Sweet Hereafter Movie Tie-In: A Novel Book

When is lying acceptable? Or even an act of heroism? Banks answers: when it is for the common good.

Writing-wise, there is nothing special in this book. The prose is simple, readable and sometimes even boring. There are a few meaningful verses but none that can be gleamed as original or hits you really hard. However, what's lacking in verse is adequately augmented by the thought-provoking questions that this book opens to the reader and in the end, offers answers as well.

When is an accident an accident? If the criminal is well-liked, does the community have the right not to push charges? Do lawyers really mean it when they say that "you have to file a case because it can also happen to other people" or they are just after their commission? If you made a wrong choice in marrying someone, do you have the right to commit adultery? If you are a sex abuse victim, do you have the right to remain silent? How do you comfort yourself if you caused the death of many people especially if they are innocent children?

This is a story of a quiet, laid-back town in Upstate New York. One January morning, a school bus tumbled down in a sandpit full of cold icy water. Aboard the school bus were 44 schoolchildren. Fourteen of those at the back, wearing their seat belts, drowned. The driver, Dolores Driscoll, a late middle-age black woman survives. Among those children who also survived was Nichole Burnell and she was just sitting right at the back of Dolores and she now claims that she was looking at the speedometer when the accident happened.

The story is told my 4 narrators: (1) Dolores Driscoll tells what happened in that tragic morning including the family background of the 14 dead schoolchildren; (2) Billy Ansel, an ex-Vietnam soldier who is currently running an auto repair. He is a single father of twins who also perished in the accident. He was driving his pickup following the school bus quite closely but he was daydreaming about having sex with one of the victim's mother who he is having an illicit affair with; (3) Mitchell Stephens is the New York negligence lawyer. He is one of the many lawyers who rushed out to the town in order to convince the families of the victims to file mass lawsuit; and (4) Nicole Burnell who is a local teenage beauty. She survives the accident but her lower body becomes paralyzed.

According to Wiki, Banks based this on a true story that happened in Alton, Texas in 1989. A Coca-Cola truck hit a Mission school bus. 21 schoolchildren drowned and 49 were injured. The families of the victims filed a mass lawsuit due to the instigation of the many different lawyers. "Many think that the money received from the lawsuits only brought the town trouble," Wiki ends.

Easy to read. I finished this in one day. Yet the many moral questions that the book leaves the reader will stay and linger in one's mind for many years to come.

Thank you, 501 for recommending this book to me.