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Bleeding Kansas

by Sara Paretsky (Goodreads Author)

3.21 · rating details · 702 ratings · 219 reviews

Set in the Kaw River Valley where Paretsky grew up, Bleeding Kansas is the story of the Schapens and the Grelliers, two farm families whose histories have been entwined since the 1850s, when their ancestors settled the valley as antislavery emigrants.

Today, the Schapen family, terrified by the lawlessness of the 1970s-when Lawrence was the most violent college town in th...more

Hardcover, 431 pages

Published 2007 by Hodder & Stoughton

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May 01, 2008

Teeni rated it

· review of another edition

New favorite author alert! There's nothing I love more than reading a terrific book and then finding out the author has other books on the library shelf! This is one of those authors. The story was good, the characters were real and I couldn't put it down.

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Nov 17, 2008

L rated it

· review of another edition

I think we're supposed to like Susan. I don't. She is just that annoying! I do, however, dislike most of the Schapens as thoroughly as is expected.

I guess this is Paretsky's ode to her home. The cover promises a "gripping novel," a "strong and stark protrayal of the heartland." Well, it does seem to be a solid, good read, populated with real people. The writing is as good as we expect frm Paretsky. For instance, " . . . she's one more teenager in a place whe...more

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Feb 04, 2008

Diane rated it

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Sara Paretsky's Bleeding Kansas has a strong sense of place, especially for those who are familiar with the Lawrence area. However, the characters aren't developed as flesh and blood people, but as signifiers for attitudes. The extremist right-wing Christians are too extreme even for someone like me who has little love for these people and their interfering ways. Jim, the patriarch of the good farm family, is too good to be true, always moderating his attitude and telling his daughter to avoid s...more

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Jan 19, 2009

Shruts rated it

· review of another edition

This paperback weighs in just under 600 pages. As one might expect, this results in some pretty slow sections, particularly early on.

A long-time fan of Paretsky's VI Warshawski detective series, I was intrigued by this book's premise: connecting the pre-civil war strife in Kansas to modern days "warfare" between long time neighbors in the same town 150 years later. So I was rather surprised when I found I could easily put this book down with astonishingly transparent excu...more

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Mar 04, 2011

Deb rated it

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Shelves: kansas

Kansas was once the first battleground in the nation's conflict over Slavery. Paretsky makes it a battleground of modern issues--as neighbors square off against one another over homosexuality and religious issues. What sets it off is when a newcomer moves into the farming community that surrounds the town of Lawrence. She is a Wiccan and a supposed lesbian, and that sets off some of her neighbors, who are extreme fundamentalist Christians. Caught in the middle is a family who is rather ordin...more

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May 06, 2011

Sarahlynn Lester rated it

· review of another edition

I have a bit of a thing for V.I. Warshawski, and to tell the truth I have a bit of a thing for her creator, Sara Paretsky, too. I'm a member of Sisters in Crime, a group Paretsky founded, and I've heard her speak in person. All of this increased my admiration for Paretsky and her work.

So when I heard that she had written a new novel - not a mystery and not starring Warshawski - I was intrigued. Especially because it's set in Kansas. Hey, I lived in Kansas for 11 years. Now she really h...moreI have a bit of a thing for V.I. Warshawski, and to tell the truth I have a bit of a thing for her creator, Sara Paretsky, too. I'm a member of Sisters in Crime, a group Paretsky founded, and I've heard her speak in person. All of this increased my admiration for Paretsky and her work.

So when I heard that she had written a new novel - not a mystery and not starring Warshawski - I was intrigued. Especially because it's set in Kansas. Hey, I lived in Kansas for 11 years. Now she really had my attention. (Paretsky grew up in Kansas, too.)

So I bought the book for my dad (also a Paretsky/Warshawski fan) as a thank you gift for driving to Inconvenient, Illinois to pick up my girls' new bike and saving us $150 in shipping costs.

Naturally, I read the book before gifting it. What, you don't do that? Oh. Well, I do. Just as naturally, he already owned the book and had really enjoyed it.

Which is good, because I was sort of "meh" about it. Paretsky is a wonderful writer. I just had trouble connecting with any of the characters in this novel, by which I mean that I didn't really like anybody. Perhaps I was in a crabby mood that week. But by page 200 I was caught up enough in the story that I barely minded that I didn't care very much about the characters. Parts of the novel read a bit heavy, like a massive information dump. Fortunately, the history was pretty interesting and I enjoyed it. (Reading Gilead: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson prepped me by giving me background on the anti-slavery politics of Civil War-era Kansas.)

So, to conclude: if you like history, you might check this out. If you're interested in pioneers and settlers and the history of slavery in our country, you might find this interesting. If you'd like a picture of non-cookie-cutter politics in America's heartland today, you might check this out. But if you're a Paretsky/Warshawski fan looking for the sort of hard-boiled Chicago P.I. page turner we're both used to, well, you won't really find that here.(less)

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Mar 27, 2011

Kristie rated it

· review of another edition

If I could have given 1/2 of a star, I would have because this was such a poorly written book. I am embarrassed to say I helped to choose this one for my book club and it was unanimous--each of us was thoroughly disappointed in the story and all of the historical inaccuracies. (The good thing is we now have a new low for a baseline when we don't like a book--is it as bad as or worse than "Bleeding Kansas"?)

The story was convoluted with every societal issue possible--teenag...more

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Mar 19, 2011

Elaine rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: students of history; NPR listeners

I can just imagine someone reading this before 2003 or so, thinking "Oh, come on, aren't you being a little hard on people from Kansas? No one's been that narrow-minded since the mid-1960s!"

But now that the Westboro Baptist Church parades its collective sociopathy through our headlines every week, we know better.

Paretsky's non-Warshawski novel gives us a portrait of three worldviews, all coexisting on a patch of farmland in the midwest. There are the Schapens, d...moreI can just imagine someone reading this before 2003 or so, thinking "Oh, come on, aren't you being a little hard on people from Kansas? No one's been that narrow-minded since the mid-1960s!"

But now that the Westboro Baptist Church parades its collective sociopathy through our headlines every week, we know better.

Paretsky's non-Warshawski novel gives us a portrait of three worldviews, all coexisting on a patch of farmland in the midwest. There are the Schapens, descended from pioneers. The ancestors were reportedly kind and generous, but the present generation represents everything we already know about Fred Phelps: Cruelly bigoted, judgmental, and extremist. On the opposite end is Gina Haring, an expatriate New Yorker, Wiccan, bisexual divorcee. Caught uncomfortably between the two are the Grellier family, which is laboring under its own seismic split.

Jim, the father, is either a saint or a bore, depending on which page you're on. He is bewildered by his wife, his daughter, and his son. He's attracted to Gina. He's angry (sort of) at the Schapens. I picture Henry Fonda in his prime playing this role.

His wife Susan is the centerpiece of the novel. I suspect the author identifies with this character much more than I do -- she annoys me with her drama-queen self-indulgence.

Her daughter, Lara, has the courage and honesty to be angry with her. Her husband mainly hides in the barn, gets drunk (politely and quietly, of course) and runs to the neighbor-lady for solace.

The son, Chip, causes plenty of trouble for the family but doesn't stick around long enough to have to deal with the worst of it. And, by the way, I fully understand why he hates his given name, Etienne.

Robbie is another sympathetic character, struggling under the thumb of his father, grandmother and classically hypocritical brother.

All in all, I experienced this novel as a microcosm of the political and religious extremes that are tearing the country apart. Too bad truth really is stranger than fiction.(less)

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Dec 07, 2010

Kirsty Darbyshire rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: hardback

I guess I'm a Sara Paretsky completist so I wasn't put off by this not being a VI book and not even being a mystery. I was pretty much going to enjoy it whatever. That's probably a good thing because the story is pretty slow to get going. The first quarter of the book or so is a long introduction to place and character and history before the plot really takes off.

The place is Kansas, reading the introduction afterwards I discovered that the book is set in the area where Paretsky herself grew

...more

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Jun 28, 2010

Kathy rated it

· review of another edition

The negative reviews I have read regarding this book deal mostly with the stereotypes portrayed in this book. However, knowing a real-life family just like the Schapens from a small-town farming community in Illinois, I knew that the religious-zealots portrayed in this story were not entirely fabricated. My friend’s mother was EXACTLY like Nanny Schapen!!! That is not why I disliked the book; in fact I really liked it up until the events on Halloween (near the end). My reason for giving this boo...more

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Nov 14, 2009

Deidre rated it

· review of another edition

(I read this book on Oracas Island – Inn at Ship Bay)
Sara Paretsky. Bleeding Kansas. New York: G.P. Putman’s Sons, 2008.

Perfect summer reading. Decent writing. This, I think, is her first non-mystery. Gosh, what is the name of her woman detective - half-Polish, half-Italian, feminist detective V.(for Victoria) I.(for Iphigenia) Warshawski. Okay, I googled Paretsky for the name of the character. I used to read her mysteries back in the early eighties. She was always a good...more

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Jun 04, 2009

Renee rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Well. I've had this book sitting next to the laptop for several days now, waiting for me to know what to say about it. I'm still not sure that I've figured it out, but I'm tired of not putting the book away.

Paretsky set this stand-alone novel in her own birthplace, Kansas. Throughout the book, Paretsky jumps between the present day and the 150-year-old journal of the protagonists' ancestor, drawing parallels between the racial intolerance of Civil-War-era Kansas and the religious in...more

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Feb 05, 2009

Bookmarks Magazine added it · review of another edition

Fans of V. I. Warshawski, the gritty Chicago private eye, may be surprised to find her absent from Sara Paretsky's latest work. Paretsky grew up in the Kaw River Valley, and her affection for its countryside, people, and history shines throughout this novel. The regional and historical roots of Paretsky's characteristic social consciousness are clearly on display in what the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel calls "a novel of ideas." Despite some complaints of flat characters, cartoonish vill

...more

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May 16, 2010

Shannon rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: I'm not so sure...

Recommended to Shannon by: Favorite Author

Shelves: 2010

My cat just hit the mouse such that my entire review of this book just disappeared. Can I just say "ARRRGGGHHH!!!" So, I will try to recreate what I said because I have to admit that (1.) I don't like to write and (2.) I don't think that I am a good writer, so I am about at my limit for writing for the day since I have been catching up on reviews that I have neglected on Goodreads.

I was not able to write a review immediately for this novel...that may be partly an excuse b...moreMy cat just hit the mouse such that my entire review of this book just disappeared. Can I just say "ARRRGGGHHH!!!" So, I will try to recreate what I said because I have to admit that (1.) I don't like to write and (2.) I don't think that I am a good writer, so I am about at my limit for writing for the day since I have been catching up on reviews that I have neglected on Goodreads.

I was not able to write a review immediately for this novel...that may be partly an excuse because I like to read so much more than I like to write, but it also is somewhat because I am still not so sure what I think of this book.

I love Paretsky and the VI Warshawski character, but she has somewhat fallen out of favor with me because (1.) she is not that prolific (not necessarily a bad thing because I DO think that quality far outwieghs quantity as evidenced by the work that Patterson and Cornwell have put out recently and (2.) she has become less reliable as a storyteller in my opinion (not so sure why). So, I thought that I would give this one a chance...it is NOT a VI story nor is it even a detective story. Actually, I am not so sure what kind of story it is. Maybe she intended it to be a character study...if so, I probably would have cut 150 to 200 pages off of the text and made it into a novella or even short story as I thought that it was rather repetitive and almost bordered on boring. I constantly wondered when *something* was going to happen. I found the whole Gina/Elaine/Wiccan storyline to be extremely distracting. And, in fact, I think that you could read the dust cover (essentially reproduced in the Goodreads synopsis) and know exactly what happens in this book. Actually, it makes it seem as if there is alot more thrilling action than there really is.

I was somewhat intrigued with what Paretsky wrote in the Background section that she included in this publication. She states that she grew up in Kansas and that, even though she has been away for 40 years, she states that it is "still in [her:] bones." Shs also says that "[i:]t took eight years of thinking about the people and places [she:] knew before [she:] could write this novel." After reading it, it makes me think of what might have happened to her there when she was growing up and whether any of the characters might (maybe Lara) be somewhat autobiographical in nature.

This thought led me to consider whether I might be able to live in Kansas or even in a small town. There are some things that charm me and are very alluring, like the Jim Grellier character, a man who is kind and giving and believes that you should treat everyone with respect because you never know when YOU might need THEIR help. But, then there are some things that disgust me like the fundamentalist Christian Schapen family, who disguise their hatred as religion and are so brainwashed that they emotionally abuse one of their own. I don't know...I see alot of this type of stuff in North Carolina too.

This book did bring back to mind one of the books that I read in 2008 or 2009 What's the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America by Thomas Frank) since Paretsky, like Frank, details Kansas's history of being a safe-haven for whites who believed that blacks should not be slaves as well as the former slaves themselves. Many people lost their lives believing in personal freedoms and what was fundamentally "right." One would argue that nowadays that would be considered a very liberal view...it makes you wonder what happened to alot of us here in America?(less)

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Jan 25, 2010

Tamela rated it

· review of another edition

I've read Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski novels and I assumed this would be similar. Unfortunately, I let myself be influenced by my enjoyment of the Warshawski novels, and was therefore completely blindsided by "Bleeding Kansas." This is one time Paretsky should have stuck to the knitting. "Bleeding Kansas" was not well written, the characters felt like caricatures rather than believable actors and the whole thing felt disjointed, sort of like a cake with raspberry filling an...more

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Mar 01, 2011

Terri rated it

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Examines some of the more unfortunate aspects of human nature, small towns, justice, and extreme religious fundamentalism, as well as the effects of history and the distortion of history on the present. One of the aspects of historical events and human nature that has always interested me is exactly how people manage to co-exist in the same communities after some spectacular example of injustice—Salem, perhaps?—I know it happens constantly, since most injustices are less attention-getting than S...more

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Feb 15, 2008

Deborah rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: Mark, Robbie

I liked this book more than I expected to. I almost sent in back to the library unread. An interesting look at faith and morality in modern times, as well as a look at the dynamics of farming communities in the twilight of the American family farm. This is also the second book I've read this month that concerns the "unblemished red heifer."

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Feb 29, 2008

Doug rated it

· review of another edition

This is one of my favorite novels of the past year. Sara Paretsky does a Wonderful job of writing about two different eras in Kansas. So many novels that attempt to do that seem choppy to me - not this one. This novel integrates the two eras and stories extraordinarily well.

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Aug 25, 2009

Caitlin rated it

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Shelves: 2009

I'm a fan of Ms. Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski series & have considered reading this standalone a number of times since it came out. I've put it back on the shelves for a number of reasons, not least of them that I'm just not that into small-town family chronicles of this sort. I finally took it out because I figured I should give it a shot. Paretsky's a good writer & I'm always curious to see what writers of thrillers will do with a standalone novel.

This novel is well-written & well...more

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Dec 12, 2008

Eva Mitnick rated it

· review of another edition

I listened to this as an audiobook, which I think usually makes me more inclined to like a book - a good reader can make even a mediocre book come alive (look at Tim Curry's reading of the Lemony Snicket books).

This is a departure for Paretsky, taking place not in Chicago but in rural Kansas, where various farm families have been living entwined lives for generations, helping each other or driving each bonkers. The extreme Christian fundamentalist views of one part of the community ...more

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Aug 19, 2011

Jan rated it

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Shelves: family-drama, historical, own-copy, mystery

Paretsky gives her first "stand alone" novel a strong sense of place and what life would be like as a farmer and the descendant of one of the area's 3 founding families. It is a book of extremes - Nanny and Arnie Shapen are extremely right wing Christians, bigoted, judgmental and hateful; Susan Grellier, a manic self-indulgent wife and mother who just made me tired and Gina, a newly divorced Wiccan bisexual transplanted from New York and Gail, a burned out alcoholic & homeless hippie w...more

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May 11, 2009

Andrea Homier rated it

· review of another edition

This is a book group selection for my book group this month. I read through it as fast as I could just to be done with it. It's an easy read, but has little to keep the reader interested. Although the elements of religous fundamentalism, a sacred red heifer, a transplanted New York Wiccan lesbian divorcee, stories of a hippie commune and the leftover town drunk 20 years later, historical references to Kansas' bloody history trying to emerge as a free (non-slave) state, and a manic farm wife m...more

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Nov 18, 2011

Nancy rated it

· review of another edition

There were too many characters in the book. It was difficult to follow. I live fairly close to the location to the story and went to school at Lawrence. There were some locations that fit the area, but the people of the area do not fit the people of the town. The title was misleading and let me to believe that the story was set pre civil war which is what the title refers to. I am sorry the author left such a negative impression of the people of the area. There were some interesting charac...more

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Dec 23, 2009

Marilyn rated it

· review of another edition

Wow...this was good. Great author. I think I looked her up because I'd enjoyed another of hers. I'll look her up again. Some nasty stuff in this one, but necessary to the story. Lara returns to her farm home (4 children later) and reminisces about the most horrible year of her life - one of her high school years. A lot of religious yuk - church issues among other things. Then a lady (recently divorced and from NY City) moves into the area (Kansas cornfields) and brings entirely opposite values w...more

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Jul 23, 2009

Susan rated it

· review of another edition

A novel about a farm family living in the husband's ancestral home where the battles between abolitionists and pro-slavery caused many deaths. The wife is obsessed with the history and not very grounded, has named her older child Etienne after an ancestor and won't accept that he hates the name and goes by Chip. The younger child often has to be the adult in the family. The husband does his best but is wrapped up in his farm and doesn't always put the kids first. There are hateful neighbors ...more

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Feb 04, 2009

Judith rated it

· review of another edition

Bleeding Kansas by Sara Paretsky is a far cry from her popular V. I. Warshawsky detective novels, but her characteristic sensitivity to social issues and storytelling skills give this story its power. Harkening back to the “bleeding Kansas” of the 1850’s, when violent struggles between anti-slavery and pro-slavery forces pitted neighbor against neighbor, Paretsky explores the effects of contemporary religious intolerance in the same setting A daughter of the Kaw River Valley where the story take...more

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May 08, 2010

Harley rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: fans of the Warshawski novels, to fans of Judith Guests and fans of Jane Smiley's.

Shelves: sara-paretsky, fiction, read-2010

Best known for her V.I. Warshawski detective novels set in Chicago, Sara Paretsky recently took a left turn out of her driveway and headed south on an old gravel road until she discovered the Grellier farm in Kansas where she spent time becoming friends with the Grelliers and their neighbors. The novel, Bleeding Kansas, was the result. And nowhere is Warshawski to be found.

With this novel, Paretsky has stretched her writing legs and discovered a whole new world. Many writers, arti...more

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Mar 12, 2009

Kim rated it

· review of another edition

Having read all of Ms. Paretsky's detective books, I was thrilled to read this fictional history book. It is a book that was well researched and well written, and the story itself is fantastically engaging. However, it felt like the ending was wrapped up in a hurry and that the story, intense and complicated throughout the book, was so easily tidied and completed. Very disappointing. Another thing: the dialogue didn't seem to fit what we the reader knew to be going on in the characters' heads....more

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Feb 24, 2010

Arlene rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2010-50-book-challenge, borrowed, contemporary-fiction

This book dips into the history of a small group of neighbors in Eastern Kansas. They were settled by anti-slavery activists in the 1850's. In the 1970's, they were touched by a hippie commune and by the time of this story some of them have become almost manic in their conservative beliefs. A clash between a group practicing Wicca, the anti-Iraq-war movement, and two religious groups believing that a red heifer is the salvation of the world tragically brings one of the teenagers to join the Ar...more

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Jun 04, 2011

JoBeth Allen rated it

· review of another edition

I was disappointed. The plot was interesting enough (and i was traveling so had to have something to read!) that i finished the book. Paretsky has a great reputation as a mystery writer, so maybe a contemporary novel is just not her genre. Throughout, I had the urge to volunteer to help edit edit it for credibility (evil Nanny doesn't "see" the ultimate sin right in front of her eyes? come on) and over-telling - when you've showed us, you don't need to tell us too. Still, it was set in...more

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About Sara Paretsky

Sara Paretsky is a modern American author of detective fiction. Paretsky was raised in Kansas, and graduated from the state university with a degree in political science. She did community service work on the south side of Chicago in 1966 and returned in 1968 to work there. She ultimately completed a Ph.D. in history at the University of Chicago, entitled The Breakdown of Moral Philosophy in New E...more

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“The hardest thing about adolescence is that everything seems too big. There's no way to get context or perspective, ..... Pain and joy without limits. No one can live like that forever, so experience finally comes to our rescue. We come to know what we can endure, and also that nothing endures.” — 7 people liked it

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