence and retribution in John Burnham Schwartz's riveting novel "Reservation Road". Two haunted men and their families are engulfed by the emotions surrounding the unexpected and horrendous death of ten-year-old Josh in a hit and run accident. Ethan, a respected professor of literature at a small New England college and father of Josh, is wracked by an obsession with revenge that threatens to tear his family apart. Dwight, a man at once fleeing his crime and hoping to get caught, wrestles with the overwhelming guilt and his sense of obligation to his own son, Sam. As these two men's lives unravel, "Reservation Road" moves to its startling conclusion. This is an astonishing tale of love and loss, rage and redemption, that is as suspenseful as it is emotionally compelling. Seller Inventory # 9236784
Quantity: 1 available