The Sweet Hereafter is set near Lake Placid in the fictional town of Sam Dent, New York. The book opens with a scene familiar to many of us: a frigid, snowy, subzero winter day in the North Country. The first character we meet is Dolores Driscoll, one of four narrators throughout the book. A caring woman, Dolores takes pleasure from the simple things in life, such as looking after her invalid husband and driving the local children to school on her bus.

The Sweet Hereafter went on to become a film, which won three awards at the Cannes Film Festival.

One morning like any other, Dolores drives the familiar route, but the increasingly poor weather causes Dolores to lose control of the bus. The accident proves fatal for 14 children and life changing for the people of Sam Dent. As a result of the accident, survivors Dolores and Nichole are traumatized and wheelchair-bound, respectively. For widowed Billy Ansel, losing his children drives him into a downward spiral of drinking and depression.

In light of this tragedy, many Sam Dent residents are looking for closure and needed fingers to point and people to blame. With the help of Mitchell Stephens, Esquire, a fast-talking lawyer from New York City, some parents of the victims were look to sue someone, be it the county, the school, or even Dolores. When Mitchell enters the picture, the book transitioned into part two, in which he was the narrator.

Mitchell is on a mission to convince parents that they need to be reimbursed for their losses. The Walker family immediately jumps on board with the Ottos reluctantly agreeing to go along with it. Despite his basket case status, Billy Ansel, another of The Sweet Hereafter's narrators, is the only parent involved to see the lawsuit for what it is — pointlessly tearing the small town apart. Her parents were allured by the potential monetary compensation, but Nichole Burnell, the fourth and final narrator, has the same mindset as Billy, and is eager to sabotage the lawsuit in any way possible.

I loved The Sweet Hereafter; I honestly thought it was one of the best books I had ever read. Having four different narrators is tricky, but Russell Banks is talented enough a writer to be able to pull it off. Dolores, Mitchell, Billy, and Nichole all had very distinct voices and stories, tying the four to one another without blending them together. With each section, the reader is able to delve deeper into each character's normal life.

We learn more about each individual narrator's back story, and what they are dealing with internally, making them seem much more real. Nichole, in particular, doesn't enjoy being stuck at home in a wheelchair, since it means she can't escape from her family. As Nichole's chapter progresses, she reveals that she is somewhat regularly molested by her father, making her that much more sympathetic. Nichole was by far my favorite character. Despite all that she was dealing with, especially at 14-years-old, she was incredibly intuitive and well-adjusted.

It is a testament to Banks' amazing writing ability to be able to simultaneously maintain four protagonists, while keeping them separate and making them all likeable in their own ways. However, my one criticism was the abrupt transitions between the different narrators. Their individual sections would usually end in a dramatic fashion; however, we didn't always learn what happened after. While this book could have used an epilogue, it's a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things, as The Sweet Hereafter was cohesive, well-written, gripping, and an all-around great novel.

What do you think of Russell Banks' novels?

Publisher: HarperCollins Publisher

Written by: Russell Banks

Date: August 1992

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