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Piccoli atti di misericordia
Boston, estate 1974. Per contrastare le discriminazioni e l’odio fra le etnie, le autorità impongono a molti ragazzi delle scuole frequentate dagli afroamericani di trasferirsi nelle scuole dei bianchi e viceversa, alimentando tensioni e proteste. È in questa estate torrida e tumultuosa che Mary Pat Fennessy precipita di nuovo nell’inferno. Quarantadue anni passati fra le case popolari dell’enclave irlandese-americana di Southie, ha perso il primo marito giovanissima, e poi un figlio per overdose. Ora le resta solo l’adorata figlia Jules, un fiore di diciassette anni. Ma una notte, dopo un’uscita con gli amici, Jules non rientra a casa. Quella stessa notte, un ragazzo nero viene trovato morto sulla banchina della metropolitana del loro quartiere. Cosa ci faceva all’alba in una zona di bianchi? E soprattutto, perché nessuno sa dov’è Jules? I due eventi hanno forse un legame? Cercando una risposta a queste domande, Mary Pat inizia un viaggio alla ricerca della verità. Un viaggio che diventa sempre più angoscioso e animato da una rabbia furente. Perché Mary Pat è una madre, e una madre è disposta a tutto pur di ritrovare la propria figlia, anche a porre domande giuste alle persone sbagliate, infastidendo il boss della mafia irlandese Marty Butler. Finché, tappa dopo tappa, la sua ricerca disvela abissi di verità impensabili... Narrato con un profondo senso del tragico, ma illuminato dalla fiamma della speranza persino nei momenti più bui, questo romanzo è stato definito dal New York Times «un capolavoro che dimostra quanto il passato riesca a forgiare il nostro presente». Un’opera ipnotica e struggente che solo l’autore di Mystic River poteva scrivere.
320 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 25, 2023
6195 people are currently reading
66425 people want to read
About the author
Dennis Lehane
82 books14.6k followersDennis Lehane (born Aug 4th, 1966) is an American author. He has written several novels, including the New York Times bestseller Mystic River, which was later made into an Academy Award winning film, also called Mystic River, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and Kevin Bacon (Lehane can be briefly seen waving from a car in the parade scene at the end of the film). The novel was a finalist for the PEN/Winship Award and won the Anthony Award and the Barry Award for Best Novel, the Massachusetts Book Award in Fiction, and France's Prix Mystere de la Critique.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 7,364 reviews
March 29, 2023
It feels good for a moment to remember who they were before they again have to sit with who they are.
I thought this was horrible, but excellent. Gritty, nuanced and extremely powerful.
What Lehane has done here is pull an old story, a common mystery/thriller trope, one so overdone precisely because it is guaranteed to wage war with our emotions-- that of a mother searching for her missing child --and placed it in the middle of a setting I've never seen it in before.
A missing child is truly a wound that never heals-- worse than an outright loss, it is being in limbo and never having closure, the last threads of hope keeping you from grieving and moving on. When Mary Pat's teenage daughter doesn't come home, she will stop at nothing to find out what happened to her. And woe betide anyone who might have hurt her baby.
Mary Pat is vicious and a very complex, often unlikable, character. Raised in the Southie projects, she's grown up fighting back against the world. She has an interesting journey in Small Mercies and is forced to reckon with some of her long-held beliefs, but this is not a redemption narrative. Her fury rages as she bulldozes through the world of this book and a lot of people get hurt by her, directly and indirectly.
Is she right? Is she good? The answer by most people's standards is "no", but it is also near impossible to look away from her pain and anger. I was certainly invested.
Lehane sets the tale of Mary Pat and her missing daughter against the Boston busing crisis-- when attempts to desegregate Boston public schools were met with racial tensions and riots. As Mary Pat digs around, it becomes clear that the story is bigger than one missing person, and is, in fact, about a huge web of race, poverty, drugs and exploitation, with her daughter Jules caught up in the centre of it.
The author also acknowledges the hypocrisy of rich white people tutting at the racism of poor white people while they themselves remain untouched, sending their kids to very segregated, very white, private schools.
I really liked it, though "liked" seems inappropriate. The fact that the good guys and the bad guys were sometimes the same people just made this an even more memorable and affecting read.
Please be aware that the book contains graphic violence, racial and homophobic slurs, and drug use.
March 19, 2023
Set amidst the unease and violence of Boston’s desegregation crisis of 1974, we meet Mary Pat Fennessy. Mary Pat has lived her whole life in ’Southie’, an Irish American enclave. When Mary Pat’s daughter Jules goes missing, she starts asking questions, but that only brings her to the attention of the Irish mob, and in particular Marty Butler. The thing is, you don’t go stirring things up, bringing unwanted attention to Marty Butler’s many ‘businesses’, - that’s totally crossing the line.
However, that doesn’t stop Mary Pat, she’s already suffering intolerable grief and Marty Butler or not, she WILL discover what’s happened to her daughter.
You might not agree with Mary Pat and her methods, you may not like her, but you won’t question her motives nor her determination and bravery in the midst of great danger to herself.
Mary Pat is a deeply complex character, and it’s definitely a tough read, but I challenge you to put this book down - it’s a truly beautiful read - beautiful in its truth, but ugly and brutal at the same time, with drugs, violence, racism, and many other equally distressing subjects in the mix, ( how little has changed)! Lehane is a master of the true nature of the human mind and how it works, whether that be good or bad intentions. Definitely recommended.
*Thank you to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK Abacus for my ARC in exchange for an honest unbiased review *
However, that doesn’t stop Mary Pat, she’s already suffering intolerable grief and Marty Butler or not, she WILL discover what’s happened to her daughter.
You might not agree with Mary Pat and her methods, you may not like her, but you won’t question her motives nor her determination and bravery in the midst of great danger to herself.
Mary Pat is a deeply complex character, and it’s definitely a tough read, but I challenge you to put this book down - it’s a truly beautiful read - beautiful in its truth, but ugly and brutal at the same time, with drugs, violence, racism, and many other equally distressing subjects in the mix, ( how little has changed)! Lehane is a master of the true nature of the human mind and how it works, whether that be good or bad intentions. Definitely recommended.
*Thank you to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK Abacus for my ARC in exchange for an honest unbiased review *
February 24, 2024
***HAPPY PUBLICATION DAY***
In this novel Mr. Lehane returns to his hometown of Boston. The novel begins during the sweltering summer of 1974. A federal judge had ruled that two Boston high schools, one in a black section and one in a white section, would be the first to integrate.
None of the residents of Southie, a strongly Irish area of Boston, are happy about the decision to bus their children from their all white HS to the all black HS in Roxbury.
Not all of the resentment is because of their racial issues; a lot of the people in the tight knit community just don’t want to be told what to do!! This is THEIR neighborhood and they like things the way they are. There will be trouble to come and it will be BIG!!
“Southie” consists mostly of housing projects and Mary Pat Fennessey has lived her entire life here. This used to be an area that helped each other but drugs and crime are rampant and have eroded the community.
Mary Pat lost her son to heroin after he returned from Vietnam. She is a single mother struggling to keep her 17 y/o daughter close to home and out of trouble. She's a very tough lady; she works hard but she likes to fight, verbally and physically. She works long hours at a nursing home and just barely manages to buy food and pay the rent..
One night her daughter, Jules, doesn’t return home. On that same evening it is reported that a young Black man was found dead on the tracks at the train station. It was presumed an accident but the police aren’t so sure.
This was an incredibly hard book to read but the characters and the quality of the writing kept me turning the pages. I knew nothing about Boston at this time and this was an eye opener!!
The sheer amount of drug deaths, violence and crimes against women were staggering. The Irish mob bosses that brought these drugs in became very wealthy, while the poor died tragic deaths. Pretty typical of the way things are now!
The police and many in local government were just as much to blame. They weren’t all bad, some tried incredibly hard to keep the kids out of trouble and curb the flow of drugs. One such character, Bobby, stole my heart!
The most depressing thing about this novel is that not enough has changed. There is still racism, drugs are killing more people than ever and no solutions have been found.
Some found this book to be hopeful, I did not. Mr. Lehane’s writing is so realistic that it had me crying and his characters so real that I won’t soon forget them.
Can I recommend this book – Yes, if you are ready for a tough read and I mean tough. There is a lot of sex, brutality and violence and it is descriptive.
I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through Edelweiss. All opinions in this review are mine alone and written with honesty and a heavy heart.
In this novel Mr. Lehane returns to his hometown of Boston. The novel begins during the sweltering summer of 1974. A federal judge had ruled that two Boston high schools, one in a black section and one in a white section, would be the first to integrate.
None of the residents of Southie, a strongly Irish area of Boston, are happy about the decision to bus their children from their all white HS to the all black HS in Roxbury.
Not all of the resentment is because of their racial issues; a lot of the people in the tight knit community just don’t want to be told what to do!! This is THEIR neighborhood and they like things the way they are. There will be trouble to come and it will be BIG!!
“Southie” consists mostly of housing projects and Mary Pat Fennessey has lived her entire life here. This used to be an area that helped each other but drugs and crime are rampant and have eroded the community.
Mary Pat lost her son to heroin after he returned from Vietnam. She is a single mother struggling to keep her 17 y/o daughter close to home and out of trouble. She's a very tough lady; she works hard but she likes to fight, verbally and physically. She works long hours at a nursing home and just barely manages to buy food and pay the rent..
One night her daughter, Jules, doesn’t return home. On that same evening it is reported that a young Black man was found dead on the tracks at the train station. It was presumed an accident but the police aren’t so sure.
This was an incredibly hard book to read but the characters and the quality of the writing kept me turning the pages. I knew nothing about Boston at this time and this was an eye opener!!
The sheer amount of drug deaths, violence and crimes against women were staggering. The Irish mob bosses that brought these drugs in became very wealthy, while the poor died tragic deaths. Pretty typical of the way things are now!
The police and many in local government were just as much to blame. They weren’t all bad, some tried incredibly hard to keep the kids out of trouble and curb the flow of drugs. One such character, Bobby, stole my heart!
The most depressing thing about this novel is that not enough has changed. There is still racism, drugs are killing more people than ever and no solutions have been found.
Some found this book to be hopeful, I did not. Mr. Lehane’s writing is so realistic that it had me crying and his characters so real that I won’t soon forget them.
Can I recommend this book – Yes, if you are ready for a tough read and I mean tough. There is a lot of sex, brutality and violence and it is descriptive.
I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through Edelweiss. All opinions in this review are mine alone and written with honesty and a heavy heart.
May 31, 2023
In case anyone was under the misconception that racism is limited to the South, Dennis Lehane’s Small Mercies will disavow that notion. The story takes place in 1974, just as desegregation has become mandated in Boston schools. Of course, the two neighborhoods affected the most are South Boston, home of the Irish mob, and Roxbury. Lehane absolutely gets the anger against the liberal elites and this goes a long way to explain how 3 decades later, Trump got elected.
Mary Pat Fennessy is the very epitome of a poor, working class mother unable to make ends meet. This might be a book written in this year, but it accurately spells out the language and attitudes of those times. Mary Pat is no exception. She’s as prejudiced as the rest of South Boston. If you are easily offended by racist language and thoughts, steer clear. For everyone else, run, do not walk to read or listen to this book.
The story starts when Jules, Mary Pat’s daughter, doesn’t come home one night. At the same time, a young black man is struck and killed by a subway train. The question is if or how these two events are related.
They don’t come any darker or grittier than this book. Mary Pat is the paramount momma bear who will do anything, cross anyone, to get answers. “Nobody ever taught this woman how to quit.”
I was impressed at how many climaxes this story had. I would think the book was getting ready to end, only to realize there were still hours left in the audio book. And boy, what an ending!
Robin Miles was a fabulous narrator. She was Mary Pat!
Mary Pat Fennessy is the very epitome of a poor, working class mother unable to make ends meet. This might be a book written in this year, but it accurately spells out the language and attitudes of those times. Mary Pat is no exception. She’s as prejudiced as the rest of South Boston. If you are easily offended by racist language and thoughts, steer clear. For everyone else, run, do not walk to read or listen to this book.
The story starts when Jules, Mary Pat’s daughter, doesn’t come home one night. At the same time, a young black man is struck and killed by a subway train. The question is if or how these two events are related.
They don’t come any darker or grittier than this book. Mary Pat is the paramount momma bear who will do anything, cross anyone, to get answers. “Nobody ever taught this woman how to quit.”
I was impressed at how many climaxes this story had. I would think the book was getting ready to end, only to realize there were still hours left in the audio book. And boy, what an ending!
Robin Miles was a fabulous narrator. She was Mary Pat!
May 31, 2024
Una novela con el sello del mejor Lehane. No tengo la menor duda de que estará entre las mejores que haya leído este año.
Dice la sinopsis:
Boston, verano de 1974, semanas previas a los graves disturbios causados en la ciudad por la desegregación de las escuelas. Una noche, Jules, la hija adolescente de Mary Pat, se queda fuera hasta tarde y no vuelve a casa. Esa misma noche, un joven negro, Auggie Williamson, aparece muerto en una estación de metro, en misteriosas circunstancias. Los dos sucesos parecen no tener relación, pero Mary Pat, impulsada por la desesperada búsqueda de su hija, empieza a hacer preguntas que molestan a Marty Butler, jefe de la mafia irlandesa, y a los hombres que trabajan para él.
¿Qué destaco del libro?
Me ha gustado tanto esta novela, que no sé ni por dónde empezar. En un género tan trillado como el negro, Dennis Lehane es de los pocos autores que marcan la diferencia. Lehane es lo que escribe y cómo lo escribe, es garantía de calidad, juega en otra liga, es otra historia. Le sigo desde que se publicó en España "Mistyc River" y rara vez me ha defraudado. ¿Qué destaco? Vamos a ello.
El título, que me tuvo loca durante toda la lectura. Tiene más de un nivel de justificación. El literal no se entiende hasta el final.
La portada, con la imagen de un periódico de la época durante los disturbios.
La ambientación. La novela transcurre en el barrio de Southie, un suburbio pobre de Boston habitado en su inmensa mayoría por personas de origen irlandés. En 1974 South Boston era 100% blanco y sus habitantes tenían prejuicios raciales muy arraigados. El autor se ha basado en tres acontecimientos reales para articular la trama, los disturbios raciales que estallaron con la desegregación de las escuelas y dos asesinatos, el de un chico negro en 1982 y el de una joven blanca en 1984. A partir de estos tres hechos inconexos nos desarrolla una trama dura en la que todo se articula y todo encaja.
La trama. Se compone de 32 capítulos cortos, que no cortísimos, narrados en tercera persona y de ritmo ágil. A mí me enganchó desde el principio. La prosa, los escenarios, los pensamientos de los personajes, los diálogos, la acción, lo tiene todo.
Es una trama dura, violenta, como duras y violentas son las condiciones de vida de los habitantes del barrio, un barrio de blancos pobres, carentes de esperanza, en su mayoría abocados a la delincuencia, el alcoholismo y las drogas. Mari Pat Fennessy, la protagonista ha nacido, vivido y criado a sus hijos en Southie. Ha desarrollado un fuerte sentido de pertenencia a un barrio controlado por la mafia del lugar. Conoce sus leyes no escritas y las acepta. Todo ello cambia cuando su hija Jules desaparece. En su lucha por descubrir y sacar a la luz la verdad se enfrentará a todo lo que había dado por sentado.
La manera en que pone de manifiesto el problema racial. Lehane sabe de lo que habla cuando ambienta su historia. Él fue un niño bostoniano de ascendencia irlandesa criado en un barrio racista por unos padres que no lo eran. Tenía nueve años cuando estallaron los disturbios, los presenció en primera persona. Sus palabras son el mejor testimonio de lo que allí ocurrió:
"Vi niveles de odio que nunca tendría que haber visto. En una calle por la que había pasado un millón de veces, vi un montón de pancartas con leyendas como 'Muerte a los negros' o 'Que los negros vuelvan a África', vi a gente del Ku Klux Klan y a adultos lanzando piedras contra autobuses de niños negros. Fue absolutamente enfermizo. Nadie debería tener que ver eso a una edad tan temprana. Cargar con todo eso y tratar de procesarlo fue muy complicado. Creo que nunca lo procesé por completo hasta que escribí este libro”.
El autor no tiene la más mínima duda de que era precisa la desegregación de las escuelas, pero sí cuestiona la manera en que el juez lo hizo, involucrando solo a los barrios pobres del centro de la ciudad y dejando al margen la periferia acomodada y la élite de los colegios privados. La hipocresía de los ricos que defienden ideales igualitarios desde sus barrios intocables.
Los personajes, que tienen un trazado impecable. Mari Pat es una mujer dura, pobre, que trata de sobrevivir como puede y arrastra dolor y pérdidas. No conoce ni quiere conocerlo más ambiente que aquel en el que se ha criado. Siente que en el barrio se cuidan los unos a los otros, que incluso los mafiosos como Marty Butler velan por el bienestar de sus gentes. Todas esas ideas previas van a ir cayendo una a una tras la desaparición de su hija Jules. La mujer fuerte y combativa que hay en ella no se resignará al no saber, al silencio impuesto y la liará parda. No todo es loable en ella, es una racista convencida. Educada en unos prejuicios, que no cuestiona (ser parte del barrio también es aceptar su manera de pensar), se los transmite a sus hijos. Una cadena de odio sin fin, que engendra dolor y muerte.
Bobby Coyne es un inspector de homicidios que creció en Southie en circunstancias difíciles, pero libre del virus del racismo. Heroinómano rehabilitado, entiende la dinámica de la zona. No cejará en su empeño por descubrir qué le ocurrió en realidad a Auggie Williamson. En su búsqueda de respuestas sus caminos confluirán con los de Mari Pat Fennessy.
Junto con ellos dos todo un elenco de secundarios. La hermana y las vecinas de Mari Pat, Ken Fen, su exmarido, los tres adolescentes que estaban con Jules la noche de su desaparición, Marty Butler y su cuadrilla de mafiosos, los padres del joven negro, etc. Todos ellos, como he dicho, impecables.
El trascender, como buena novela negra que es, a lo meramente policíaco. Estamos ante un libro que va más allá de la resolución de un crimen. Da testimonio de lo que era vivir en esa zona, de la pobreza, del alcoholismo, de la desesperanza, del dolor y de las mafias.
El final, esperado y correcto. La escena final entre Ken Fen y la madre de Auggie me gustó mucho.
En conclusión. Una novela negra de las que no hay que dejar pasar. Bien escrita, bien armada y con calado. Muy recomendable.
Dice la sinopsis:
Boston, verano de 1974, semanas previas a los graves disturbios causados en la ciudad por la desegregación de las escuelas. Una noche, Jules, la hija adolescente de Mary Pat, se queda fuera hasta tarde y no vuelve a casa. Esa misma noche, un joven negro, Auggie Williamson, aparece muerto en una estación de metro, en misteriosas circunstancias. Los dos sucesos parecen no tener relación, pero Mary Pat, impulsada por la desesperada búsqueda de su hija, empieza a hacer preguntas que molestan a Marty Butler, jefe de la mafia irlandesa, y a los hombres que trabajan para él.
¿Qué destaco del libro?
Me ha gustado tanto esta novela, que no sé ni por dónde empezar. En un género tan trillado como el negro, Dennis Lehane es de los pocos autores que marcan la diferencia. Lehane es lo que escribe y cómo lo escribe, es garantía de calidad, juega en otra liga, es otra historia. Le sigo desde que se publicó en España "Mistyc River" y rara vez me ha defraudado. ¿Qué destaco? Vamos a ello.
El título, que me tuvo loca durante toda la lectura. Tiene más de un nivel de justificación. El literal no se entiende hasta el final.
La portada, con la imagen de un periódico de la época durante los disturbios.
La ambientación. La novela transcurre en el barrio de Southie, un suburbio pobre de Boston habitado en su inmensa mayoría por personas de origen irlandés. En 1974 South Boston era 100% blanco y sus habitantes tenían prejuicios raciales muy arraigados. El autor se ha basado en tres acontecimientos reales para articular la trama, los disturbios raciales que estallaron con la desegregación de las escuelas y dos asesinatos, el de un chico negro en 1982 y el de una joven blanca en 1984. A partir de estos tres hechos inconexos nos desarrolla una trama dura en la que todo se articula y todo encaja.
La trama. Se compone de 32 capítulos cortos, que no cortísimos, narrados en tercera persona y de ritmo ágil. A mí me enganchó desde el principio. La prosa, los escenarios, los pensamientos de los personajes, los diálogos, la acción, lo tiene todo.
Es una trama dura, violenta, como duras y violentas son las condiciones de vida de los habitantes del barrio, un barrio de blancos pobres, carentes de esperanza, en su mayoría abocados a la delincuencia, el alcoholismo y las drogas. Mari Pat Fennessy, la protagonista ha nacido, vivido y criado a sus hijos en Southie. Ha desarrollado un fuerte sentido de pertenencia a un barrio controlado por la mafia del lugar. Conoce sus leyes no escritas y las acepta. Todo ello cambia cuando su hija Jules desaparece. En su lucha por descubrir y sacar a la luz la verdad se enfrentará a todo lo que había dado por sentado.
La manera en que pone de manifiesto el problema racial. Lehane sabe de lo que habla cuando ambienta su historia. Él fue un niño bostoniano de ascendencia irlandesa criado en un barrio racista por unos padres que no lo eran. Tenía nueve años cuando estallaron los disturbios, los presenció en primera persona. Sus palabras son el mejor testimonio de lo que allí ocurrió:
"Vi niveles de odio que nunca tendría que haber visto. En una calle por la que había pasado un millón de veces, vi un montón de pancartas con leyendas como 'Muerte a los negros' o 'Que los negros vuelvan a África', vi a gente del Ku Klux Klan y a adultos lanzando piedras contra autobuses de niños negros. Fue absolutamente enfermizo. Nadie debería tener que ver eso a una edad tan temprana. Cargar con todo eso y tratar de procesarlo fue muy complicado. Creo que nunca lo procesé por completo hasta que escribí este libro”.
El autor no tiene la más mínima duda de que era precisa la desegregación de las escuelas, pero sí cuestiona la manera en que el juez lo hizo, involucrando solo a los barrios pobres del centro de la ciudad y dejando al margen la periferia acomodada y la élite de los colegios privados. La hipocresía de los ricos que defienden ideales igualitarios desde sus barrios intocables.
Los personajes, que tienen un trazado impecable. Mari Pat es una mujer dura, pobre, que trata de sobrevivir como puede y arrastra dolor y pérdidas. No conoce ni quiere conocerlo más ambiente que aquel en el que se ha criado. Siente que en el barrio se cuidan los unos a los otros, que incluso los mafiosos como Marty Butler velan por el bienestar de sus gentes. Todas esas ideas previas van a ir cayendo una a una tras la desaparición de su hija Jules. La mujer fuerte y combativa que hay en ella no se resignará al no saber, al silencio impuesto y la liará parda. No todo es loable en ella, es una racista convencida. Educada en unos prejuicios, que no cuestiona (ser parte del barrio también es aceptar su manera de pensar), se los transmite a sus hijos. Una cadena de odio sin fin, que engendra dolor y muerte.
Bobby Coyne es un inspector de homicidios que creció en Southie en circunstancias difíciles, pero libre del virus del racismo. Heroinómano rehabilitado, entiende la dinámica de la zona. No cejará en su empeño por descubrir qué le ocurrió en realidad a Auggie Williamson. En su búsqueda de respuestas sus caminos confluirán con los de Mari Pat Fennessy.
Junto con ellos dos todo un elenco de secundarios. La hermana y las vecinas de Mari Pat, Ken Fen, su exmarido, los tres adolescentes que estaban con Jules la noche de su desaparición, Marty Butler y su cuadrilla de mafiosos, los padres del joven negro, etc. Todos ellos, como he dicho, impecables.
El trascender, como buena novela negra que es, a lo meramente policíaco. Estamos ante un libro que va más allá de la resolución de un crimen. Da testimonio de lo que era vivir en esa zona, de la pobreza, del alcoholismo, de la desesperanza, del dolor y de las mafias.
El final, esperado y correcto. La escena final entre Ken Fen y la madre de Auggie me gustó mucho.
En conclusión. Una novela negra de las que no hay que dejar pasar. Bien escrita, bien armada y con calado. Muy recomendable.
July 24, 2023
One of those books which apart from being gripping teach me some social history.
I had no idea about the tensions that prevailed during the 1970s in Boston where the desegregation was not widely accepted. The plot focuses on the Irish and Black communities, their daily struggles and disappointments rather than dreams.
My heart broke after reading Mary Pat Fennessy's story for her share of pain and grief is beyond what a mother can endure.
OverDrive, thank you!
I had no idea about the tensions that prevailed during the 1970s in Boston where the desegregation was not widely accepted. The plot focuses on the Irish and Black communities, their daily struggles and disappointments rather than dreams.
My heart broke after reading Mary Pat Fennessy's story for her share of pain and grief is beyond what a mother can endure.
OverDrive, thank you!
September 7, 2023
It’s 1974 and I was riding my bike in outback Australia, living in a small closed-off town called Woomera, full of USAF, RAF, and RAAF types. They were flying jets and shooting rockets into the heavens. The only concern I had, was to make sure to be home for dinner at 6pm. Life was safe, sunny and easy.
On the other side of the world, in 1974 Boston, life was a whole lot different. This was a turbulent period, in which Boston Public Schools were being desegregated. Kids from black schools were going to be bused into white schools, and vice versa. This caused a significant amount of civil unrest – protests, riots and the like.
We see this period largely from the perspective of white people of Irish heritage in the housing projects in the south of Boston, they’re called “Southies”. They are working class, territorial, poor – surrounded by crime and racist. They (or the people we meet in this story) hate the black people in adjacent poor suburbs, and the also hate other kinds of ‘others’.
Mary Pat is a mother who has already lost a husband and a son and is now dealing with the disappearance of her coming of age teenage daughter. She is a woman not to be messed with. It seems her daughter’s disappearance is associated with the death of a young black guy whose car had broken down in the wrong suburb, and he’s chased to a train station – and killed. The circumstances around this murder, however, are opaque.
A broken person can’t be unbreakable. An unbreakable person can’t be broken. And yet here sits Mary Pat Fennesey, broken but unbreakable
There’s a rich plot here, involving a large cast of characters, many criminal – they live a life steeped in crime, violence, drugs, and hatred. It isn’t nice – it’s gritty. Unfortunately, we only see this world, from the perspective of the white people, it would have been interesting – and I was expecting, an alternative narrative of white/black/white/black. But alas, that wasn’t the story.
But what I did like, was this true-life saga desegregation and the incendiary practice of busing kids between white and black schools. This, for me, was a point in US history worth knowing about – and 1974 so recent really. Many of these people are still alive – do they still hold the same views? Is this area in the south of Boston, the same? There was also a powerful message which became more apparent towards the end of the story, this was the generational transfer of racist hatred.
When you’re a kid and they start in with all the lies. They never tell you they’re lies. They just tell you this is what it is.
Anyway, the story here is interesting and credible enough to keep one’s attention, I found it interesting, suspenseful, violent and I was totally invested in the characters.
This is a good read – 3.5 stars, marked up for learning something new.
4 Stars
On the other side of the world, in 1974 Boston, life was a whole lot different. This was a turbulent period, in which Boston Public Schools were being desegregated. Kids from black schools were going to be bused into white schools, and vice versa. This caused a significant amount of civil unrest – protests, riots and the like.
We see this period largely from the perspective of white people of Irish heritage in the housing projects in the south of Boston, they’re called “Southies”. They are working class, territorial, poor – surrounded by crime and racist. They (or the people we meet in this story) hate the black people in adjacent poor suburbs, and the also hate other kinds of ‘others’.
Mary Pat is a mother who has already lost a husband and a son and is now dealing with the disappearance of her coming of age teenage daughter. She is a woman not to be messed with. It seems her daughter’s disappearance is associated with the death of a young black guy whose car had broken down in the wrong suburb, and he’s chased to a train station – and killed. The circumstances around this murder, however, are opaque.
A broken person can’t be unbreakable. An unbreakable person can’t be broken. And yet here sits Mary Pat Fennesey, broken but unbreakable
There’s a rich plot here, involving a large cast of characters, many criminal – they live a life steeped in crime, violence, drugs, and hatred. It isn’t nice – it’s gritty. Unfortunately, we only see this world, from the perspective of the white people, it would have been interesting – and I was expecting, an alternative narrative of white/black/white/black. But alas, that wasn’t the story.
But what I did like, was this true-life saga desegregation and the incendiary practice of busing kids between white and black schools. This, for me, was a point in US history worth knowing about – and 1974 so recent really. Many of these people are still alive – do they still hold the same views? Is this area in the south of Boston, the same? There was also a powerful message which became more apparent towards the end of the story, this was the generational transfer of racist hatred.
When you’re a kid and they start in with all the lies. They never tell you they’re lies. They just tell you this is what it is.
Anyway, the story here is interesting and credible enough to keep one’s attention, I found it interesting, suspenseful, violent and I was totally invested in the characters.
This is a good read – 3.5 stars, marked up for learning something new.
4 Stars
February 25, 2025
Small Mercies is a masterpiece. It is powerful, thought provoking, heartbreaking and, at times, humorous. Lehane nails the lingo and attitude of Southie.
MaryPat is by far THE MOST memorable character I’ve read in years. She is a bad ass mother and one tough Southie. Bobby is a homicide cop working the main investigation. Loved him as a character.
Family Drama plus organized crime plus police investigations equals one kick ass novel set against the 1974 desegregation of Boston schools.
Small Mercies throws back the curtain on a time in our nation’s recent past. It is a powerful examination of racism and the systems that were put in place to keep and stoke the flames of hate. For some readers it will be historical fiction, for others it will be revisiting a time period they witnessed first hand. A must read for all.
MaryPat is by far THE MOST memorable character I’ve read in years. She is a bad ass mother and one tough Southie. Bobby is a homicide cop working the main investigation. Loved him as a character.
Family Drama plus organized crime plus police investigations equals one kick ass novel set against the 1974 desegregation of Boston schools.
Small Mercies throws back the curtain on a time in our nation’s recent past. It is a powerful examination of racism and the systems that were put in place to keep and stoke the flames of hate. For some readers it will be historical fiction, for others it will be revisiting a time period they witnessed first hand. A must read for all.
July 2, 2023
This brought some history back as I live in Boston. The busing crisis was a big deal. No one wanted it. A definite mistake. Rather than improving schools in all districts, the politicians chose to bring children to a city they were not familiar with. Dennis Lehane projected this well in his book. Such a huge politic issue for Boston.
Dennis Lehane is a wonderful local author.
4 out of 5 stars
Dennis Lehane is a wonderful local author.
4 out of 5 stars
March 5, 2024
I was a little scared to read this after his last book but this one restored my faith in Mr. Lehane again.
February 4, 2024
"On June 12, 1974, U.S. District Court Judge W. Arthur Garrity, Jr., ruled in 'Morgan v. Hennigan' that the Boston School Committee had 'systematically disadvantaged black school children' in the public school system. The only remedy, the judge concluded, was to begin busing students between predominantly white and predominantly black neighborhoods to desegregate the city's public high schools.
The school in the neighborhood with the largest African American population was Roxbury High School. The school in the neighborhood with the largest white population was South Boston High School. It was decided that these two schools would switch a significant portion of their student bodies.
This order was to take effect at the beginning of the school year, on September 12, 1974. Students and parents had less than ninety days from the date of the ruling to prepare.
It was very hot in Boston that summer, and it seldom rained."
And with that Historical Note, Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane begins set in the most tumultuous episodes in Boston's history as this masterpiece unfolds with an all-consuming tale of revenge, family love, and festering hate. We are introduced to Mary Pat Fennessy, trying to keep her family together in the housing projects of "Southie," the Irish American enclave that subbornly adheres to old tradition where she has spent her life. Mary Pat Fennessy has a fairly close but tense relationship with her teenage daughter, Jules. One night she doesn't come home and Mary Pat is frantic. The next day as she is working as an aide in the local nursing home, she learns that the son of a black co-worker, Dreamy Williamson, has been found dead in a mysterious subway incident. It seems that both of them have lost children now, one a death and the other a disappearance. How these two women respond as well as the level of support that each recieves from their respective communities is what drives this riveting and gripping mystery. The novel focuses on Mary Pat, a good person, but still sharing the tribal prejudices of her Irish neighborhood toward people they believe are encroaching on their turf. But as Mary Pat keeps searching for what happened to Jules, she discovers how much she has to learn about her daughter, the neighborhood and the crime syndicate that has ruled her home turf, their power and authority unchallenged. She risks everything to discover the truth. As Mary Pat Fennessy tells the investigator: "I'm not a person anymore, Bobby. I'm a testament. . . That's what ghosts are--they're testaments to what never should have happened and must be fixed before their spirits leave this world."
April 3, 2025
“Where is my daughter?”
Woooo! I loved Small Mercies from beginning to end. This book takes us to Southie, short for South Boston, Mass. Inspired by real-life events of the school busing crisis to desegregate Boston's public schools in 1974. This read explores themes of poverty, racism, the power of the Irish mob, and motherhood. Thank you Jim C for the Buddy Read, I enjoyed the book and your company!
“Something both irretrievably broken and wholly unbreakable lives at the core of this woman.”
Woooo! I loved Small Mercies from beginning to end. This book takes us to Southie, short for South Boston, Mass. Inspired by real-life events of the school busing crisis to desegregate Boston's public schools in 1974. This read explores themes of poverty, racism, the power of the Irish mob, and motherhood. Thank you Jim C for the Buddy Read, I enjoyed the book and your company!
“Something both irretrievably broken and wholly unbreakable lives at the core of this woman.”
April 16, 2024
In 1974, the US District Court ruled that the Boston School Committee had ‘systematically disadvantaged black school children’ in the public school system. The remedy chosen was to begin busing students between predominantly white and predominantly black neighbourhoods in order to desegregate the city’s public high schools. History tells us that this decision was not universally popular in those districts, feeding racist violence and fuelling existing class tensions. It’s against this background that Lehane structures his latest explosive tale.
Mary Pat Fennessey has always lived in the housing projects in the south of the city, an area with its own proud way of doing things. The people here are predominantly of Irish American descent. They are close knit, and many rarely move outside the confines of their own small community. One night, her daughter, Jules, fails to come home after a night out with friends. That in itself isn’t entirely unheard of but having already lost a son to a drug habit born of his service in Vietnam and fed by local pushers, Mary Pat desperately contacts anyone who might have seen her. But to no avail.
At this point we start to become acutely aware of the segregated life people in this part of the city actually live; white and black people really don’t mix and their reaction to one another’s appearance on their own turf exceeds antipathy. For Mary Pat, even in a work environment where civility is a necessity, friendship is considered unconscionable. So when the son of a black work colleague is killed in what might be an accident or, more likely, an act of malice, her reaction is one of sympathy though she can’t quite bring herself to write a reciprocal note along the lines of the one she received when her own son died.
The desperate search for her daughter eventually leads Mary Pat to the door of a pub owned and run by the local Irish mob in an attempt to seek their assistance. We learn that this violent gang controls pretty much everything that goes on here, setting the rules and dealing out the punishments as they see fit. But though she is met with a somewhat sympathetic ear, she quickly realises that if Jules is to be found, then she’s going to have to do the finding.
This story throws a light on the gritty, dark, and often violent life that many in ‘the projects’ led at this time. In Mary Pat, the author has found the perfect vehicle to bring this all vividly to life. She’s both determined in defence of the community in which she lives but also increasingly questioning the impact this has on everyday life and on the relationships this fosters and just as often prohibits. Lehane has produced two of my favourite novels in Shutter Island and Mystic River, and I can now add this one to the list. Outstanding!
My thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK, for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
Mary Pat Fennessey has always lived in the housing projects in the south of the city, an area with its own proud way of doing things. The people here are predominantly of Irish American descent. They are close knit, and many rarely move outside the confines of their own small community. One night, her daughter, Jules, fails to come home after a night out with friends. That in itself isn’t entirely unheard of but having already lost a son to a drug habit born of his service in Vietnam and fed by local pushers, Mary Pat desperately contacts anyone who might have seen her. But to no avail.
At this point we start to become acutely aware of the segregated life people in this part of the city actually live; white and black people really don’t mix and their reaction to one another’s appearance on their own turf exceeds antipathy. For Mary Pat, even in a work environment where civility is a necessity, friendship is considered unconscionable. So when the son of a black work colleague is killed in what might be an accident or, more likely, an act of malice, her reaction is one of sympathy though she can’t quite bring herself to write a reciprocal note along the lines of the one she received when her own son died.
The desperate search for her daughter eventually leads Mary Pat to the door of a pub owned and run by the local Irish mob in an attempt to seek their assistance. We learn that this violent gang controls pretty much everything that goes on here, setting the rules and dealing out the punishments as they see fit. But though she is met with a somewhat sympathetic ear, she quickly realises that if Jules is to be found, then she’s going to have to do the finding.
This story throws a light on the gritty, dark, and often violent life that many in ‘the projects’ led at this time. In Mary Pat, the author has found the perfect vehicle to bring this all vividly to life. She’s both determined in defence of the community in which she lives but also increasingly questioning the impact this has on everyday life and on the relationships this fosters and just as often prohibits. Lehane has produced two of my favourite novels in Shutter Island and Mystic River, and I can now add this one to the list. Outstanding!
My thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK, for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
May 18, 2023
Again, late on my review. ( I AM hopeless.) Another absolutely riveting read from the brilliant Dennis Lehane. SMALL MERCIES is set in the Boston he brings to life so vividly, now 1974, in the midst of the "busing battle" that August and September. In a tale that is absolutely unflinching, he brings to life a heroine who in her search for her missing daughter has to face her own racism. Part thriller, part character study, part exploration of what it meant to be part of a South Boston crime family, SMALL MERCIES is at once deeply moving and powerfully gripping.
July 24, 2025
Люблю, коли художня література дає мені нові знання, і ця книжка була саме такою. Так, вона, безсумнівно, невесела і похмура, але змушує замислитися багато над чим, і головне - я відкрила для себе повністю нове поняття «десегрегації». Що ж у ньому поганого, здавалося б? Сегрегація - це погано, а що ж тут? Автор на прикладі Бостонських районів показує, як відбувалися певні процеси в 70-х в США і я навіть гуглила, де правда, а де художня вигадка.
Ще одним величезним плюсом для мене в цій історії було те, що вона розказана від третьої особи, без повів, без часових ліній і стрибків у часі, просто автор розповідає історію про людей. Нічого зайвого, все по темі, без води, зайвих описів і подробиць, але за 350 сторінок нереально не перейнятися долями персонажів. Плюс тут все дуже «сіре», складно ділити на хороших-поганих, ідеальна книжка для клубів.
Чому не 5 зірок? Бо це історія, яка не змінила мій світогляд і про яку я, скоріше за все, не буду постійно думати. Але точно дуже якісне чтиво! Якщо сумнівалися, читати чи ні - беріть.
Ще одним величезним плюсом для мене в цій історії було те, що вона розказана від третьої особи, без повів, без часових ліній і стрибків у часі, просто автор розповідає історію про людей. Нічого зайвого, все по темі, без води, зайвих описів і подробиць, але за 350 сторінок нереально не перейнятися долями персонажів. Плюс тут все дуже «сіре», складно ділити на хороших-поганих, ідеальна книжка для клубів.
Чому не 5 зірок? Бо це історія, яка не змінила мій світогляд і про яку я, скоріше за все, не буду постійно думати. Але точно дуже якісне чтиво! Якщо сумнівалися, читати чи ні - беріть.
February 11, 2024
Fantástica, dura, visceral, muy bien ambientada, en uno de los muchos conflictos raciales allá por los ´70s en USA.
En este caso en un barrio exclusivo de irlandeses y su negativa a la mezcla en los colegios con niños negros.
Me ha encantado.
Como una madre quiere respuestas y las va obtener y que nadie, ni dios, se ponga en su camino...
Que gran personaje Mary Pat, con todos sus defectos, pero que tenacidad y resiliencia.
Valoración: 10/10
Sinopsis: Boston, verano de 1974 . Una noche, Jules, la hija adolescente de Mary Pat, se queda fuera hasta tarde y no vuelve a casa. Esa misma noche, un joven negro aparece muerto, arrollado por un tren en misteriosas circunstancias. Los dos sucesos parecen no tener relación, pero Mary Pat, impulsada por la desesperada búsqueda de su hija, empieza a hacer preguntas que molestan a Marty Butler, jefe de la mafia irlandesa, y a los hombres que trabajan para él. Ambientada en los calurosos y tumultuosos meses en los que la desegregación de las escuelas públicas de la ciudad estalló en violencia, Golpe de gracia es un magnífico thriller, una brutal descripción de la criminalidad y el poder, y un retrato inquebrantable del oscuro corazón del racismo americano.
En este caso en un barrio exclusivo de irlandeses y su negativa a la mezcla en los colegios con niños negros.
Me ha encantado.
Como una madre quiere respuestas y las va obtener y que nadie, ni dios, se ponga en su camino...
Que gran personaje Mary Pat, con todos sus defectos, pero que tenacidad y resiliencia.
Valoración: 10/10
Sinopsis: Boston, verano de 1974 . Una noche, Jules, la hija adolescente de Mary Pat, se queda fuera hasta tarde y no vuelve a casa. Esa misma noche, un joven negro aparece muerto, arrollado por un tren en misteriosas circunstancias. Los dos sucesos parecen no tener relación, pero Mary Pat, impulsada por la desesperada búsqueda de su hija, empieza a hacer preguntas que molestan a Marty Butler, jefe de la mafia irlandesa, y a los hombres que trabajan para él. Ambientada en los calurosos y tumultuosos meses en los que la desegregación de las escuelas públicas de la ciudad estalló en violencia, Golpe de gracia es un magnífico thriller, una brutal descripción de la criminalidad y el poder, y un retrato inquebrantable del oscuro corazón del racismo americano.
January 16, 2024
In the summer of 1974 during a heat wave and political upheaval, a young black man is found dead and a white teenage girl goes missing. The the incidents seem unrelated, until the mother of the teen girl finds a connection. This book is the story of a mothers search for her daughter and a cop who wants justice for both of these victims.
This was an absolutely brutal book to read. My first book by Dennis Lehane, I have heard of him because of his other books such as Mystic River, but had never actually read one. I'm glad this book was my first because it was an emotional roller coaster ride in the best possible way. Lehane did not stray away from the ugly truth in this book, or the flaws that make a person who they are. This is a story that is going to stay with me for a very long time.
This was an absolutely brutal book to read. My first book by Dennis Lehane, I have heard of him because of his other books such as Mystic River, but had never actually read one. I'm glad this book was my first because it was an emotional roller coaster ride in the best possible way. Lehane did not stray away from the ugly truth in this book, or the flaws that make a person who they are. This is a story that is going to stay with me for a very long time.
August 10, 2023
Nothing prepared me for an antihero like middle-aged mother Mary Pat Fennessy in Lehane’s electrifying and turbulent new novel. Lehane put Southie (the mostly Irish part of South Boston) on the literary map in his early crime novels, and in SMALL MERCIES he achieves the pinnacle of his career. You are about to go on one of the wildest rides of your life (sometimes in a car named Bess)! Mary Pat is “built for battle” and will defend her turf and her family with relentless fury.
It’s 1974. It was a hot, steaming, rainless summer in Boston, and temps were high not only in the skies but on the ground, between the white Southies and the Black citizens of Roxbury, both districts under a busing mandate to bring Black students to the all-white South Boston High School, and white students to mostly Black Roxbury. Forget the PC talk, (the word didn't even exist) and don’t expect Mary Pat to be the exceptional white woman who embraces desegregation. In fact, she demonstrates her own roots of being raised by casual racism, from racist parents who were like all the other racist parents in the district. They didn't question their bigotry--it was passed down generationally. Ergo, the entire South Boston population was on the verge of violence in these weeks before the first day of school.
Something had to give, but was forced busing the answer? Lehane bravely tells a story of the racial divide, without sentimentality, without fear, and with an unstoppable plot. This is an unputdownable novel, not for the faint of heart. Prepare for graphic violence and plenty of moral ambiguity, as Lehane explores this time in history through the eyes of mostly the Southies, Mary Pat as the primary character. It’s the eve of protests, rallies, and riots, and Lehane flawlessly weaves in true pieces of history with his period piece.
No need to cover the plot—that’s for the reader to enjoy as the pages turn. Mary Pat lost a son to an OD after he survived Vietnam. (I use the term loosely--he came home with trauma and a habit.) Her daughter, Jules, is seventeen and will be one of the bused students when school begins. Mary Pat has lived in Southie her entire life, she is a solid citizen of the community. Southie is guarded and run by the Irish mob (think Whitey Bulger)—the Butler crew, known as “Southie’s protector.” They will protect you, but you have to submit to their code, their ethos.
This story gets explosive when Mary Pat collides with the mobster crew, while the busing mandate looms in the backdrop. She needs them to help her find her daughter, who failed to come home on a Saturday night. On the same night, a young Black man is found dead on the train tracks of a subway platform. The mob crew want to control Mary Pat’s actions, have her play by their rules, and let me tell you, you don’t want to get on Mary Pat’s bad side, either.
The detective on the case, Bobbie Coyne, is trying to help Mary Pat. He refers to her as broken, but unbreakable. He knows her kind—the fierce Southie woman--but also recognizes that she is unknowable. She is as gritty as this tale, as raw as this story. Recently divorced from her second husband, she takes no prisoners in her quest to find Jules, and she’s scared of nobody.
Racial conflicts, class clashes, and a gripping crime. Lehane spares no bigoted racial slur for the reader in these pages. There were times I could barely stomach these words, but Lehane is from Dorchester, and he knows the genuine language of the time and place. Mary Pat does recognize that her racism is inherited, that there is no “factual” basis for it. The language here is not gratuitous, but it doesn’t go down easy. The story peeks at redemption, and Mary Pat nearly vibrates off the page. Once you start, you’re hooked. It’s heroin for readers.
It’s 1974. It was a hot, steaming, rainless summer in Boston, and temps were high not only in the skies but on the ground, between the white Southies and the Black citizens of Roxbury, both districts under a busing mandate to bring Black students to the all-white South Boston High School, and white students to mostly Black Roxbury. Forget the PC talk, (the word didn't even exist) and don’t expect Mary Pat to be the exceptional white woman who embraces desegregation. In fact, she demonstrates her own roots of being raised by casual racism, from racist parents who were like all the other racist parents in the district. They didn't question their bigotry--it was passed down generationally. Ergo, the entire South Boston population was on the verge of violence in these weeks before the first day of school.
Something had to give, but was forced busing the answer? Lehane bravely tells a story of the racial divide, without sentimentality, without fear, and with an unstoppable plot. This is an unputdownable novel, not for the faint of heart. Prepare for graphic violence and plenty of moral ambiguity, as Lehane explores this time in history through the eyes of mostly the Southies, Mary Pat as the primary character. It’s the eve of protests, rallies, and riots, and Lehane flawlessly weaves in true pieces of history with his period piece.
No need to cover the plot—that’s for the reader to enjoy as the pages turn. Mary Pat lost a son to an OD after he survived Vietnam. (I use the term loosely--he came home with trauma and a habit.) Her daughter, Jules, is seventeen and will be one of the bused students when school begins. Mary Pat has lived in Southie her entire life, she is a solid citizen of the community. Southie is guarded and run by the Irish mob (think Whitey Bulger)—the Butler crew, known as “Southie’s protector.” They will protect you, but you have to submit to their code, their ethos.
This story gets explosive when Mary Pat collides with the mobster crew, while the busing mandate looms in the backdrop. She needs them to help her find her daughter, who failed to come home on a Saturday night. On the same night, a young Black man is found dead on the train tracks of a subway platform. The mob crew want to control Mary Pat’s actions, have her play by their rules, and let me tell you, you don’t want to get on Mary Pat’s bad side, either.
The detective on the case, Bobbie Coyne, is trying to help Mary Pat. He refers to her as broken, but unbreakable. He knows her kind—the fierce Southie woman--but also recognizes that she is unknowable. She is as gritty as this tale, as raw as this story. Recently divorced from her second husband, she takes no prisoners in her quest to find Jules, and she’s scared of nobody.
Racial conflicts, class clashes, and a gripping crime. Lehane spares no bigoted racial slur for the reader in these pages. There were times I could barely stomach these words, but Lehane is from Dorchester, and he knows the genuine language of the time and place. Mary Pat does recognize that her racism is inherited, that there is no “factual” basis for it. The language here is not gratuitous, but it doesn’t go down easy. The story peeks at redemption, and Mary Pat nearly vibrates off the page. Once you start, you’re hooked. It’s heroin for readers.
September 28, 2025
If “Small Mercies” were a film, it would be a blockbuster rather than arthouse cinema. The novel thrives on its partly stereotypical characters, but avoids a banal black-and-white portrayal. In their emotions and suffering, they sometimes appear larger than life, but at the same time are reduced to underdogs by their milieu. At the center of the story is an Irish mother in an American slum in the 1970s whose daughter has disappeared, and the death of a young black man.
Against this backdrop, the theme of racism—alongside poverty, loyalty, determination, and revenge—is projected in capital letters into the plot, but always treated with sensitivity or historical authenticity. The Boston busing crisis, which at the time added fuel to the fire of racial strife, serves as the foundation for this.
As emotions boil over among the population, the protagonist's anger also intensifies in the course of her investigations into her daughter's disappearance. Lehane succeeds in maintaining the tension throughout, providing a largely realistic insight into a precisely defined milieu and conveying powerful emotions – which sometimes seem a little melodramatic. In this respect, the novel is high-quality entertainment and ideally suited for adaptation (as a series).
Against this backdrop, the theme of racism—alongside poverty, loyalty, determination, and revenge—is projected in capital letters into the plot, but always treated with sensitivity or historical authenticity. The Boston busing crisis, which at the time added fuel to the fire of racial strife, serves as the foundation for this.
As emotions boil over among the population, the protagonist's anger also intensifies in the course of her investigations into her daughter's disappearance. Lehane succeeds in maintaining the tension throughout, providing a largely realistic insight into a precisely defined milieu and conveying powerful emotions – which sometimes seem a little melodramatic. In this respect, the novel is high-quality entertainment and ideally suited for adaptation (as a series).
September 29, 2022
I’m still waiting for Lehane to write something as tightly plotted as Mystic River. This isn’t it.
June 27, 2023
In 1974, the Boston public schools are about to be desegregated by busing and both the Black and white (Irish) residents are on edge. Mary Pat Fennessy lost her son to drugs that even the Irish gang boss seems unable to keep out of the neighborhood. Mary Pat’s 17 year old daughter Jules goes missing. On the same night, a young Black man is struck by a subway train. The police see a connection. As Mary Pat desperately searches for Jules, the gang boss makes it known that she is asking too many questions.
The author goes full out with raw emotions and ugly thoughts. Mary Pat is often physically violent and unable to escape racist thoughts, even though she has moments when she recognizes that her upbringing and surroundings have trapped her in racism. This is not a feel good story, but it felt very honest. We hear the voices of not only Mary Pat but also the angry white mob, the heartbroken parents of the dead man and a cop with his own troubled past. Robin Miles narrated the audio book and she did an excellent job with all of this.
The author goes full out with raw emotions and ugly thoughts. Mary Pat is often physically violent and unable to escape racist thoughts, even though she has moments when she recognizes that her upbringing and surroundings have trapped her in racism. This is not a feel good story, but it felt very honest. We hear the voices of not only Mary Pat but also the angry white mob, the heartbroken parents of the dead man and a cop with his own troubled past. Robin Miles narrated the audio book and she did an excellent job with all of this.
February 13, 2025
"Most people we know are like dogs— there's loyal ones, mean ones, friendly ones. But all of it, good and bad, comes from the heart."
Initial Thoughts
Dennis Lehane is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors, thanks to his excellent Kenzie and Gennaro series. If you're looking for a crime-fiction series to get into, then I highly recommend it. I'm starting to realise that this author is a bit of a master when it comes to that particular genre and I'm intending to read a good chunk of his bibliography.
So I was mentioning all this to my friend Bully at work. I know, another cop that reads! What's the chances? And he recommended jumping straight on Lehane's most recent novel...Small Mercies. Which brings me here. You know it's not like me to turn down a book recommendation or any other sort of recommendation. So go right ahead, recommend me something and see what happens!
The Story
We're going back to Boston in 1974, when the desegragation of public schools came into effect. This saw students shipped outside of their neighbourhoods in an attempt to mix races and make everyone a bit less racist in the process.
With social tension at it's absolute peak, a young black male (Augustus Williamson) is found dead at Columbia Station and it looks a little bit suspicious. Then there's the disappearance of a seventeen year old white girl, Jules Fennessy. Are the two incidents linked. Who knows? But the girl's tough as nails mother, Mary Pat, is going to find out or there'll be hell to pay. It's a course of action that's going to put her on a one way collision with the violent gangsters who control the neighbourhood and don't want any attention from the police.
Can one lone woman come out on top against these odds? Things are stacked against her but Mary Pat has nothing to loose. All I can say is there'll be a boatload of violence before this one's over!
The Writing
Lehane's writing is something that sets him apart from other crime fiction authors. It's a noir-esque style that's gritty and relentless, with prose that are as sharp as a well-honed razor.
His choice to, once again, use his favourite setting of Boston pays dividends as it really shows that he's lived on those streets. The time and place is viscerally portrayed that creates a landscape in your mind that's so vivid.
Set in the middle of a summer heatwave, you can feel the tension simmering beneath, ready to boil over and eat the inhabitants alive. It's a place that's lacking in comfort and compassion despite the vasade of community spirit.
The Characters
The highlight of this truly gripping novel from Lehane is the creation and expert development of the central character of Mary Pat. Don't get me wrong, all the characters are vividly written and three-dimensional. But Mary Pat is a force of nature that just has to be experienced. A product of her community she has visible flaws that make her very human and also a nightmare for those involved in Jules' disappearance.
Having already lost her son and now potentially her daughter, Mary Pat will stop at nothing to find her and get justice. As a parent of a daughter myself, it's not hard to imagine. Let's just say it was not difficult for me to empathise with her. Lehane makes us care about her as a mother and the heartbreak it brings when tragedy effects your children.
The other main character is Detective Bobby Coyne and he provides an excellent balancing act. It allowed me to view Mary Pat through the eyes of a character who's purpose was to enforce the law but also a moral person who was aware of when the lines of right and wrong began to blur. Not without his own demons, he wasn't overly virtuous, and this made him relatable. In fact, stick me in a Lehane novel and I might look something like Bobby. Apart from the drug use! So don't get any ideas about reporting me.
Final Thoughts
Here's the thing guys. Small Mercies has instantly become one of my favorite reads of the year. OK, it's only February. But I've read some pretty decent books so far. It's certainly not a book I'd forget in a hurry let's put it that way.
It's a relentless and fast paced read that's both shocking and brutal while also containing a lot of heart. I'll challenge any man, woman or child to put this book down. That's not to say you should let your child read it though.
A lot of Lehane's work makes the big screen and always seems to do well. Small Mercies is another that would make a fantastic adaptation, maybe by Clint Eastwood who did Mystic River. Just a thought.
So it's a strong recommendation from me for anyone who enjoys thrillers or crime fiction. Which is pretty much everyone!
Thanks for reading and...cheers!
March 7, 2025
Amazing.
Phenomenal.
Powerful.
Heartbreaking.
Mary Pat Fennessy was born and raised in the projects of South Boston. When her 17 year old daughter goes missing Mary Pat will stop at nothing to get vengeance on those that stole her baby from her.
Auggie Williams is a young black man that is found murdered at a train station in Southie when his car breaks down on his way home from work.
It's the early 70's during Boston's bussing crisis. Racism runs rampant through the streets.
These three storylines all come together brilliantly. I was angry one moment and moved to tears the next. Lehane really knocked this one out of the park.
Phenomenal.
Powerful.
Heartbreaking.
Mary Pat Fennessy was born and raised in the projects of South Boston. When her 17 year old daughter goes missing Mary Pat will stop at nothing to get vengeance on those that stole her baby from her.
Auggie Williams is a young black man that is found murdered at a train station in Southie when his car breaks down on his way home from work.
It's the early 70's during Boston's bussing crisis. Racism runs rampant through the streets.
These three storylines all come together brilliantly. I was angry one moment and moved to tears the next. Lehane really knocked this one out of the park.
June 1, 2023
This is as 5-star as it gets for me. A story yanked from history's headlines, fleshed out with characters who pull at your heartstrings while you tear out your hair at their maddening humanity. A setting so immersive you are sweating in a heatwave's stinking humidity, the broad South Boston accents echoing in alleyways and in your head. Dennis Lehane layers a work of crime fiction genre into a portrait of a city confronting its racism to breathless, soul-searching, devastating effect.
At the tail end of the scorching summer of '74, Boston is simmering to a boil. The court-ordered desegregation of area schools has come to land on its poorest neighborhoods: working-class South Boston. At the start of the new school year, just days away, buses will deliver Black and White students into each other's schools. Scores of White residents aren't having it and organized protests are scheduled at City Hall. Mary Pat Fennessy, a generations-deep Southie, is going along, of course. She's duty-bound by the clan-like neighborhood to oppose desegregation. She's also once-widowed and once-divorced mother of a Vietnam Vet who died of a heroin overdose soon after returning to Southie from his tour of duty, and of 17-year-old Jules, her beloved daughter, for whom she hopes better things than to end up poor and alone in Southie, like her mom.
As the novel opens, Jules heads out the door with her three friends and vanishes into the thick, troubled night. Mary Pat, tough from all her years as an Irish Southie broad, becomes something else entirely: a one-woman vengeance machine. Needling its way past her armor and into her conscience is the news that another mother, one of her co-workers at the old folks' home where she is a caregiver, has lost a child the same night her daughter went missing. Auggie Williamson, a bright young man with a promising future, is found dead at a Southie subway stop. Mary Pat knows in her gut that Auggie's death is somehow tied to Jules's disappearance. Problem is, Auggie's Black, alone at night in the wrong neighborhood and Mary Pat's questions are pushing the buttons of sleeping dogs that attack when wakened (apologies for the ragoût of metaphors there).
She makes an ally of Detective Michael "Bobby" Coyne, a single dad also from South Boston who is assigned to investigate the Williamson homicide. Coyne survived a tour of Vietnam but his marriage didn't. He lives in a bizarre household of five sisters and one brother (a failed priest), all of whom are unmarried but who dote on Coyne's young son during his twice-monthly weekend stays. Coyne is the tender foil here, the observer who Lehane inhabits to convey his childhood memories. He's the hope that the cycle of generational violence and racism can be broken and something better built from the pieces.
I refrain from discussing more of the plot because this is, after all, a suspense novel and is driven by a central whodunit that explodes in cinematic violence. It takes a certain suspension of disbelief to follow Mary Pat from pudgy housewife to gun-wielding vigilante, but it's also impossible not to. I devoured this novel in a short two days.
It's shocking and painful to read the constant litany of racist epithets and beliefs that these characters spew but I'm relieved that Dennis Lehane was "allowed" to write reality : we cannot cancel our way out of history lest we be condemned to repeat it.
One of the year's best.
At the tail end of the scorching summer of '74, Boston is simmering to a boil. The court-ordered desegregation of area schools has come to land on its poorest neighborhoods: working-class South Boston. At the start of the new school year, just days away, buses will deliver Black and White students into each other's schools. Scores of White residents aren't having it and organized protests are scheduled at City Hall. Mary Pat Fennessy, a generations-deep Southie, is going along, of course. She's duty-bound by the clan-like neighborhood to oppose desegregation. She's also once-widowed and once-divorced mother of a Vietnam Vet who died of a heroin overdose soon after returning to Southie from his tour of duty, and of 17-year-old Jules, her beloved daughter, for whom she hopes better things than to end up poor and alone in Southie, like her mom.
As the novel opens, Jules heads out the door with her three friends and vanishes into the thick, troubled night. Mary Pat, tough from all her years as an Irish Southie broad, becomes something else entirely: a one-woman vengeance machine. Needling its way past her armor and into her conscience is the news that another mother, one of her co-workers at the old folks' home where she is a caregiver, has lost a child the same night her daughter went missing. Auggie Williamson, a bright young man with a promising future, is found dead at a Southie subway stop. Mary Pat knows in her gut that Auggie's death is somehow tied to Jules's disappearance. Problem is, Auggie's Black, alone at night in the wrong neighborhood and Mary Pat's questions are pushing the buttons of sleeping dogs that attack when wakened (apologies for the ragoût of metaphors there).
She makes an ally of Detective Michael "Bobby" Coyne, a single dad also from South Boston who is assigned to investigate the Williamson homicide. Coyne survived a tour of Vietnam but his marriage didn't. He lives in a bizarre household of five sisters and one brother (a failed priest), all of whom are unmarried but who dote on Coyne's young son during his twice-monthly weekend stays. Coyne is the tender foil here, the observer who Lehane inhabits to convey his childhood memories. He's the hope that the cycle of generational violence and racism can be broken and something better built from the pieces.
I refrain from discussing more of the plot because this is, after all, a suspense novel and is driven by a central whodunit that explodes in cinematic violence. It takes a certain suspension of disbelief to follow Mary Pat from pudgy housewife to gun-wielding vigilante, but it's also impossible not to. I devoured this novel in a short two days.
It's shocking and painful to read the constant litany of racist epithets and beliefs that these characters spew but I'm relieved that Dennis Lehane was "allowed" to write reality : we cannot cancel our way out of history lest we be condemned to repeat it.
One of the year's best.
August 17, 2023
4.5
I couldn't remember placing a reservation for this, so I was surprised when the library notification let me know it was available to pick up. This was a fortuitous discovery, as I have been struggling to find something to keep me engaged in the past month or so.
Small Mercies is set in Boston, 1974. There was a lot of racial animosity between the poorer white communities in the Southies, made up mostly of Irish Americans and the black communities, as those in power decided to eliminate the segregation in public schools. Their unwelcome idea involved busing white kids into black neighbourhood high schools and some of the African American kids to some of the high schools in the white neighbourhoods.
Mary Pat Fennessey is the main character in this novel. She's forty-two, a single mother, who barely scrapes by working as a carer in a nursing home. She's lived all her life in the same neighbourhood. She's a tough woman, who's suffered many losses and disappointments. The light of her life is her seventeen-year-old daughter, Jules, who's set to be one of those being bused to a black neighbourhood for schooling.
Jules doesn't return home one night. Mary Pat starts looking for her. She knows something is not right. Her frantic search introduces us to different characters, to the local gang bosses who control everything, to the drug peddlers, policemen and other side characters. Among the school busing protests, there's another issue - a black young man was found dead in the metro station in a white neighbourhood. Mary Pat is astonished to discover it is the son of the only black work colleague she deals with.
This fast read manages to pack a lot in its 320 pages. At times, I cringed when reading the derogatory terms used by the Irish when talking about non-white people, even though I know it was a realistic depiction of the times and many people's views.
It's a story about family, tribalism, and racism, among other things.
I'm glad I went into this without knowing much about it.
Small Mercies was a compelling, riveting, surprising novel.
Highly recommended
I couldn't remember placing a reservation for this, so I was surprised when the library notification let me know it was available to pick up. This was a fortuitous discovery, as I have been struggling to find something to keep me engaged in the past month or so.
Small Mercies is set in Boston, 1974. There was a lot of racial animosity between the poorer white communities in the Southies, made up mostly of Irish Americans and the black communities, as those in power decided to eliminate the segregation in public schools. Their unwelcome idea involved busing white kids into black neighbourhood high schools and some of the African American kids to some of the high schools in the white neighbourhoods.
Mary Pat Fennessey is the main character in this novel. She's forty-two, a single mother, who barely scrapes by working as a carer in a nursing home. She's lived all her life in the same neighbourhood. She's a tough woman, who's suffered many losses and disappointments. The light of her life is her seventeen-year-old daughter, Jules, who's set to be one of those being bused to a black neighbourhood for schooling.
Jules doesn't return home one night. Mary Pat starts looking for her. She knows something is not right. Her frantic search introduces us to different characters, to the local gang bosses who control everything, to the drug peddlers, policemen and other side characters. Among the school busing protests, there's another issue - a black young man was found dead in the metro station in a white neighbourhood. Mary Pat is astonished to discover it is the son of the only black work colleague she deals with.
This fast read manages to pack a lot in its 320 pages. At times, I cringed when reading the derogatory terms used by the Irish when talking about non-white people, even though I know it was a realistic depiction of the times and many people's views.
It's a story about family, tribalism, and racism, among other things.
I'm glad I went into this without knowing much about it.
Small Mercies was a compelling, riveting, surprising novel.
Highly recommended
June 4, 2023
Cross the line
Wow, this book is incredibly intense and overflows with raw emotion.
The unadulterated love a mother has for her child shines through every word. It's astonishing to witness the extraordinary measures she's willing to take in order to find her child, and it's infuriating to see the flaws within the justice system fueling her anger. The realization that the line between heroes and villains can blur, with some individuals embodying both roles, adds an unforgettable and deeply impactful layer to this book.
Without a doubt, this is an exceptionally compelling and forceful piece of writing.
Wow, this book is incredibly intense and overflows with raw emotion.
The unadulterated love a mother has for her child shines through every word. It's astonishing to witness the extraordinary measures she's willing to take in order to find her child, and it's infuriating to see the flaws within the justice system fueling her anger. The realization that the line between heroes and villains can blur, with some individuals embodying both roles, adds an unforgettable and deeply impactful layer to this book.
Without a doubt, this is an exceptionally compelling and forceful piece of writing.
February 4, 2024
Qué barbaridad, señor Lehane.
August 16, 2024
5 Stars
January 29, 2025
Southie es un barrio del sur de Boston con mayoría de ascendencia irlandesa, que Lehane retrata sin piedad: la mafia, las costumbres arraigadas, el racismo y los prejuicios que pasan de padres a hijos:
Y eso es lo peor: que los agotamos hasta sacar la última gota de bondad de su corazón y sustituirla por veneno.
Todo empieza en el verano de 1974, cuando una propuesta política de reubicar a los estudiantes de distintos barrios para acabar con la segregación de las comunidades, desata protestas y disturbios, mayormente en vecindarios blancos desfavorecidos como Southie, donde los padres contemplan con horror la mezcla de razas en las escuelas.
Con este telón de fondo, Jules, la hija adolescente de Mary Pat - y su único motivo para vivir - desaparece al mismo tiempo que el cadáver de un joven negro es hallado en las vías del tren. Seguimos la peripecia de Mary Pat en busca de respuestas sobre lo que le ha sucedido a su hija y encontramos cantidades ingentes de violencia y resentimiento, enfermedades latentes que contaminan las raíces de una comunidad.
Dennis Lehane escribe maravillosamente bien, con un ritmo que te arrastra, con mucha acción y, al mismo tiempo, con unas descripciones tan certeras que te meten de cabeza en el mismo corazón de Southie, el barrio que es el auténtico protagonista de esta historia:
Todos los hombres miran al infinito, todas las mujeres tienen una actitud hostil, todos los rostros son más blancos que la pintura más blanca que jamás haya visto, y justo por debajo de la superficie asoma ese eterno rosa irlandés que a veces se convierte en acné y a veces no.
Esta es también la historia de Mary Pat, una madre coraje que a lo largo de la historia se va transformando en una furia vengadora que inevitablemente - a pesar de todo - despierta nuestra simpatía:
Son las personas más amistosas que ha conocido... hasta que dejan de serlo, momento en que atropellarán a su propia abuela con tal de estamparte el puto cráneo contra una pared de ladrillo.
Un thriller que se lee muy rápido y al mismo tiempo ofrece buenas reflexiones sobre la violencia y el racismo.
Y eso es lo peor: que los agotamos hasta sacar la última gota de bondad de su corazón y sustituirla por veneno.
Todo empieza en el verano de 1974, cuando una propuesta política de reubicar a los estudiantes de distintos barrios para acabar con la segregación de las comunidades, desata protestas y disturbios, mayormente en vecindarios blancos desfavorecidos como Southie, donde los padres contemplan con horror la mezcla de razas en las escuelas.
Con este telón de fondo, Jules, la hija adolescente de Mary Pat - y su único motivo para vivir - desaparece al mismo tiempo que el cadáver de un joven negro es hallado en las vías del tren. Seguimos la peripecia de Mary Pat en busca de respuestas sobre lo que le ha sucedido a su hija y encontramos cantidades ingentes de violencia y resentimiento, enfermedades latentes que contaminan las raíces de una comunidad.
Dennis Lehane escribe maravillosamente bien, con un ritmo que te arrastra, con mucha acción y, al mismo tiempo, con unas descripciones tan certeras que te meten de cabeza en el mismo corazón de Southie, el barrio que es el auténtico protagonista de esta historia:
Todos los hombres miran al infinito, todas las mujeres tienen una actitud hostil, todos los rostros son más blancos que la pintura más blanca que jamás haya visto, y justo por debajo de la superficie asoma ese eterno rosa irlandés que a veces se convierte en acné y a veces no.
Esta es también la historia de Mary Pat, una madre coraje que a lo largo de la historia se va transformando en una furia vengadora que inevitablemente - a pesar de todo - despierta nuestra simpatía:
Son las personas más amistosas que ha conocido... hasta que dejan de serlo, momento en que atropellarán a su propia abuela con tal de estamparte el puto cráneo contra una pared de ladrillo.
Un thriller que se lee muy rápido y al mismo tiempo ofrece buenas reflexiones sobre la violencia y el racismo.
May 8, 2023
This was disappointing albeit a page turner. The combination of a novel set on the eve of busing in Boston in 1974 and its intersection with the Irish mob in Southie was an irresistible for me. But every character was taken from central casting--the saintly Black people, the rough Irish youth, the mobsters who pretended to be family but were really brutal, the upper middle-class girl who wants to save people, etc. And much of the plot felt like a mish-mash of something I've read many, many times before with very little in the way of twists and turns.
The one possible exception to all of this criticism was the main character, Mary Pat, a mother who is so driven by trying to find out what happened to her missing daughter that she almost literally bulldozes everything in her way. But even she was one-dimensional, just in a slightly more novel manner than the other one-dimensional characters.
Still it was riveting at times and I don't regret having read it. But I somewhat wish I had just re-read portions of Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families or Black Mass instead.
The one possible exception to all of this criticism was the main character, Mary Pat, a mother who is so driven by trying to find out what happened to her missing daughter that she almost literally bulldozes everything in her way. But even she was one-dimensional, just in a slightly more novel manner than the other one-dimensional characters.
Still it was riveting at times and I don't regret having read it. But I somewhat wish I had just re-read portions of Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families or Black Mass instead.
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