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The Raising

3.26 of 5 stars 3.26 · rating details · 1,332 ratings · 378 reviews

Last year Godwin Honors Hall was draped in black. The university was mourning the loss of one of its own: Nicole Werner, a blond, beautiful, straight-A sorority sister tragically killed in a car accident that left her boyfriend, who was driving, remarkably—some say suspiciously—unscathed.

Although a year has passed, as winter begins and the nights darken, obsession with Nic...more

Paperback, 461 pages

Published March 15th 2011 by Harper Perennial

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Mar 15, 2011 Regina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc-publisher-netgalley, mystery, thriller, urban-fantasy-uf, favorites, psychological-thriller

This book had me from the first page, really the first paragraph. I was entranced from the beginning and could not put it down. I spent many way too late nights staying up to read it and long after I put the book down I would be thinking about the characters in the book. Ms. Kasischke draws complex three-dimensional characters beautifully well for her readers. The story progresses slowly in the beginning, slowly in terms of the action, but I do not mean that the story was boring. Far from that –...more This book had me from the first page, really the first paragraph. I was entranced from the beginning and could not put it down. I spent many way too late nights staying up to read it and long after I put the book down I would be thinking about the characters in the book. Ms. Kasischke draws complex three-dimensional characters beautifully well for her readers. The story progresses slowly in the beginning, slowly in terms of the action, but I do not mean that the story was boring. Far from that – it was very interesting, it was intriguing. However, before the true action begins Ms. Kasischke shows the readers who the characters are and how they react in various situations. We learn about their family lives, we seem them with their friends, in past relationships and we begin to truly know the characters. The scenes in the beginning of the book, really flesh out the emotions and complexity of each character. Thus, when the characters are in highly stressful scenarios later on in the book, their reactions seem honest to who they are. The story is told from four different points of view. Ms. Kasischke does this very effectively (many authors can’t carry off the varying points of view, however she does), she spends quite a bit of time introducing us to each character, so that each character has a strongly distinct “voice”. Two of the characters are female professors and the other two are male students. Each character is in a very different place in their life, but I found myself identifying with each of these characters and caring about them.

I do not want to spoil this book for anyone, but I will say this book is a psychological thriller. As the reader is pulled in to the characters’ lives, the reader also becomes very emotionally invested in what is happening. I began to feel afraid of what was around every corner in this book, I felt that something was out there but I had no idea what. It was a thrilling read. The setting of this book is so tangible I feel like I had been there (and maybe I have!), it is a Midwest college campus and Ms. Kasischke got the feel of it right. She accurately draws college life for students -- from their sex lives, to their relationships with each other, the pressure of studying and the pressure in a large Midwest university of the Greek system. She does the same for the professors – the political pressure inside the university, the stress of the need to publish, and add in the pull of personal and familial ties and responsibilities. Did I mention the bad “guys” yet? Ohhhhhh, the baddies in this book are truly bad – and scary.

I highly recommend this book to be read by anyone who enjoys a good psychological thriller (maybe some comparisons can be made to such authors as Donna Tart, Tana French, Sarah Waters). I plan to seek out Ms. Kasischke’s other books and read them. I am so glad I read this book.

This book will be published on 3/15/11. I received this book from NetGalley to review for the publisher.
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May 02, 2011 Tauna rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: muuuuurder, don-t-bother

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

5 likes · like · see review

Apr 02, 2011 Mara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, mystery, folklore, netgalley

Nicole Werner, a freshman and sorority pledge at a prestigious midwestern college, is dead. The victim of a car accident, in which her boyfriend, Craig, was driving (possibly under the influence), her death permeates the town and campus. However, from the outset there are discrepancies that suggest something isn't quite right with the story. Shelly, a college employee and witness of the wreck, knows what happened that night on the side of the road, and everything she saw points to Nicole being v...more Nicole Werner, a freshman and sorority pledge at a prestigious midwestern college, is dead. The victim of a car accident, in which her boyfriend, Craig, was driving (possibly under the influence), her death permeates the town and campus. However, from the outset there are discrepancies that suggest something isn't quite right with the story. Shelly, a college employee and witness of the wreck, knows what happened that night on the side of the road, and everything she saw points to Nicole being very much alive. How can she reconcile what she saw with the official story: a girl surrounded in blood and burned beyond recognition?

At the beginning of the next school year, Craig's roommate, Perry, is determined to grapple with the subject of death and the undead. He goes so far as to beg entrance to Mira's freshmen seminar on the subject. Mira, an expert on death and the folklore surrounding it, and her class offer a framework for the unsettling experiences some people begin to have around campus. Nicole seems to be walking among the living and reaching out from the grave, an academic goldmine for a nontenured professor obsessed with death.

So the story begins between Craig, Perry, Shelly, and Mira. Unfortunately for their efforts to uncover the truth of that accident, there is a far more powerful force determined to cover it up. The Raising isn't exactly linear, and tends to bounce back and forth in time, taking a while to explore just who these people are before taking on the matter of the undead. Mira's class offers perfect explanations for everything that happens in the novel, chief among them being: people feel guilt for not wanting their loved ones back from the dead and still tend to see them wherever they go. The novel runs the gamut of possibilities with Nicole, right down to the hard truth: death is a universal unknown.

Initially, I was a little disappointed in the novel's non-ending. You are given a vague sketch of what more than likely happened to Nicole Werner, but there are no hard facts to give it a satisfying conclusion. However, it seems to fit in with the rest of the novel's fleeting glimpses of Nicole and the folklore backing up those interactions. Occasionally I'd grow frustrated with the tangents each character seemed forced through, but in general The Raising is a gorgeously written novel.(less)

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Jul 07, 2012 Tze-Wen rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc

Let me start by saying that The Raising is a novel with potential. Its cover shows a blond girl lying in the grass, her profile illuminated by moonlight. The story is about a seemingly perfect sorority girl hitting it off with the wrong guy and dying tragically in a car accident. From the beginning, the author slips a few hints about her coming back from the dead (perhaps in a sensual vampire-like fashion?) while slowly revealing what happened in the preceding year.
The trouble I had with this n...more Let me start by saying that The Raising is a novel with potential. Its cover shows a blond girl lying in the grass, her profile illuminated by moonlight. The story is about a seemingly perfect sorority girl hitting it off with the wrong guy and dying tragically in a car accident. From the beginning, the author slips a few hints about her coming back from the dead (perhaps in a sensual vampire-like fashion?) while slowly revealing what happened in the preceding year.
The trouble I had with this novel, is that I was expecting to encounter more suspense and eerie scenes in the first 130 pages, but when I realized that it could take maybe more than half of the book to see anything happening at all, I just could not muster any more enthusiasm for the book... and so I decided to stop reading.
Personally, I felt that the author tried too hard at giving all the main characters (Craig, Perry, Nicole, Shelly and Mira) sufficient depth. At the point where I stopped reading, I could still not understand why Mira was married to a good-for-nothing stay-at-home dad or how Shelly's character would be more credible if she were portrayed as a lesbian.*
Furthermore, even though I am an university student myself, I could not relate to the students or their lifestyles whatsoever. An explanation for this could be that student life can differ enormously, according to the country you live in.
The structure of the chapters confused me, it was difficult (with the several main characters at the back of my mind) to understand whether something was happening now or a year ago. The story itself was proceeding too slowly, and I kept wondering whether the author intended to further explore the topic of (coping with) loss of a loved one, or perhaps the challenges of college life... it was difficult to believe that the story would eventually reveal what really happened on that dreadful night when Nicole died, and/or whether she had indeed risen from the dead in one way or another.
In retrospect, I feel disappointed because I was expecting to read something different. It doesn't mean it's not a good book, just that I, as one individual reader, failed to enjoy it.

*GLBT lit is something I'd like to explore more, but I felt that in this particular character it did not add to her personality at all. (less)

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Jan 27, 2011 Michelle, the Bookshelf Stalker rated it 4 of 5 stars

4 out of 5 stars

I liked this book. I liked it enough to read it in almost one sitting. I usually don’t like mysteries especially ones with multiple POV. However, this book pushed all the right buttons for me. I didn’t even mind the ending which was not what I expected. It is a very fast moving book because you already know the “what” from the beginning; you are learning the “why” throughout the book.

I recommend this book to mystery & contemporary readers OR anyone else looking for something...more

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Feb 12, 2013 Jodi Clager rated it 4 of 5 stars

Believe it or not, I was introduced to this book by a women's magazine. Family Circle or Woman's Day, actually. Generally they recommend books that I can't even begin to have an interest in, but this time I was intrigued. This is an extremely well-written book.

How do I begin? Craig Clements-Rabbitt is returning to college for his sophomore year. He's been home all summer after a car accident that killed his girlfriend Nicole Werner and left him a pariah. Perry Edwards welcomes Craig to their new...more Believe it or not, I was introduced to this book by a women's magazine. Family Circle or Woman's Day, actually. Generally they recommend books that I can't even begin to have an interest in, but this time I was intrigued. This is an extremely well-written book.

How do I begin? Craig Clements-Rabbitt is returning to college for his sophomore year. He's been home all summer after a car accident that killed his girlfriend Nicole Werner and left him a pariah. Perry Edwards welcomes Craig to their new apartment, roommates again, as they were freshmen year in Godwin Honors Hall. Perry had known Nicole all through school, having grown up with her in Bad Axe. He was the reason that Craig and Nicole had met.

We are also introduced to Shelly Lockes, who works on campus with the music school. She's got a work-study student this year, Josie Reilly. Josie is a horrible worker that was a roommate and sorority sister of Nicole Werner in their freshmen year. Shelly thinks that she'll have to fire the attractive girl for her incompetence. Shelly was also the first person on the scene of Craig and Nicole's accident. The person that called 911.

Mira Polson is a professor in Godwin Honors Hall where she teaches about death and the various rituals and superstitions that we assign to help ourselves grieve. She is approached by Perry Edwards one day because he wishes to take her seminar intended for freshmen only. Perry is troubled by Nicole's death and the effect it has had on Craig and other people on campus. Intrigued by the possibilities for her being published and gaining tenure, Mira agrees to allow Perry into the seminar.

From here, Kasischke weaves the stories of all of these different people into one haunting tale of what happens when we die and how people deal with their grief. I was first confused as to why all of these seemingly insignificant characters were being given attention. Slowly, the pieces begin to come together as much as the story we think we're reading begins to unravel. Kasischke had created something that you will think about and analyze for days after you finish the last page.(less)

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Jul 07, 2012 Patti rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The author of this book teaches at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, which is where I live. So the book grabbed me right away, as I read the description of Craig and his father driving through town. I read this entire book in about four days (I am on summer break), which should tell you how much I enjoyed it!

I had read some non-spoiler reviews before I read it, so I got the impression that the last part of the book was lacking. Indeed, the author never really explains what happened to Nic...more The author of this book teaches at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, which is where I live. So the book grabbed me right away, as I read the description of Craig and his father driving through town. I read this entire book in about four days (I am on summer break), which should tell you how much I enjoyed it!

I had read some non-spoiler reviews before I read it, so I got the impression that the last part of the book was lacking. Indeed, the author never really explains what happened to Nicole and why she was seen in Bad Axe(a real place I've been to!) and in Ann Arbor at the same time. Or why Nicole played virginal to Craig but was screwing around. And what about poor Denise?! At first, I was a little miffed and thought that the author just said "screw it" because she couldn't come up with a proper explanation. But I am giving her the benefit of the doubt and hoping she is going with the Hitchcock thing that says what we don't see is scarier than what we see.

There are some glaring issues though. First, how is it that a body was positively identified by just jewelry and clothing? Dental records, anyone? Next, I was in a sorority and we really don't have that much power. (Did the author get burned during her own Rush?). It was a little unbelievable that a sorority would have that much power...a university in a university town, possibly. I guess I could see a cover up by UM (indeed, nearby Eastern Michigan University tried to cover up a murder several years ago...it ended about as disastrously as you would think). I also got REALLY tired of reading about HAIR HAIR HAIR!!! I think the author has a hair fetish. I get that the girls were all beautiful with straight blonde hair and perfect asses. Not all sorority girls look like that (I surely don't and didn't when I was in Chi Omega!). I also am not sure why the issues with the twins' language skills was in the book...was it just to show that Mira's husband (whose name escapes me at the moment) was an idiot? Because that message came through pretty strong! ;)

But despite these complaints, I still really liked this book. Her writing is amazing! I found all of the characters believable. Some other reviewers complained about how the story was told (she jumped around in time quite a bit), but that didn't bother me. It helped me not totally hate Craig, who I surely would have hated if I had no idea that his comeuppance was coming. I also liked the insight into academia. You would have to shoot me to get me to put up with that shit (even though a huge paycheck and four month summer would be nice--and don't give me that bullshit that professors don't make any money...you can check UM salaries online and they are all more than I make as a K-12 public schoolteacher) and it was kind of validating to read about how it is at "publish or perish" places.

The whole idea of death rituals and college ghosts also intrigued me. I got caught up in Mira's enthusiasm for the subject and kind of wish there were classes like that (er, without the trip to the morgue, thanks!!).

I am going to read the author's other books to see how she handles the endings. Then I will know if I was correct to give her the benefit of the doubt about how this book ended.(less)

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Jun 25, 2012 Ryandake rated it 4 of 5 stars

literary horror? horror without the gore? here's a ghost story wrapped in a lit-fic wrapper, a quite well-written tale of deranged sorority sisters and the lengths they will go to in protecting their twisted secrets.

so here's the setup (not spoilery, i think this is all on the back cover): a young woman is killed in a car accident one night, but somehow doesn't seem to be entirely dead. she keeps getting spotted by old friends and acquaintances and lovers. she is apparently not terribly happy ab...more

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Jan 22, 2012 Angela rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book started off with a lot of mystery and intrigue and kept me going until the very last part of the book. It has 5 parts, the first 4 are fairly fast paced, really interesting, and everyone has an interesting story. Each character is developed fairly well and the reader easily gets a sense of who they are. The whole book is written in a way where I was wondering what was going on. Who was playing with whose mind, were things as they seemed or was there something much more sinister going o...more

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Dec 15, 2011 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: the anti-mean girls

Shelves: 2011

I totally fell for this book and its, I am a psycho-thriller, zombie sorority girl, craziness. How unlike me. This would be a great, I'm stuck in the airport book, because it's a page turner and yet an easy enough read that you can put it down for a couple of days and when you pick it back up you're right where you left off, without having to think too hard about getting back into the swing of the story.

It's set at a large university, there's the seminar about the dead taught by the smart, fraz...more

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Oct 31, 2011 Charlie Quimby rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was on the lookout for a literate writer who wrote commercial, genre-spanning fiction, and this New York Times

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Sep 26, 2011 Karen rated it 3 of 5 stars

If I could, I'd tack on another half a star for the setting, which is Ann Arbor...from the coffeeshop I frequent multiple times a week (Espresso Royale on State *is* an extension of the English Dept.!) to the Wendy's by the freeway (and my house), and everywhere in between, it was pretty cool (and narcissistic, I admit) to have such an intimate knowledge of Kasischke's setting. I definitely couldn't put the book down, either, starting on Friday and finishing the 450+ pages today, but I have to e...more

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Sep 15, 2011 Michele Perry rated it 4 of 5 stars

When a beautiful, blonde, straight A sorority American 'girl next door' ends up dead after a car accident that shows no sign of blood or supposed 'carnage that would lead to death' - many questions are asked and the university students and teachers lives are put in turmoil. What happened to her? Did her boyfriend cause the accident? Why was there no blood or damage? Why are students apparently still seeing her around campus? What are her mourning sorority sisters trying to cover up?

‘The Raising’...more
When a beautiful, blonde, straight A sorority American 'girl next door' ends up dead after a car accident that shows no sign of blood or supposed 'carnage that would lead to death' - many questions are asked and the university students and teachers lives are put in turmoil. What happened to her? Did her boyfriend cause the accident? Why was there no blood or damage? Why are students apparently still seeing her around campus? What are her mourning sorority sisters trying to cover up?

‘The Raising’ by Laura Kasischke stirs up a plethora of emotions whilst reading. Readers will feel anything from curiosity, disgust, bewilderment and shock and not a lot of ‘happiness’, but believe me this works in the book’s favour! This is a fantastically thrilling read that examines the issues of relationships, death and sororities. What interested me most was the subject of sororities and their secret pacts and ceremonies. The fact that sometimes these secrets get out of control and really hurt the students that seem to allow their lives to be so defined by their ‘codes’ - amazed me. But there is even more depth to this tale and that is due to an exceptional cast of characters – they are all lifelike, dimensional and make you either loath them or love them and definitely question them and their motives.

At first it is a little hard to get use to the fact that Kasischke intertwines the sequence of plots, so you are continuously moving from past to present. Once you get the ‘feel’ of this you can appreciate the book more and totally get sucked into it. The conclusion is satisfying but will give you the desire to read the book again allowing you to pick up on any clues as to how the events unfolded (once you know the reasons for what actually did occur). This is not an uplifting book – it is about death and our obsession with it so it is somewhat sad, frustrating and depressive - but it is most definitely entertaining and educational in a way.

But as I initially mentioned, be warned, you will not want to put this book down until the very end. (less)

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Jul 29, 2011 Nikki K rated it 3 of 5 stars

I didn't hate this book. In fact, I had a hard time putting it down. It was a fast paced, suspenseful and interesting story. However, I have to admit that I was ticked off when I finished reading it. The ending was horrible!

This is the story of a college campus tragedy. Nicole Werner was a freshman sorority girl the year before this tale takes place. She dies in a mysterious car accident while her boyfriend, Craig, who was driving, survives, but without any memory of that night.

The story is tol...more

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Jul 19, 2011 Ashley Mackler-Paternostro rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: scary-stories

I was standing in the Seattle airport, thumbing through the current best sellers in one of the Hudson News stands that dot the airport when I saw this book with it's eerily simple cover. I picked it up and decided that this was story I had to read---and immediately downloaded it on my Kindle.

This book is a mildly scary story. That's all, it's not gruesome horror or depraved psychos on the loose, it's more the psychological stuff. Told from the perspective of 4 people, the plot is thickly twiste...more

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Jun 27, 2011 Lydia Presley rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, contemporary, paranormal

I just finished this book and I'm seriously messed up. In The Raising, Laura Kasischke tackles sororities, hazing, murder, and cover-ups and she does it from the viewpoints of several people involved: the witness, the victim, the victim's boyfriend, the best friend, the professor. They all have intricate parts and slowly, but surely, Kasischke weaves together their stories patiently bringing the reader to the end conclusion.

Except, was there one? From here on out will be some spoiler-type inform...more

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Jun 22, 2011 Cate rated it 3 of 5 stars

What I enjoyed about this book, and there was quite a lot to like, was Kasischke's gift of knowing when to allude and when to declare. So much magic is lost when the author doesn't trust her readers enough to put the pieces together themselves. Be aware: some little strings are left dangling here, but in a good, I-wonder-if-I'm-right-about-that kind of way. A good balance here, and unlike a typical campus mystery, or supernatural novel in which the characters find themselves unable or unwilling...more

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Jun 08, 2011 Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars

If you're looking for a spooky yet literary ghost story, Laura Kasischke's THE RAISING is your book. Kasischke creates a richly realized world of a college campus "haunted" by the ghost of a victim of a tragic accident. The storyline is fascinating and beautifully detailed. I particularly liked how the story unfolded through multiple characters' points of view and how these characters intersected each others' lives in surprising ways. The story grabbed me from the first page. The novel is paced...more

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May 09, 2011 April rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: pyschological-thriller-college-life

THE RAISING by Laura Kasischke is an interesting pyschological thriller.The plot is well written and is told from four different points of view. This is a deep dark story of apparent susides,supposedly accidential shootings,grief,death,rituals,cover ups,ghosts,lies,
deception,disappeance,and college life. On a Midwest College campus, someone will die,ghosts will appear,and answers will be sought to the burning questions of what really happen.The death of a soroity girl,who lives on in the hearts...more

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May 03, 2011 Norma rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was quite an interesting book. At first, I was a little overwhelmed since there are so many main characters. However, once I figured out who is who, then I was able to delve deeper into the story.

The way the book was written was definitely different. It's told from many different perspectives. Plus you are bouncing about through time (pre- and post-accident). But Laura Kasischke was able to do a superb job.

I really liked the characters a lot. I felt they were well developed. And the college...more

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May 01, 2011 Laura McHale Holland rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Raising is the first Laura Kasischke book I've read, and I'm giving it four stars because, while I was disappointed with the way the plot resolved (or rather didn't resolve), I think she is a writer of great talent. She can expertly set a scene, grab a reader's attention, evoke strong emotions, in essence, use language in a compellingly beautiful way to build a story.

I usually have no taste for books that alternate two or more characters' points of view, chapter by chapter. This book does th...more

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Apr 09, 2011 Vegantrav rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a fascinating mystery about a girl, Nicole, who is killed (or is she?) in an automobile accident with her boyfriend, Craig.

Nicole, however, even after her death, continues to appear to Craig, to his roommate, Perry, and to a a few of their other friends. Is she a ghost, haunting them all? Is she a vampire? Is she a succubus? For most of the novel, we don't know if this is actually a supernatural thriller or if the author is going to provide us with a rational explanation, but about 2/3 o...more

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Apr 06, 2011 Emma rated it 3 of 5 stars

I was expecting a supernatural mystery, involving zombies? vampires? My mind was all over the place with excitement for this one. Instead of getting the supernatural willies, I got freaky sorority sisters and a secret ritual that was, apparently, worth dying for.
The Raising started off innocently enough. We know that a girl has died, and her boyfriend doesn't remember anything from the accident. To onlookers, the girl didn't look injured and seemed to be perfectly alright. When her boyfriend, Cr...more

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Apr 05, 2011 Nancyewhite rated it 3 of 5 stars

I don't know how I feel about this book. At least partially this is due to an impression that the author doesn't know how she feels about the book's story and resolution. I found it compelling reading for many chapters where I'd want to rush to pick up where I left off if I had to set it aside. Other times, however, it was annoying and slow-moving.

The basic story is that of a sorority girl who was killed in a car accident and may or may not be haunting the campus. It moves back and forth in tim...more

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Mar 30, 2011 Luanne Ollivier rated it 3 of 5 stars

Here's the publisher's description of Laura Kasischke's new book The Raising.

"Last year Godwin Honors Hall was draped in black. The university was mourning the loss of one of its own: Nicole Werner, a blond, beautiful, straight-A sorority sister tragically killed in a car accident that left her boyfriend, who was driving, remarkably—some say suspiciously—unscathed.

Although a year has passed, as winter begins and the nights darken, obsession with Nicole and her death reignites: She was so pretty...more Here's the publisher's description of Laura Kasischke's new book The Raising.

"Last year Godwin Honors Hall was draped in black. The university was mourning the loss of one of its own: Nicole Werner, a blond, beautiful, straight-A sorority sister tragically killed in a car accident that left her boyfriend, who was driving, remarkably—some say suspiciously—unscathed.

Although a year has passed, as winter begins and the nights darken, obsession with Nicole and her death reignites: She was so pretty. So sweet-tempered. So innocent. Too young to die. Unless she didn’t. Because rumor has it that she’s back." The back cover blurb was also intriguing - "...part Stephen King, part Donna Tartt..."

I enjoyed the opening chapters, but it took at least 100 pages for me to get totally interested. I picked up and put down The Raising many times before finally finishing. The narrative flips back and forth between present day and the past, allowing us further glimpses and clues into what may have happened to Nicole. This part of the plot was well done and caught my interest. Where I got bored was the character development of Mira and Shelly, the two professors pursuing answers in this campus death. Yes, their personal lives play parts in the endgame, but some extraneous details, such as Mira's twin's language skills breakthrough with a fellow prof seem useless. My thoughts on Nicole's friend Perry and her boyfriend Craig changed many times throughout the book. Kasischke does a good job of manipulating the reader`s expectations and keeping us off kilter as she reveals more and more about the death and the circumstances surrounding it. I did find the commentary on sororities and hazing thought provoking.

The last 100 pages had me turning more rapidly as the conclusion was nearing and I expected some answers and resolutions. However, that was not to be. The ending left me definitely unsatisfied. For me, The Raising was a read that was okay, but not great. (and never lived up to the Stephen King comparison) (less)

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Mar 26, 2011 Melanie Goodman added it

Following the car accident of Craig Clements-Rabbitt and Nicole Werner, there are conflicting stories of what happened. The media reports a fatality–a girl so damaged by the wreck that she could barely be identified. The woman who first arrived on the scene says otherwise, telling anyone who will listen that the girl was very much alive and barely injured. Unfortunately, not many will listen.

In the aftermath, Craig is ostracized as the killer of a beloved sorority girl. Yet, some students on cam...more Following the car accident of Craig Clements-Rabbitt and Nicole Werner, there are conflicting stories of what happened. The media reports a fatality–a girl so damaged by the wreck that she could barely be identified. The woman who first arrived on the scene says otherwise, telling anyone who will listen that the girl was very much alive and barely injured. Unfortunately, not many will listen.

In the aftermath, Craig is ostracized as the killer of a beloved sorority girl. Yet, some students on campus begin to wonder what really happened when they start to see a girl who looks an awful lot like Nicole. The mother of a girl who went missing right around the time of Nicole’s alleged death likewise wonders what else this mystery is concealing. The sorority girls just might be hiding something other than their binge drinking. Is Nicole haunting her old stomping grounds? Or was she never really dead in the first place?

Laura Kasischke’s The Raising follows in a long tradition of gothic campus novels. I find Kasischke at her best when writing adult fiction, and like many of her works, this one was extremely dark. The structure was a bit complex, following four narrators both before and after Nicole’s death. It is a novel that was hard at times to fully lose myself in and enjoy completely, but I couldn’t stop reading until I knew what had happened. This took me until the wee hours of the night, a time when the book became much creepier and started giving me goosebumps.

Beyond the mystery and supernatural, the thing that kept me most riveted was the research behind the novel. Kasischke intersperses folklore about death, dying, and the undead via a professor who gets involved when Craig’s roommate, Perry, wants to investigate why he might be seeing Nicole. I loved the way that thanatology and folklore were so seamlessly integrated into a book that explores the death of a college student. While I lacked attachment to several of the characters, I was completely captivated by the anthropology surrounding the dead and undead.(less)

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Mar 24, 2011 Maria rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this book on my kindle, so I never actually knew how many pages it was until I began writing this review. I will tell you right now that you would never guess it was a nearly 500 page book! It was such a fast read - easy to follow - and full of so much suspense. I loved it.

The book focuses on one tragic car accident, where a boy named Craig ended up killing his girlfriend, Nicole....or did he?? And this is where all the fun begins. Conspiracies, cover-ups, ghost-stories - they all make f...more

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Mar 21, 2011 Nancy rated it 2 of 5 stars

The story starts out really strong. There's an accident. A girl has been thrown out of the car on a semi-rural road. A professor at the college saw it from a distance and is the first person on the scene. What she saw happen and what the newspapers and college report, however, are very different. The next chapter is a few months later when everybody arrives back on campus after summer break. The book follows key characters and explores the way the accident impacted their lives (or deaths).

Nicole...more The story starts out really strong. There's an accident. A girl has been thrown out of the car on a semi-rural road. A professor at the college saw it from a distance and is the first person on the scene. What she saw happen and what the newspapers and college report, however, are very different. The next chapter is a few months later when everybody arrives back on campus after summer break. The book follows key characters and explores the way the accident impacted their lives (or deaths).

Nicole Werner: She was the girl thrown from the car. She died. Or did she? She was a chaste virgin who was sweet, innocent, and loved her boyfriend, Craig. Or not. Other accounts indicate she was a slutty sorority girl who manipulated men and boys with her body. With Craig, she was what he wanted her to be.

Craig: Stuck up rich kid. Falls in love with Nicole, driver of the crashed car. Doesn't remember much of anything from the crash or shortly thereafter. What really happened to him? Was he duped? If so, how?

Perry: Craig's roommate who grew up with Nicole. He gathers information regarding the circumstances of Nicole's death and discovers that things may not be what they seem.

Shelley: The woman who came to the scene of the crash first. Professor of Art, respected, frustrated with how the newspaper and authorities reported and handled the crash.

Mira: Professor of Anthropology, mother of twins, married to Mr. Bipolar. Takes interest in Perry's thesis that the accident is not what it seemed.

What a fascinating premise! There are sightings of Nicole. Is she really dead? Is she a ghost? What really happened at the scene of the crash? Why can't Craig remember anything? Who is Nicole Werner? Clearly, something is going on at this sorority house. One of the residents, Josie, is a character that is constantly showing up and making her presence known. She is manipulative and completely without a moral compass. In fact, the girls in the sorority house lack a moral compass.

The writing is good. The story is compelling but, when push comes to shove, I can't recommend this book. It is raunchy. Not just a sex scene here or there but details that are forever burned in my head. Lesbian sex is spelled out in detail. It seems that on this campus, sex is paramount to all the students and faculty. There is a lot of pushing the boundaries with faculty and students, woman on woman, girl with anybody, boy with anybody. The story would be just as clear without all the detail.

Speaking of detail, the book takes off in a number of side stories that I found interesting but not relevant. Mira is having marital problems. Her husband is an unhappy househusband. Their twins have their own language. Perry got dumped by his high school girlfriend and now her husband is a vegetable because of an incident in Iraq. Craig's parents are divorced. All these strands lead off from the main story and don't seem to go anyplace.

My biggest complaint is that the ending was not satisfying. I spent over 400 pages glimpsing each character and formulating more questions about them. I wanted closure to not only the story but for each character. I found out if Mira's marriage survived and how Craig is doing later in life. I am still unclear about the accident, what caused it, where Nicole is, who is Nicole, and why there were such extravagant measures taken to cover it up. It seemed that the details of setting up the crash, the sorority secrecy, Shelley's life and Mira's marriage problems are well articulated. I wanted the ending to have the same care given. It felt like a different author wrote the last 50 pages.

Strong writing. Take out the raunch and extraneous details, give me the answers to my questions, and I would have loved this book. (less)

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Mar 18, 2011 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary-fiction

The Basic Story: Set on a fictional Midwestern campus, the novel weaves a rather complicated tale about a sorority girl named Nicole Werner who was killed in a car accident and whether her ghost has come back to haunt the campus. The book follows several characters. First, we have Craig—a snotty rich boy who was driving the car when the fatal accident took place and Nicole’s boyfriend. Then we have Perry—Craig’s roommate—who grew up in the same small town as Nicole. We also meet Shelley, the fir...more The Basic Story: Set on a fictional Midwestern campus, the novel weaves a rather complicated tale about a sorority girl named Nicole Werner who was killed in a car accident and whether her ghost has come back to haunt the campus. The book follows several characters. First, we have Craig—a snotty rich boy who was driving the car when the fatal accident took place and Nicole’s boyfriend. Then we have Perry—Craig’s roommate—who grew up in the same small town as Nicole. We also meet Shelley, the first person on the scene of the accident. Finally, we meet Mira—a professor of anthropology whose specialty is death rituals. The novel tracks how each of these characters are affected by Nicole’s death and the strange circumstances surrounding it—resulting in life-changing consequences for each of them.

My Thoughts: Oh, I so wanted to love this book! I was a big fan of Kasischke’s previous dystopic novel, In A Perfect World, and was thrilled when I saw she had a new book. The premise sounded so promising too—a ghost story set on a college campus! (And how intriguing is that cover.) At the beginning, I was encouraged; Kasischke does a great job of setting the scene and getting us into the heads of the different characters. However, things started to fall apart for me. The biggest problem was that Kasischke seemed to have trouble committing to what kind of novel she was writing: is this a gothic tale with supernatural elements? a conspiracy thriller? a good old-fashioned ghost story? This indecision on the part of the author led to a less than satisfying conclusion. In fact, I was still puzzling things out at the end as Kasischke seemed to want to have her cake and eat it too. There are some good elements here, but they didn’t come together in a satisfying way for me. (In fact, I would go so far as to call the plot as I understood it ridiculously ludicrous and unbelievable.) I ended up being very disappointed and can’t really recommend this book. This saddens me because I think Kasischke is a talented writer and—if she had fully committed herself one way or another—she could have had a wonderful book on her hands. (However, I would recommend In A Perfect World if you’d like to try a grown-up’s version of a dystopic book instead of a YA version.)(less)

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Mar 02, 2011 Crystal rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, netgalley

This book gave me the chills and kept me up at night thinking. The story centers around several people and is told from several different points of view. One thing they all have in common is Nicole Werner, the girl who supposedly died by the hands of her boyfriend Craig. I really liked how the author weaved together the lives of so many different people. I was also intrigued with the college campus life that was used as the backdrop. I could possibly see some of these events occurring in real li...more

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About Laura Kasischke

Laura Kasischke (born 1961) is an American fiction writer and American poet with poetry awards and multiple well reviewed works of fiction. Her work has received the Juniper Prize, the Alice Fay di Castagnola Award from the Poetry Society of America, the Pushcart Prize, the Elmer Holmes Bobst Award for Emerging Writers, and the Beatrice Hawley Award. She is the recipient of two fellowships from th...more

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“Heartbreak could be lived with if it weren't accompanied by regret.” — 89 people liked it

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