Evening News

by Marly Swick

Nine year-old Teddy is playing next door with his best friend when Eric pulls out his father's handgun and hands it to Teddy. The telephone rings; the gun goes off, shooting—and killing—Teddy's two-year-old half sister Trina, who was playing in a wading pool in the yard outside, with Giselle, their mother, by her side.

Thus begins Marly Swick's second novel after the highly acclaimed Paper Wings. As with her previous work, Swick resolutely travels the domestic landscape, detailing delicately and truthfully the effect of Trina's death on the unstable triangle of the family left behind. Each member finds their bonds of love and loyalty tested, and each is resilient in the face of their loss, but for different—perhaps too different—reasons: Giselle must get Teddy through the crisis, but Dan, his stepfather, having just lost his daughter, has no such responsibility.

Told alternately from the point of view of Giselle and Teddy himself, Evening News is a beautifully accomplished novel about resilience in the face of loss—and about the irrevocable damage that both the loss and the resilience can inflict.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Book Club, Psychology

367 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Joyce Mcclaran · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in 2004 and was deeply moved by it. I thought about it weekly for months after reading it. Then in 2014, 10 years later I find the app Goodreads and want to include this novel but I can't think of the title. After a internet search on the plot I found it. This review is more about how the book made me feel because to be honest I can not remember the details. Although the subject matter is heart wrenching it was thought provoking too. How would I react, what if this happened to my family. I don't remember the book entering into the politics of guns. Which would have ruined the reading experience for me. I plan on reading it again soon and adding another review.

[Jodi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a sad tragedy that tore apart two different families. As a mother, I think I would be unsure of how to love my child who accidentally killed my other child. Wow!

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written and engaging!Very upsetting! The book stays with you for weeks after you read it. It is not so much the tragic premise of the book but the way real family deals with an unreal tragedy. The book is very hard to read if you are a parent. It deals with the accidental shooting of a toddler by her half brother and how her mother overcomes this death and still loves and helps her son. Maybe I would not have read the book if I known the topic but the writing pulled me in and kept me in.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very intense and moving story about a family who suffers a terrible loss when a 9 year old boy accidently shoots his baby sister. The author did an excellent job of keeping politics out of it and focused on the emotional disarray of teh family and their grieving and healing process. That being said..this type of accident is extremely rare- guns save more people than they accidently kill, although the media would have you believe otherwise.

[Annalisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this because I loved Paper Wings, but was disappointed that it did not have the same magical prose. It's the story of a boy playing with his friend's gun when it goes off shooting his baby sister. The story drags, as I suppose life would stand still from that day forward, but the characters didn't have the same power or pull.

[Anne Caverhill · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a parent, a sibling, or ever loved a 2 year old, don’t read this book. It will break your heart in two. Actually, it will make your heart crumble over and over and over again as a Mom aches with the pain of continuing to care for her 9 year old who ..... accidentally shot his baby sister.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intense. Heartbreaking. What I read was a proof copy with lots of errors to be corrected. Normally that would have bugged and distracted me. But I skimmed right past them as I grieved with Giselle and Teddy. Having lost a daughter to cancer I could feel some of Giselle's pain. But trying to imagine loving the child who accidentally killed your other child took great effort. It was impossible to imagine the guilt that would haunt Teddy all his life. It made me sad for all of the wounded parents and children who have actually lived through this tragedy.

This book, published in 1999, is dated. But sadly the story could be written over and over.

[Vicky Boackle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading Evening News. And I loved the book.Marly Swick's style of writing is so smooth and easy to read.The subject matter was so tragic but the story unfolds and it brings home that we hear this on the evening news and think it's just horrible and maybe don't think past that. The point of view of all the characters is shown little by little instead of just slammed at you.I truly felt for all the characters,they seemed real to me and I couldn't wait to get my reading time with this book every day. I will pass this on to my Mother.

[Les · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Original Thoughts (2000):

Quick-paced novel. Sad topic, however. The story is set in Los Angeles, but moves to Lincoln, Nebraska midway through. Swick is a Lincolnite and teaches at UNL. Lots of references to real locations in Nebraska, as well as L.A.

My Current Thoughts:

I always enjoy reading books set in familiar locations and this one was no exception. I remember the heaviness of the novel and don't care to read it again.

[Morgen · Rating 5 out of 5]

She takes her young son and moves to California, marries again and has a little girl who pulls them all together as a family- young Teddy loves the baby. Then one day his friend hands him his dad's gun, it goes off, and the baby is dead. Now stepfather can't forgive him, he can't forgive himself, and mom knows she must find a way to get through it and help him as well. Devastating.

[krdito · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book when it first came out in 2000 and just re-read it this weekend. It is a sad story of profound loss and love that is usually unconditional, but may not be in this situation. I found the last 2 chapters particularly heart-breaking and gut-wrenching. The writing is adequate, but not phenomenal, but the story will stay with you for a long time.

[Karen Stanton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the main character in this book. She was flawed and genuine and loving. Marly Swick perfectly described the complexity of stepfamilies and regrets and a life that didn't go as expected. Topics include marriage, divorce, gun violence, death of a child, family.

[Nancie Lafferty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intense and thought provoking.

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a difficult read, emotionally. Felt very honest.

[John Burnham · Rating 2 out of 5]

A pretty god story not very written.

[Emma Rund · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the most depressing books I’ve ever read

[Stacy culler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unusual concept

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not my favorite

[Shay Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

What do you do when your child does the unforgivable? Giselle is a returning college student on her second marriage; she has a nine year old son from her first marriage, and a nearly two year old little girl with her second husband. One day while she studies in the back yard and her daughter plays in her wading pool, her son goes next door to play with his friend. The friend knows where his father keeps his new pistol, and he pilfers the key to get it out. He insists that his friend handle it, and, reluctantly, he does. As he is aiming it at a row of trees, pretending to be hunting with his father, two things happen: the phone rings, startling him, and his friend, thinking he hears his mother coming upstairs, grabs for the gun. It goes off, and kills the little girl in her wading pool.

Suddenly, Giselle's world is turned into a nightmare. She's lost her baby daughter. Her husband has lost his only biological child, and blames Teddy, her son. She herself is torn between being furious with her son and still being his mother, still loving him. Teddy, for his part, must live with having caused the death of the little sister he adored.

Swick's prose is easy to read, but because of the unflinching treatment of such a dark storyline, this is no easy book to read. However, the author hits every note true, and brings these characters to vivid life, flaws and all. Giselle had, like most people, thought that things like this only happen to people you see on the evening news. Now it has happened to her, and nothing will ever be the same.

I'll be looking for more by Ms. Swick, and I absolutely recommend this novel, provided the reader understands that it's no day in the park to read because of the subject matter.

PS--this novel came out in 1999, but the only thing dated about it is that nobody has a cell phone, and in a couple of scenes, they chase around looking for a pay phone.

[Bree · Rating 2 out of 5]

You can always tell when authors don't have kids but want to write about them. The way she's portrayed 9-year-old Teddy is pretty spot-on (my son is also 9), but 23-month old Trina was laughable. Learning her colors?? The words she was able to say?? As if. Babies are smart but she was a bit ahead of herself here...

Otherwise the book was decent. I found Giselle annoying at times, and felt quite sympathetic to Teddy's situation...I didn't really like Dan at all, he just seemed to fragile.

Other than the first few pages, there wasn't much action. Just conversations and thoughts (it's supposed to be written from Teddy's and Giselle's point-of-view but it's more like someone observing them and knowing their thoughts...rather than "I think" it was "he thought", etc). A lot of characters coming and going. Things just happen, and you read along.

[Jhoanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't really "cheery" reading, per se, but you will steamroll through Marly Swick's Evening News. A good counterpart to that other news-grabbing novel, Lionel Shriver's We Need To Talk About Keven, Swick's novel takes the other tack on child gunshot victims, those killed accidentally by other children. In this case, Giselle's nine-year-old son Teddy is playing with the neighbor dad's gun and accidentally kills his two-year-old half-sister. Swick takes the reader through a thorough examination of guilt, responsibility, what it means to be a parent and the possibility of forgiveness. The writing is very straightforward, almost to the point of being ordinary, especially in the beginning, but what sets Swick's novel apart is how she methodically takes this family apart, letting the very act of their unraveling speak for itself.

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Based on the subject matter, not a feel good book. Dan and Giselle are the
parents of 2-year-old Trina who is accidentally shot by her half brother.
Teddy is over at a friends playing with a gun. Truthfully, I got a little
bored with Giselle dealing with her loss by drinking and running back home
to her cocoon in Nebraska. She had a lot of regrets about how her life
turned out. Maybe I thought she would be a superwoman and be able to pull
the family back to some normalcy. Dan's dealings seemed more mature and
constructive to me. The emotions of the characters dealing with their loss
can be depressing although 9-year-old Teddy seems to be the
one who has some fun in this misfortune. Guess I would have liked the
family to be more proactive and cohesive in their personal tragedy.

[Tabi34 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh! I had such high hopes for this book. But it fell short. What could've been a great psychological thriller just went blah. It took me forever to read it and I only finished it because I kept hoping that it would get better. 9-year-old accidently shoots and kills his half sister and the family basically falls apart. No in-depth feeling. I didn't care what happened to the characters and I so wanted to like or hate someone. The ex-hubby theme was boring. There was just no chemistry in this book and it left me deflated.

[StarST8 · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first 150 pages flew by for me. Unfortunately, I had a real hard time getting through the next 100. I think the book just stabbed on about feelings so much so that I was sick of reading about them. I know that sounds horrible but it just dragged on for me. I finally buckled down to finish the book and I did. The third part flew a little faster for me, kept my attention. Still, I just didn't walk away from this book feeling fulfilled. I was just happy I had finished it. Sorry to any fans out there but this one just didn't quite hit the mark with me.

[Peggy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book with its tragic beginning when a 9 year old boy accidentally shoots his 2 year old sister is incredibly hard to read because it is so depressing. Your only reward for persevering is a stick figure villain in the boy's stepfather (he is the dead child's father) and familiar description of emotional turmoil. I have never avoided sad books. The good ones leave you feeling that you have a better understanding of the shared human experience. This is not one of those books.

[E.S.O. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the story of what happens to a family after a 9 year old son accidentally shoots his infant sister. It's an interesting character study on grief and blame, but it's about as depressing as you can get. I thought it was similar to Judith Guest and her books Ordinary People, in which a family grieves a lost son, and Errands in which a family grieves a lost father.

[Arnetra · Rating 2 out of 5]

its started out slow and it remained that way until I put it down. Its a story about a loss. A little boy was playing with a gun at his neighbor's house, the gun accidentally goes off and hits his little sister whose in her pool with their mother. Getting past this tragedy is hard for the family because truly its not the little boys fault.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Evening News has to be the most depressing book I've read so far in 2006. It slowly and painfully shows the recovery process (if that's even possible) after accidental shooting death of a 2-year-old. The book is well written and not forcefully melodramatic but the topic was still so emotional and visceral that I found it very difficult to read.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of those books you pick up at a used book sale and say "what the heck" that then surprises you with how wonderful it is. Swick is a terrific writer and does an incredible job with character development. Evening News is a tough story -- an in-depth look at how each of us grieves differently with a realistic ending that pleased me.

[Joanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's hard to say that you really liked a book that's just so sad. While playing with a neighbor's gun a 9 year old boy accidentally shoots his toddler aged half sister. What follows is a heart wrenching story about how the family deals with the tragic loss.