When twelve-year-old Sidney Henderson pushes his friend Connie off the roof of a local church in a moment of anger, he makes a silent vow: Let Conn...
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Aug 27, 2010
Brad
rated it: 
I take great interest in any novel that explores violence, so David Adams Richards's Mercy Among the Children, with all its accolades and set as it is just across the bridge from the island where I live, was a must read.
I had high expectations because Mercy Among the Children tied Anil's Ghost (another book about violence) for Canada's Giller Prize, and because everyone I knew who'd read it adored it. By the time I was finished, though, the most I could muster for this book was an " More...
I had high expectations because Mercy Among the Children tied Anil's Ghost (another book about violence) for Canada's Giller Prize, and because everyone I knew who'd read it adored it. By the time I was finished, though, the most I could muster for this book was an " More...
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Jul 29, 2011
Peachy
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Mar 18, 2011
Lori L
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Mercy Among the Children by David Adams Richards was originally published in 2000. Richards won the Giller Prize (Canada's most prestigious literary award), and the Canadian Booksellers Association Libris Award for Author of the Year and Fiction Book of the Year for Mercy Among the Children.
Oh. My. Goodness. This is an incredible, heart breaking novel that will haunt me for years to come. The story of Sydney Henderson's family, as told by grown son Lyle, is about the price they all pa More...
Oh. My. Goodness. This is an incredible, heart breaking novel that will haunt me for years to come. The story of Sydney Henderson's family, as told by grown son Lyle, is about the price they all pa More...
Jul 11, 2011
Shirley
rated it:
This book is filled with overwhelming sadness which somehow does not descend into hopelessness or melodrama. It is a difficult book to read. David Richards does not spare his prose when describing the everlasting poverty of the Henderson family. There is greatness in this family. The father Sydney is a truly honourable and brave man who will never show his anger to any other person, including his family. There is the mother Elly, who is a beautiful simple soul and one that unscrupulous people fe
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Jan 11, 2009
Jen
rated it: 
I wasn't really planning to read another David Adams Richards book, after not really enjoying The Friends of Meager Fortune. I don't know, maybe I just didn't "get" it at the time. I picked this one up only because of Canada Reads, where it's being defended by the wonderful and talented Sarah Slean.
A most excellent passage:
"Men can grow up on my river, or in my province or anywhere and see nothing of violence or anger. There is as much rich or middle class here More...
A most excellent passage:
"Men can grow up on my river, or in my province or anywhere and see nothing of violence or anger. There is as much rich or middle class here More...
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Mar 28, 2010
Julia
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Set in a rural, poor, backwoods community in northern New Brunswick, Syndey Henderson makes a pact with God to never harm another soul in his life, after he pushes his friends off the top of a roof, in a tussle. His friend doesn't die and Sydney then lives his life as he had promised God.
Sydney has a wife and 2 children. He is the butt of nasty pranks and the scape goat in this community for everything bad that happens. Even his children are abused in school and around town. A kid at sc More...
Sydney has a wife and 2 children. He is the butt of nasty pranks and the scape goat in this community for everything bad that happens. Even his children are abused in school and around town. A kid at sc More...
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Jan 30, 2010
Sharon
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This novel begins with two boys shoveling the snow off the roof of a church. They argue and one boy pushes the other and he falls to the ground. As he watches the boy motionless on the ground, the pusher sends a prayer to God. If he lets he pushed boy be OK, he will never strike out in anger again. The boy on the ground gets up and walks away unharmed. The other boy keeps his promise, and its impact on him and his children is the story of the novel. The idea of turning the other cheek is o
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Jun 12, 2011
Daniel
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The novels of David Adams Richards exist to (1) showcase some of the finest, emotionally-draining human drama ever committed to the printed pages, and (2) to slowly destroy my soul and my will to live with each and every book. Be warned: Richard's books are NOT for the timid...and THIS is perhaps the most powerful work in his canon of writing.
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Nov 13, 2011
A. J.
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Really didn't want to put this one down. Got completely drawn in to the world of the Hendersons and their tiny house and sad stories. Very well written.
There were a few elements which stretched credulity: except for Lyle the Henderson family seemed too good to be true, for example, while the Pits were just the opposite. I also thought it was unlikely that Sydney would have left his family for quite such a long stretch of time. Some odd repetitions, too: more than one character (in the More...
There were a few elements which stretched credulity: except for Lyle the Henderson family seemed too good to be true, for example, while the Pits were just the opposite. I also thought it was unlikely that Sydney would have left his family for quite such a long stretch of time. Some odd repetitions, too: more than one character (in the More...
Oct 21, 2011
Carolyn
rated it:
This is a very well written book, well deserving of its Giller prize. It evokes a sense of place, with the river and forest well described. This is also a profoundly sad, bleak, disturbing story. This is not a book for anyone who needs their stories wrapped up with everything resolved in a happy ending. At times I wanted to throw the book across the room, but couldn't stop reading long enough to do so.
The setting is a small backwoods town with most of the main characters beset by poverty More...
The setting is a small backwoods town with most of the main characters beset by poverty More...
Oct 27, 2010
Tiffany
rated it:
I haven't read a book this dark since Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald. But Mercy Among the Children is not nearly as well-written as that masterpiece of a novel, and sometimes I felt the author was being a little gratuitous with his darkness. "Oh, look at me, I'm so morbid and grim, what else can I do to fuck with these characters' lives?"
The first three quarters of the book were such a slog, if it wasn't for the long(ish) climax of the last 120 pages, this book w More...
The first three quarters of the book were such a slog, if it wasn't for the long(ish) climax of the last 120 pages, this book w More...
Jul 06, 2010
Amanda
rated it:
I'm not sure how this book ended up at my house, but it randomly appeared on the bookcase in my office and I'm really glad it did.
The story and the writing style reminds me of Cormac McCarthy, but maybe just in that the narrator is very detached and the setting seems like somewhere McCarthy would choose.
We've got a huge cast of characters that is so inbred and into-each-other's-business that the circles that spiral around and around from the first page to the last are r More...
The story and the writing style reminds me of Cormac McCarthy, but maybe just in that the narrator is very detached and the setting seems like somewhere McCarthy would choose.
We've got a huge cast of characters that is so inbred and into-each-other's-business that the circles that spiral around and around from the first page to the last are r More...
Apr 06, 2009
Louise
rated it:
I found this to be a rip your heart and soul out of your body book!! Wonderfully written as well as the author's painted verbatim of Eastern Canada. Anyone who lives in a rural area will delight in the picturesqueness of this novel.
A young boy is indelibly, emotionally wounded by an accident on another child. He takes to heart the seriousness of this experience and forges ahead with his life feeling inner guilt and not wanting to even argue with anyone. Arguing could lead to his cru More...
A young boy is indelibly, emotionally wounded by an accident on another child. He takes to heart the seriousness of this experience and forges ahead with his life feeling inner guilt and not wanting to even argue with anyone. Arguing could lead to his cru More...
Nov 24, 2011
Nancy
rated it:
I found this book a tough read - tough in that internally I was always fighting with the main character, a man who made a promise to himself and stayed with the promise his whole life. This enabled him to die in peace, but in keeping his promise to himself he made life really, really difficult for his own family.
The poverty that continues throughout the whole book - it just never seems to get better, just worse - made the read hard. But then heh, that is the reality of some people's More...
The poverty that continues throughout the whole book - it just never seems to get better, just worse - made the read hard. But then heh, that is the reality of some people's More...
Dec 07, 2008
Sheri
rated it:
WOW! What a book. You don't truly appreciate the story until you get well into the book but it is esy to see why the author won the prestigious Giller prize. I loved the book and it truly makes you think as you read the story of the poverty striken Henderson family and all they go through. Sidney is a good man and you have to wonder where that goodness gets him...not very far.
Now that I've read it and know the ending, I want to reread it and see what I missed along the way the first More...
Now that I've read it and know the ending, I want to reread it and see what I missed along the way the first More...
Sep 12, 2010
Kim
rated it:
Okay, I'm starting to think my boss doesn't like me - this is the second book that she has given me that I didn't like.
Again, I had high hopes for this book - it won the Giller in 2000 and the premise sounded promising. But that's where it ended. The characters frustrated me to no end. They seemed to either be too good to the point that they didn't want to stand up for themselves (ie. Sydney and Elly) or used and abused people all the way (Lyle, Mathew, Connie, Cynthia). The stor More...
Again, I had high hopes for this book - it won the Giller in 2000 and the premise sounded promising. But that's where it ended. The characters frustrated me to no end. They seemed to either be too good to the point that they didn't want to stand up for themselves (ie. Sydney and Elly) or used and abused people all the way (Lyle, Mathew, Connie, Cynthia). The stor More...
Feb 28, 2011
Vicki
rated it:
I read For Those Who Hunted the Wounded Down to ensure my teenage son read it for his English class. Lucky for me I did. It introduced me to a new (new to me) author who I plan to read lots more of. Mercy Among the Children...a heartwrenching, spiritual novel that demands us to have a close look at ourselves...if if doesn't do that for you...I think you've missed something. I rarely read a book twice but in this case I will because it was so deep, I'm sure I didn't catch every little detail. I h
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May 06, 2009
Lorraine
rated it:
This book feels almost epic in the sense that it does span three generations, though it is focussed mainly on the third. Lyle tells his story to Mr. Terrieux who saved 16 yr old Matthew Pit from drowning. The events of Lyle's life happened because Mat Pit survived and his actions subsequently impacted Lyle's family.
It's the story of poverty, comparing poverty of money and poverty of love. It is utterly tragic in so many ways, even though there's always the glimmer of hope, the b More...
It's the story of poverty, comparing poverty of money and poverty of love. It is utterly tragic in so many ways, even though there's always the glimmer of hope, the b More...
Jan 22, 2009
Alexis
rated it:
I only read this one because of Canada Reads and because Random House sent us copies. I must admit, I liked this better than any of the David Adams Richards' books that I'd read in the past. Still, his books are bleak, dark and depressing. I generally dislike all of the characters, but found that I felt some empathy for some of the characters in this one. I also found that while I don't like his subject matter, I did like some of the writing style.
So he gets a nod from me, but I'm no More...
So he gets a nod from me, but I'm no More...
Mar 21, 2010
Kayla O
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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May 05, 2008
Lisa
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David Adams Richards
Mercy Among the Children
Canada: Anchor Canada, 2001
417pp. $22.00
0-385-25995-6
After Sydney Henderson, a deeply troubled 11-year-old, pushes Connie Devlin off the church roof, Sydney makes a pact with God that if Connie is ok, he will never harm another living soul. David Adams Richards’s innovative novel “Mercy Among the Children” explores the nobility of complete passivism and ultimate redemption. The novel starts off as the story of Sydne More...
Mercy Among the Children
Canada: Anchor Canada, 2001
417pp. $22.00
0-385-25995-6
After Sydney Henderson, a deeply troubled 11-year-old, pushes Connie Devlin off the church roof, Sydney makes a pact with God that if Connie is ok, he will never harm another living soul. David Adams Richards’s innovative novel “Mercy Among the Children” explores the nobility of complete passivism and ultimate redemption. The novel starts off as the story of Sydne More...
Aug 22, 2011
Nadine
rated it:
This is probably one of the most difficult books I've had to review. I hated the first part of this book. I had to force myself to keep going. But it does get better. Although I didn't like the overall message of the book, which I took as "sh*t happens and trust in god to help you through", and that people had two choices - have faith in god and be good, or be ambitious and evil. However, it did ask me to examine my own prejudices, and it was a compelling read. Once you get over t
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Nov 24, 2008
Diane
rated it:
I thought this book was incredible. I could barely put it down over the three days it took me to read it.
It's a story about family and how the past no matter how hard you try to out run it always influences the future. I don't want to give too much away, because it's just so powerful.
What I learned from this is a better understanding of my mother's family and their dynamics and how my mother's childhood couldn't help but influence my own.
I highly recommend this one
It's a story about family and how the past no matter how hard you try to out run it always influences the future. I don't want to give too much away, because it's just so powerful.
What I learned from this is a better understanding of my mother's family and their dynamics and how my mother's childhood couldn't help but influence my own.
I highly recommend this one
Jul 17, 2011
CynthiaA
rated it:
This remarkable novel is one of the most profoundly sad and difficult fiction reads I've encountered in a long time. I would remind myself that it was a work of fiction, and feel grateful. Richards creates characters that evoke empathy in ways that were completely unexpected. Yes, I felt empathy with the unfortunate Hendersons -- Sydney the father who made a pact never to knowingly "hurt" only to scar his young son Lyle in ways he never truly understood. And Lyle, the boy so determined
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Feb 12, 2012
Julia
rated it:
Very well written, but miserable to the point of being unbearable. I am fine with heavy subject matter, but this was void of any humour for over 400 pages, and to be honest, I did not find the characters or plot to be engaging enough to want to keep reading. I forced myself to finish it, but I had to struggle myself to endure the ceaseless sorrows right along with the characters. Most depressing book I have ever read.
Nov 26, 2011
Lisadoran
rated it:
This book is beautifully written but so full of sadness and poverty and desolation that it was difficult to read. At times I wanted to shake some of the characters and tell them to wake up and do something to change the awful path they were all on. I would recommend this book but not if you don't want to feel sad and devastated for a few days after reading.
Dec 31, 2009
Laura
rated it:
Although I found the book slow to start, I was intrigued enough to continue. It does pick up and captures you. Overall, it is plays with ones heart and sense of fairness. I learned that we are faced with many challenges in life many not of our creation. Choices, actions and history pave one's future and in this story, these factors led to different paths taken by the siblings. The ability of the characters to rise above their situation revealed much about their human spirit. This book wil
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Aug 10, 2011
Debbie
rated it: 
OMG! I can't believe so many people liked this book! Really didn't like it. The characters were cartoony. Bad guys like Dick Dasterdly taking pleasure in tormenting the meek, poverty stricken "good" people. Give me a break. Halfway through I actually yelled "Oh, come on!" whenever some other peril happened upon old Sydney. Totally unbelieveable.
Mar 04, 2011
Sean
rated it:
Decent story, but truly pathetic characters (likely what Richards was shooting for). The story takes some time to develop and the reader must persevere through several sections, particularly early on. I like Richards' style, but had trouble sticking with the dark tone of the story. Well-written but certainly not an uplifting read.
Aug 02, 2011
Loriannely
rated it:
The first book I read by Richards. I love his thought-provoking writing. He has a way of describing the characters that allows the reader to guess and fill in the blanks.
Very beautiful writing.
Read a second book by him...and didn't like how the stories were somewhat similar.
Very beautiful writing.
Read a second book by him...and didn't like how the stories were somewhat similar.
