Beautiful. I loved it. ( )

You could read this for the engaging plot, which - though it revolves around a series of deaths in a small town in Minnesota in 1961 - is refreshingly free of the usual tropes of the "small town murder mystery" genre (serial murderers, gruesome deaths, terrible secrets, etc.) The tone of the novel is sympathetic rather than sensational, the murders merely a structure for what turns out to be a moving and beautifully written exploration of human experiences and emotions.

Or, you could read this for the cozy nostalgia, a voyage back through time to small town, mid-century, Midwest America, where men drove Packards and Indian motorcycles, teens hung out at the soda fountain or local quarry swimming hole, and little kids read comic books when they weren't playing pickup softball games with the other kids in the neighborhood.

Or, you could read this for the appealing characters, starting with the story's engaging and wholly sympathetic narrator, 13yr old Frankie, son of the town's abidingly gentle Methodist preacher, plus a memorable supporting staff of townfolk (descendants of the Norwegian and German emigrees that settled Minnesota) and the area's indigenous Sioux.

But the real reason you want to read this is the tale's powerful and affecting message of the importance of extending grace to all the wounded people of the world. Because ultimately all of us are wounded in some way, Krueger suggests: by war (Frankie's father), disappointment (Frankie's mother), unrequited love (Frankie's sister), intolerance, domestic violence, physical handicaps, grief .... Through the simple of act of extending "ordinary grace" - sometimes towards others, sometimes towards themselves - Krueger's characters navigate their way through grief and despair, eventually achieving wisdom and peace.

For those who, like me, aren't particularly religious, never fear - this book is about humanity rather than spirituality. In this sensitive tale of love and understanding, it's humans who, despite their flaws, are the ultimately source of mercy and redemption. This love child of *Stand By Me* by way of *To Kill A Mockingbird* and Karan's *At Home In Mitford* manages to be simultaneously literary, lyric, and lovely. ( )

Ordinary Grace takes place in 1961, a momentous summer in the life of thirteen-year-old Frank Drum, his family, and his community of New Bremen, Minnesota. Frank narrates the story through the filter of the forty years that have passed since the events, including four deaths, occurred. The characters, the place, the time all come alive in Willian Kent Krueger’s masterful prose. The story is both uplifting and dark, part redemption tale, part crime drama. Outstanding. ( )

Less a mystery and more an exploration of grace and human frailty. ( )

I first heard of William Kent Krueger within days of moving to Minnesota this past summer. He seemed to be a local bestseller, greatly respected. A local book club is reading Ordinary Grace; I jumped at the chance to give Krueger a try. All I can is... wow. This man can write. This novel is like a darker, Minnesota-flavored To Kill a Mockingbird, a coming-of-age set in a turbulent 1961. The prose is art. I don't normally read books in this vein, but it hooked me and I had to read through in about a day. Tragedy piles upon tragedy. The only negative I can cite is that I predicted the guilty parties of certain things much earlier on, but the way things played out still came as a surprise. ( )