Racial tension in Boston. 1974 black and white schools to be integrated. Southie school and Roxbury high school. Neither school has much to offer. White families teach children to hate black kids.
The plot develops when a black boy is murdered.
In my opinion, this is his best novel. ( )

http://olvasonaplo.net/olvasonaplo/2024/03/21/dennis-lehane-apro-irgalmak/ ( )

This was another Lehane that made me think a lot. Please don't get me wrong, I am against any form of racism, but the way the solutions were implemented in Boston to bring about mixing was doomed to failure in my eyes. How is this supposed to work when children are bussed across the city to attend a school where there are mixed races? The question that should have been asked is how to mix neighbourhoods so that different ethnicities can live together and the school would also be mixed. This is hardly possible in America because rich parents send their children to private schools and the public schools (as it seems here in Switzerland) do not have the best reputation.
The second focus is drug dealing and consumption. How easy it is as an Irish population that is against the mixing of the races, but big in the drugs business, to blame all misdeeds on the weak population. They are often supported/covered up by the 'white' police.
Sometimes I felt really sick while reading, with so much injustice. And I ask myself, when I look at today's American politics from a distance, why after so many years the USA has somehow still not come up with a solution to racism. ( )

I read three Dennis Lehane novels pre-library thing (pre 2009): Mystic River, Prayers for Rain, and Sacred. I didn't recall the books thus gave them two stars. Librarything average rating is upper three, low four. Planning on re-reading them I saw Small Mercies had a solid 4.25 average rating. I gave it a shot, and glad I did. Very violent book and well done.
525 members; 4.25 average rating; 2/2/2024 ( )

Mother turned vigilante in the lead up to forced busing. Pretty weird scenario. ( )