Gone, Baby, Gone
by Dennis Lehane
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I'll tell you about my struggle with food
when i was growing up in the US dinner at home meant Banquet friend chicken, rice, beans, friend plantains, and french fries almost every day. and for dessert we had either guava or coconut syrup and cream cheese. and i do recall my father would yell at my mother and say don't you see what you're doing to her. why the hell are you feeding her sugar and cream cheese. but we always had it anyway. and when i was in 5th grade and i had to get on the ...more
when i was growing up in the US dinner at home meant Banquet friend chicken, rice, beans, friend plantains, and french fries almost every day. and for dessert we had either guava or coconut syrup and cream cheese. and i do recall my father would yell at my mother and say don't you see what you're doing to her. why the hell are you feeding her sugar and cream cheese. but we always had it anyway. and when i was in 5th grade and i had to get on the ...more
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Read in April, 2003
Dennis Lehane, Gone, Baby, Gone (Morrow, 1998)
Lehane clocks in with the fourth novel in the Kenzie and Gennaro series with his most intricate plot and satisfying novel so far. In this one, Kenzie and Gennaro are bullied into taking the case of a missing four-year-old by the girl's aunt. The mother seems not to care much about her child's whereabouts when she's not in front of the TV cameras, preferring to watch television and drink beer with her best friend and next door neighbor. What's alrea...more
Lehane clocks in with the fourth novel in the Kenzie and Gennaro series with his most intricate plot and satisfying novel so far. In this one, Kenzie and Gennaro are bullied into taking the case of a missing four-year-old by the girl's aunt. The mother seems not to care much about her child's whereabouts when she's not in front of the TV cameras, preferring to watch television and drink beer with her best friend and next door neighbor. What's alrea...more
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
people who enjoy crime novels
I have to be honest, I picked up this book because I saw the previews for the movie. I didn't even read Mystic River but really enjoyed it on screen so I thought, what the heck?
Lehane's depiction of Dorchester was so real, it felt like I was actually there. I could visualize the runned down Irish pubs where the characters drank. I could see the old dilapidated houses where crimes were committed. I had such a clear image of the characters and their surroundings, that I don't want to ruin ...more
Lehane's depiction of Dorchester was so real, it felt like I was actually there. I could visualize the runned down Irish pubs where the characters drank. I could see the old dilapidated houses where crimes were committed. I had such a clear image of the characters and their surroundings, that I don't want to ruin ...more
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Read in May, 2008
I read Mystic River some time back and loved it. Until the movie GBG came out I was unaware Lehane had written other stuff, especially a series. In fact, I was unaware that he'd written a series until I was about 50 pages into GBG. That was one of my first drawbacks; our two main characters have a chemistry and a way they work and I was jumping into the middle of it. It was like being with a couple who have an inside joke that gets them laughing hysterically and you're standing there with a dum...more
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Read in October, 2007
I picked this up at the airport last week only because I had name recognition from seeing Ben Afleck promoting his movie adaptation of it on Leno the night before and there wasn't anything else that caught my interest.
"The tough neighborhood of Dorchester is no place for the innocent or the weak. A territory defined by hard heads and even harder luck, its streets are littered with the detritus of broken families, hearts, dreams. Now, one of its youngest is missing. Private investigators...more
"The tough neighborhood of Dorchester is no place for the innocent or the weak. A territory defined by hard heads and even harder luck, its streets are littered with the detritus of broken families, hearts, dreams. Now, one of its youngest is missing. Private investigators...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
only to those die-hard crime-fiction readers, Dennis Lehane fans
First of all, why do I keep reading books about children being abducted, and killed? (There are other verbs I could use as well, but I don't want to spoil anything.) What's wrong with me? Granted, there have only been two of these books, (the other being What the Dead Know) but still. Anyway, I picked this book, not for it's child-abducting and -killing, but because I'd heard that the movie was good. It's possible that I may have the mildest of crushes on Casey Affleck. Anyway, I do still want t...more
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Read in March, 2008
I should have read the book before I saw the movie, because at first it was hard for me not to picture the characters as the actors in the movie, and I hate that, because books should be separate from movies, especially since the book was written way before the movie was made. Once I was able to stop thinking about the movie and just imagine the characters on my own, it became a much better reading experience and I haven't been able to put it down since.
The other thing I like about it, now ...more
The other thing I like about it, now ...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
any mystery/Noir reader
I'm so bummed because I thought I wrote a pretty good review earlier but it didn't get saved! Try again
There are two mystery writers focused on Boston, PArker and Lehane. Parker's Spenser is the wise-cracking one living in posh Back-Bay. Lehane's Kenzie and Gennaro private eye team live in the squalor of Dorchester and Southie. They inhabit the Boston world of crooked cops, crumbling tenements, seedy bars and creepy drug dealers that tourists never see (or should want to see except on 2-...more
There are two mystery writers focused on Boston, PArker and Lehane. Parker's Spenser is the wise-cracking one living in posh Back-Bay. Lehane's Kenzie and Gennaro private eye team live in the squalor of Dorchester and Southie. They inhabit the Boston world of crooked cops, crumbling tenements, seedy bars and creepy drug dealers that tourists never see (or should want to see except on 2-...more
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Read in January, 2004
recommends it for:
mystery fans (Some)
I do NOT recommend this book for everyone. It is raw and the language is harsh. The lifestyles involved are the underside of the city of Boston. I've done inner city ministry. I've met some of these people. They are people too. With real needs. Lehane knows these people. And this book gets to the morality of life. That's why it's an important book (and now a movie). And HARD book and movie. (My daughter, age 22, cried through the whole movie I think and had to leave at one point briefly. ...more
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Read in October, 2007
I read Mystic River long ago enough that I can't remember specifically what I liked about it. But I do remember that I fell in love with the writing. It was almost enough to make me interested in reading more American crime novelists. However, James Patterson is so bad that Dennis Lehane may well be the only American crime novelist I ever read. And with stuff this good, I'm not sure that's a bad thing.
Dennis Lehane writes so well that I can occasionally forget that I'm reading.
Yes, h...more
Dennis Lehane writes so well that I can occasionally forget that I'm reading.
Yes, h...more
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Read in December, 2007
This engrossing and grim novel begins with the kidnapping of four year old Amanda, the daughter of a neglectful mother, and it quickly accellerates. Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, two private detectives don't want to get involved in the child abduction case, but after significant pleading from relatives of the child, they cave. The investigation leads to murder and excitement, ending with a gripping and devastating climax. This is the perfect blend of psychological thriller and suspenseful a...more
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Read in November, 2007
A sad, damning book by Lehane. I've started this series out of order, but I want to read more about McKenzie and Genarro, two lovers and private eyes. The movie had grace and power, and the book sets up the two of them in a stronger way than Affleck's film did. Is it right to return a child to its mother, even when that mother doesn't take care of that child? Especially if there is another home, ready and waiting to take loving care of that child? It is an ethical dilemma, not one easily un...more
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Read in March, 2008
I wasn't particulary impressed by the writing or the characters. I thought it started extremely slow, although I did manage to finish it and enjoy it a little more the further along I got into it.
The many references back to previous novels got tiresome for somebody picking this book up as the first Lehane novel. The main character walks into the toughest bar in Boston and just as he's about to be attacked, he gives the owner an evil look and scares everybody into giving up all the informat...more
The many references back to previous novels got tiresome for somebody picking this book up as the first Lehane novel. The main character walks into the toughest bar in Boston and just as he's about to be attacked, he gives the owner an evil look and scares everybody into giving up all the informat...more
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Read in March, 2008
Right after I read the book I saw the movie. I'm glad I read the book first. The movie wasn't awful, but it didn't have the same impact on me that the characters and story did on the page. I thought some of the casting was good, but I preferred the image I had of some characters before they were given to me on film.
Lehane's language is poetic. His dialoge masterful. The characters pop on the page. Everything is so vivid and raw. Even if there were times I found the direction of the story a l...more
Lehane's language is poetic. His dialoge masterful. The characters pop on the page. Everything is so vivid and raw. Even if there were times I found the direction of the story a l...more
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Read in July, 2000
This was pretty good, but there was a lot of running around and plot twists so frequent that I was almost losing track of who was who.
Unlike Lehane's first two novels, there is very little character
development now, and I'm beginning to feel a little bored with Patrick and Angie. I think they've run their course with me.
This is a pretty run-of-the-mill whodunnit, although, as is his talent,
Lehane still leaves you with harrowing images and moral dilemmas that stay with you long after t...more
Unlike Lehane's first two novels, there is very little character
development now, and I'm beginning to feel a little bored with Patrick and Angie. I think they've run their course with me.
This is a pretty run-of-the-mill whodunnit, although, as is his talent,
Lehane still leaves you with harrowing images and moral dilemmas that stay with you long after t...more
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Read in February, 2008
recommended to Jenn Dawn by:
Katie
I grew up reading Lois Duncan and later, Mary Higgins Clark. I have a soft spot for mysteries, and while I don't read them often, it felt good to pick one up again. I'm glad it was Gone, Baby, Gone.
This book was entertaining and a relatively fast read, despite its 400+ pages. I'm not sure if I'll read another Dennis Lehane book, as I found this one somewhat disposable. It was hard to read a book in 1st person, but overall this was an enjoyable experience. I am very much looking f...more
This book was entertaining and a relatively fast read, despite its 400+ pages. I'm not sure if I'll read another Dennis Lehane book, as I found this one somewhat disposable. It was hard to read a book in 1st person, but overall this was an enjoyable experience. I am very much looking f...more
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kate read it and of course there is a movie on it. and heck it takes place in boston!
++++
ok so i read it.... it's a good book and i really can't wait to see the movie but gosh, it was really graphic. heavy topics of child abduction and molestation. it makes me scared to not let a child more than an arm's length from me.
i almost stopped reading because of this, but the style was a good pace and interesting so i finished it and glad i did.
now augo and i get to see the movie!
++++
ok so i read it.... it's a good book and i really can't wait to see the movie but gosh, it was really graphic. heavy topics of child abduction and molestation. it makes me scared to not let a child more than an arm's length from me.
i almost stopped reading because of this, but the style was a good pace and interesting so i finished it and glad i did.
now augo and i get to see the movie!
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There are some surprisingly lovely moments of prose in this book. One postcoital scene in particular stands out in my mind as truly lovely. The book is a definite page-turner, but it's not exactly a masterpiece. The good and evil reflections are pretty well-worn, as is the rage over the evil done to innocent children. It's not bad, it's well done, it's just not all that original, is all. If you've not read anything like it, check it out. But it's not a must-read.
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The book is excellent. The film, less so for me. If I hadn't read the book, I would have enjoyed the film more, as the acting is great and the movie itself well-made. What I objected to was the fact that the Angie Gennaro character was diluted so that she didn't even carry a gun in the film, whereas the character in the book is a crack shot. The role in the movie was clearly relegated to sidekick status, rather than equal partner, and that disappointed me.
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Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
anyone
I enjoy this author a great deal, esp. Mystic River. I love the Boston scenes and the dark atmosphere the author portrays. This book was very difficult to read because of its subject. Neglectful parents and abducted children are all over the news these days and I felt emotional over every plot twist and vile character I read. I loved the book but it made me never want to pick it up again. I would say I have a love, hate relationship with this author.
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