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Long Black Veil

Jennifer Finney Boylan (Goodreads Author)

3.29 · Rating details · 1,839 ratings · 464 reviews

Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2017

For fans of Donna Tartt and Megan Abbott, a novel about a woman whose family and identity are threatened by the secrets of her past, from the New York Times bestselling author of She's Not There

On a warm August night in 1980, six college students sneak into the dilapidated ruins of Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary, looking fo ...more

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Paperback, 320 pages

Published January 9th 2018 by Crown Publishing Group (NY) (first published April 11th 2017)

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· 1,839 ratings · 464 reviews

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Apr 14, 2017 Diane S ☔ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

3.5 It is 1980, Casey, an obese young man who never thought he would find someone to love him, and Wailer, a pink haired young lady were just married the night before. With their college friends, an older teacher and a young boy, the brother of one, they decode to visit an abandoned penitentiary. Bad, bad decision as they will find themselves locked in this creepy place, one will go missing, and their lives will be irrevocably changed. Years later, now in their fifties, another young woman finds ...more

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May 05, 2017 Edward Lorn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

If you're here because of my bookshelf tour and wondering why I said this book has a poor representation of a trans woman in it, read the comment stream after the review for more info, thanks.

3.5 stars rounded up.

I suppose with the world heading in the direction that it's headed, books like this will become the norm: overly PC books that try their damnedest not to piss anyone off. The problem I see with novels like Long Black Veil is author intrusion. When you move forward with a piece of art (m If you're here because of my bookshelf tour and wondering why I said this book has a poor representation of a trans woman in it, read the comment stream after the review for more info, thanks.

3.5 stars rounded up.

I suppose with the world heading in the direction that it's headed, books like this will become the norm: overly PC books that try their damnedest not to piss anyone off. The problem I see with novels like Long Black Veil is author intrusion. When you move forward with a piece of art (music, film, literature, etc.) with the sole purpose of being progressive and inclusive, you better be damned sure your own hangups do not float to the surface. Because, in a book that struggles to always use the proper pronoun and goes out of its way to discuss gender and religion and race with the utmost respect, any deviation from your course will be painfully obvious.

Yes, the political-correctness within this book was strong but not a bad thing, but it is my opinion, founded solely on evidence written in this book, that Jennifer Finney Boylan has a problem with the morbidly obese, or as she calls them in this book "fat fucks". Normally those two words wouldn't bother me, because I am, and have always been, a fat fuck. But when every race, religion, gender, and so on gets treated fairly and equally and suffers no slurs, I find it odd that "fat fuck" would be left in. Which goes a long way in proving that, even in progressive-minded literature, it is still okay to pick on fat people. Poor goddamn Casey, man. He couldn't catch a break. He was either a fat fuck or a walrus or the morbidly-obese friend, or my favorite, "worthless." While everyone was accepting of the two trans characters, poor fat-fuck Casey bumbled around, bouncing off shit and just being all around too fat to be respected. For fuck's sake, I think the only time Boylan described her characters' appearances were if they were fat. If they were otherwise normal, meaning not a fat fuck, we got no description of their appearance whatsoever.

Anyway, enough whiny bullshit about how offended I was or was not. I really wasn't offended at all, but I mention it as much as I do to prove a point; everyone has their own prejudices, even Boylan, who makes a point of using as many acronyms as she can in her bio. I honestly couldn't give a fuck what she thinks about chubby bastards like myself. I'm simply pointing out how it's still completely acceptable to shame the fat character, be the author liberal, conservative, or any other asshole. The one thing we seemingly all agree on is, fat fucks are fair game. Moving on...

The writing in this book is fantastic. I can pick on the author for showing her prejudices all I want, but she truly can write her ass off. I enjoyed every bit of this read, aside from maybe the suspense-killing reveal toward the middle. If the characters hadn't been so terrifically drawn, I probably would have quit reading as soon as the killer was revealed. Literary-minded types will scream, "The murder wasn't the point! The book is about identity and WHINE WHINE BITCH BITCH!" I get that, Internet Rage Machine. I might sound like an illiterate fat fuck, but I do pay attention to theme. What I'm saying is, the writing and character-development were what kept me reading, not the pasted-on murder plot. Calm your moobs, dude.

There will be some people who have a fit over the soft-thriller aspects because, for all appearances, it looks like a literary thriller. There is nothing thrilling or suspenseful about this book. It's a character drama. That being said, the final 50 pages were too much melodrama for even me and I found myself simply wanting the book to end. I feel Boylan's points were made just fine without the silly-ass who-lived-and-who-didn't bullshit and the I-died-twice nonsense. You can stuff all that shit right back up where it came from.

One final note, smarty pants. Frankenstein was the doctor, not the creature. So when you write that there were several Frankensteins walking around the party, I hope you meant people wearing lab coats and god complexes.

In summation: If you're into PC-culture and fight on the SJW side of things, this is probably the book you've been waiting for. It is built on an offend-no-one chassis, but its tires are too fat to move too quickly, so expect some lulls. Expect mucho melodrama at the ass-end that no one asked for, and you should be just fine.

Final Judgment: If Nicole Arbour and Lacy Green wrote a book, this would be the eventual outcome.

Many thanks to Crown Publishing for the review copy, which I received for free in return for a review written by a fat fuck, aka me. ...more

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Apr 16, 2017 Esil rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley

3.5 stars. There were a couple of things wrong with Long Black Veil, but I really liked the originality of the characters. In 1980, a group of university friends go into an abandoned jail, and one of them disappears. 35 years later the body is found, and the group's history gets stirred up again. The story moves back and forth in time, and it moves from one point of view to another. My first complaint is that it takes a few chapters to figure out who's who. My second complaint is that the plot i ...more

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Apr 29, 2020 Norma rated it liked it

LONG BLACK VEIL by JENNIFER FINNEY BOYLAN immediately intrigued me and then quickly confused me. It took me a little while to get into this book and then I'm not even sure if I was ever totally engaged in what I was reading.

I never felt like I wanted to DNF it and I am glad that I read it but I'm not exactly sure how I really feel about it now that I'm done. There were definitely some good parts and some not so good. I liked the message and the author was very insightful with one aspect of the s ...more

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Apr 25, 2017 Sara rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

I just don't know what to do with this book. To be fair I went into it thinking it was, as advertised in all the library catalogs, a thriller about some sort of covered up crime and a bunch of college kids exploring a deserted old prison. When I have certain expectations of a book and it then turns out to be something entirely different it throws me and definitely affects my opinion. So take that for what its worth. I opened the book thinking I was about to get into kind of a literary "let's inv I just don't know what to do with this book. To be fair I went into it thinking it was, as advertised in all the library catalogs, a thriller about some sort of covered up crime and a bunch of college kids exploring a deserted old prison. When I have certain expectations of a book and it then turns out to be something entirely different it throws me and definitely affects my opinion. So take that for what its worth. I opened the book thinking I was about to get into kind of a literary "let's investigate the haunted insane asylum" type thing, which sounded like a great idea!

It does at least start off on the right foot. A bunch of college aged kids, a vaguely autistic teenager and (for some reason) an old German professor are at the wedding of two of the college kids and (for some reason) decide to explore an abandoned prison. One of them never leaves.

Many years go by. We are introduced to the grown up versions of the college kids who's lives are predictably all very melodramatically disastrous in one way or another.

But then the real story emerges. Dun dun dun!

(view spoiler)[This is actually a book about a transgender woman who never told her husband of fifteen years or her adopted son that she was born a man and made all her friends think she died so they'd never find out because they all knew her as a man. I'm not really spoiling anything telling you this since its revealed in the very beginning of the book and we get lots of clues in the form of flashbacks to when the inconsequential murder happened because in those flashbacks Quentin (one of the college kids from the opening scene who will later become Judith) says lots of dramatic things to his friends like, "I want to tell you but..." "You wouldn't like me if you knew..." Like for real the dialogue actually cuts off like that.

So present day Judith would much prefer continuing to live her life with her husband and son but when the body of the missing college friend turns up Judith is the only alibi for the police's number one suspect but that will mean revealing her new life to her old friends.

My problem is these are two HUGE stories that are just too big to both be in the same book. Consequently neither one gets served very well. The transgender story line is just too neat and tidy. Everyone is either totally accepting or stereotypically horrible. We don't spend enough time with Judith for her to accept responsibility for the people she hurt in the course of finding herself or for her to even talk to those people except in very perfunctory ways so it feels like Boylan is more or less just ticking off items on a list with a title like "How to be a fictional transgender character." I worry with books like this that transgender characters are going to be "Will and Grace" 'd into roles and situations where the only thing that matter is them and their journey. There's something in suggesting that the only reaction a loved one or friend can have to someone transitioning is total acceptance and anything else is horrible that I don't like. You can be transgendered and still be an incredibly selfish person who only thinks about themselves. Which is what happens here but it never really gets addressed.

The mystery angle is just as bland. Its like every now and then Boylan goes "oh right someone got murdered! I should probably mention that!" The plot unfolds in this very clunky way with the murderer just kind of admitting everything randomly for no reason and its the kind of "accidental" murder that sort of leaves all the main players blameless or at least blameless in the sense that like no one meant for anything bad to happen.

Its a shame too because I would have happily read a book about Judith doing this painful, dramatic thing to start a new life and the fallout when everyone finally learns the truth. That's a story worth telling. I wanted to spend some time with her husband and find out how he was coming to terms with everything he learns about his wife. I wanted to know if Judith was ever going to understand there was a cost to finding the freedom to be herself, that she hurt people, that they had a right to be angry at her, even to hate her.

But Boylan doesn't seem to want to go there. So we get neat little bows tied on all the loose ends that feel false and pointless. (hide spoiler)]

This is just a very blah book that left no impression at all. The characters are fairly absurd stereotypes themselves; fat rich guy who says stupid things, redneck husband who sounds like Cleetus from the "Simpsons," snarky artist girl and the whole narrative just has this very pretentious air to it. I mean there's a character named "Falcon" for gods sake. Even the cover is just trying too hard.

I really can't recommend this at all. ...more

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Apr 30, 2017 Wendy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 4000-books, wom-2017, may-17

Long Black Veil, by Jennifer Finney Boylan, is a intriguing read!
There are many characters and alot going on. Once I got everyone and everything figured out the story flowed nicely.

A group of college friends, one younger brother and a teacher decide to tour Philadelphia's notorious and abandoned Eastern State Penitentiary. They become eerily locked in and one of the group ends up missing.

Twenty years later a skull and body is discovered hidden in the walls. A murderer was amongst the group on th ...more

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Apr 28, 2017 Susanne Strong rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley

4 Stars.

Long Black Veil is a unique character study of six college friends, brought together 20 years after a pivotal incident in their lives tore them apart.

On a critical night, 20 years ago, six friends take a trip to an abandon prison in Philadelphia. One of them disappears inside. Thereafter, the remaining friends try to go on with their lives, most of them scattering, leaving each other behind. The memories of each other and that night however, linger forever. Memories however, aren’t the ...more

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Jul 12, 2017 Julie Ehlers rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: goodreads-giveaways, galleys, pennsylvania, new-england

I finished Long Black Veil almost a month ago and am still a bit flummoxed about how to rate and review it. This book started off so well—intriguing and atmospheric, with a central dilemma that I'd never seen used in a novel before. I know others have complained that there were a lot of characters to keep track of, but I thought they were very well drawn and it didn't take long for me to get them all straight. I genuinely loved hearing about how all of their lives turned out as they grew up and ...more

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Apr 11, 2017 Sarah Joint rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Intelligently written, dark, and fascinating. It features a very large cast of characters, and at about 25% in I almost put it down and started something else, confused about who was who. I'm really glad I didn't, as it becomes much clearer as the book goes on. This is one of those books that is best enjoyed going in blind. I'm going to be very careful not to include any spoilers in this review, but it's going to be a short one because they're major plot points. It can get a bit dark and depress ...more

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Jan 30, 2021 Bren rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: crime, historical, animal-cruelty, dark-and-heavy, read-and-reviewed, better-or-worse-than-expected, skimmed-to-finish-or-unfinished, gothic

And so success had come to her, as it comes to so many people, not by doing the things she loved, which she did ineptly, But by doing the things she hated, that at which she was a genius.

Long Black Veil
by Jennifer Finney Boylan

Well it is the end of the first month of 2021 and I have already DNFED three books this year! Am I off to a roaring start or what?

To be honest, Long Black Veil, is not a bad book. I read enough of it to give it a rating. But no way is it the book for me.

A group of kids de ...more

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Mar 30, 2017 Bob/Sally rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: lgbtqa, transgender

I first encountered Jennifer Finney Boylan a number of years ago through her memoir, I'm Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted. It remains one of the most unique books I have ever read, a real-life ghost story that weaves a lighthearted paranormal investigation of Boylan's haunted family home with a more somber exploration of gender identity/expression.

With Long Black Veil, Boylan makes a long-awaited return to adult fiction, her first such foray since her humorous novels of the early 90s. Lik I first encountered Jennifer Finney Boylan a number of years ago through her memoir, I'm Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted. It remains one of the most unique books I have ever read, a real-life ghost story that weaves a lighthearted paranormal investigation of Boylan's haunted family home with a more somber exploration of gender identity/expression.

With Long Black Veil, Boylan makes a long-awaited return to adult fiction, her first such foray since her humorous novels of the early 90s. Like her memoirs, the book works on two levels, and it's the way those two aspects interweave that makes it such a compelling read. This is a story of identity - and, more importantly - mistaken identity.

It all begins one night in 1980 when a group of friends decides to tour the abandoned ruins of Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary. A darker, creepier, more perfect setting you couldn't ask for, with its labyrinthine corridors, moldering cells, crumbling chapel, and old electric chair. Add the twist of being deliberately locked in - the cells doors chained and padlocked - and the disappearance of one of their number, and you've got a great story in the making. Of course, that's only half the story, with the other half taking place twenty years later, when the body is finally located and one of those friends is accused of murder. In between, there's a third storyline, involving the disappearance of one of those friends, with that journey having consequences for all.

The way the novel is structured is a big part of what makes this work so well, with Boylan shifting between the three timelines in such a way that we're halfway through the book before we know who disappeared, and nearly at the end before we realize who did it. Much of the novel is a character study, a drama about broken friendships, broken romances, and broken people. It's a dark, brooding sort of novel, full of sorrow and pain, but there's also an undercurrent of dark humor to it that you have to be a tad morbid to appreciate. I can't say more about the issue of identity without getting into spoiler territory, but it should come as no surprise that Boylan knows how to get at the heart of what haunts us.

Some readers may find the final chapters a bit odd, but that's where the morbid aspect comes in. The contrast of the abandoned ruins with the renovated ruins is fantastic, especially in the way contemporary spectacle and manufactured fear resonates with the real terror of the past. Similarly, the way mistaken identities open and close the tale is a nice touch, with a larger question of identity connecting them. It's been a long time since I sat down and devoured a book in a single day, but that's precisely what happened with Long Black Veil on the first cool Sunday of Spring. Highly recommended.

http://femledfantasy.home.blog/2017/0... ...more

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May 27, 2017 Carole (Carole's Random Life in Books) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, 2017, reviewed, thriller, blogging-for-books

This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life in Books.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It was a bit of a different story than I expected it to be only because I don't tend to read book summaries very carefully. I went into this book expecting a straight forward mystery thriller but I think that this book really a bit different. I didn't really think that the mystery was really the main driving point of the book instead the focus was on the characters and how their lives have changed sin This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life in Books.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It was a bit of a different story than I expected it to be only because I don't tend to read book summaries very carefully. I went into this book expecting a straight forward mystery thriller but I think that this book really a bit different. I didn't really think that the mystery was really the main driving point of the book instead the focus was on the characters and how their lives have changed since the event at the prison. I am glad that I decided to give the book a try.

This book focuses on several different periods of time. In 1980, this group of friends were locked in an abandoned prison and one of them never made it out. The other main focus of the book is set in more recent times when her body is finally discovered. There are some chapters that are told entirely during one period of time but a lot of the book set in the more recent times include a lot of memories. The past is obviously still a big part of these characters present day.

The book spends some time with each member of the group that was at the prison that night back in 1980. The main focus really seemed to be on Judith's life since that day. Her life is nothing like it was back then. Her situation has changed dramatically but it really doesn't have anything to do with what happened at the prison that night.

I did have a few issues with the story. Judith's deception to her husband of many years just seemed like to big of a stretch. I don't really understand how a close married couple like that would be able to keep such a huge secret from each other. I also don't get how the body could of been lost for so long when it was right there the whole time. Did they not do a proper search? I also feel like I should probably warn readers that there is a scene in this book where an individual is putting shelter dogs to sleep one after another as part of his job. I know this happens and I really wish it didn't but I know that reading that kind of scene will bother some readers.

The writing is what really won me over with this book. The story just flowed and even when I was questioning a plot point, I didn't want to put the book down. The point of views in the story seemed to be changed exactly when they needed to be and I always felt like the book was moving forward. The memories of the past worked into the sections set in the present worked perfectly. This was a book that I read very quickly because it completely held my attention.

I would recommend this book to others. The book isn't perfect but the writing is great and the story is solid. This is the first book by Jennifer Finney Boylan that I have read but I would definitely pick her work up again in the future.

I received a review copy of this book from Crown Publishing via Blogging for Books.

Initial Thoughts
I really enjoyed this book. I liked the way the story unfolded and was equally interested in the present and the past. ...more

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Jun 05, 2017 Sheila rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley, read-in-2017

4 stars--I really liked it.

The descriptive copy for this book makes it sound like a mystery. It's not, really. In fact, there's not much plot at all. I'm going to talk about what the book IS about, and it might be considered a spoiler--though, since as I said, the plot is sparse, I personally don't think it's really a spoiler. But you've been warned!

This book is a character study about being trans. It's about Judith, a trans woman, and her experiences, and how she's changed and hasn't changed th ...more

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Apr 15, 2017 Cheryl rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Literary fiction, not a murder mystery. And definitely not at all like Donna Tartt's The Secret History. It's mainly a character study about a transgender woman. The murder plot is only there to bring about conflict in her current life. The writing style starts out decent, but then deteriorates as the story progresses. None of the characters are well-developed, but because Judith is the main focus she's a bit more fleshed-out. This book had alot of potential, but left me disappointed. ...more

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Apr 17, 2017 catherine ♡ rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

I'm really not sure what to think. This was the first book in my life that made me realize the extreme difference between enjoyment and engagement. The book was definitely a page turner, and I read it in quickly in two hours, but the experience itself really wasn't that enjoyable.

Admittedly I found myself confused by the overwhelming amount of secondary characters, feeling detached from everyone except Judith, a transgender woman who is struggling between burying the past (which she had done yea ...more

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Mar 05, 2017 Quirkyreader rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

For me this book was a big page turner. I kept wanting to read it, but work got in the way.

This story has an unexpected twist that you never see coming.

The arts and food are main parts of the plot. So keep your eyes open to that. Saying anymore would spoil this exciting story.

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Jul 28, 2020 Andra added it · review of another edition

... I really don't know how I feel about this one ...more

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Jan 17, 2017 Lolly K Dandeneau rated it liked it · review of another edition

via my blog https://bookstalkerblog.wordpress.com/
"That the struggle to find a connection between the people we have been and the people we become is not some crazy drama unique to people like me. It’s all of us.”

We kill off parts of ourselves throughout our lives, shedding bits and pieces that no longer make sense. There still remains a core that holds everyone we have every been, from that young curious child to the confused teen and so on. In that sense, we aren’t much different from the char via my blog https://bookstalkerblog.wordpress.com/
"That the struggle to find a connection between the people we have been and the people we become is not some crazy drama unique to people like me. It’s all of us.”

We kill off parts of ourselves throughout our lives, shedding bits and pieces that no longer make sense. There still remains a core that holds everyone we have every been, from that young curious child to the confused teen and so on. In that sense, we aren’t much different from the characters in this story. Some are trapped in time by the mysterious disappearance of their friend and wife, while others have moved on and ditched their old grieving selves. It’s a tangle, which ‘friend’ can be trusted? Years pass, they are punishing ones for Casey whose wife Wailer disappeared at the Eastern State Penitentiary, the place the college friends just wanted to look at, Tripper’s idea as he was a history major at Wesleyan and wanted to see the ruins. No one could have known Maisie’s little brother Benny’s longing for a cat would spell doom for the friends. When Wailer’s remains are found , the past surfaces and Casey is once again a suspect. Judith Carrigan can save her friend, she is the only one who can prove Casey’s innocence but coming forward means destroying the only true life, and love, she has ever known. This is the soul of the novel, what is identity and are lies admissible if they are vital to fitting into your own skin? Is is sometimes necessary to vanish from everyone you know and love if it’s the only means to living the life you hunger for? Without giving away Judith’s secrets, and why confronting the past would be killing off the life she has come to love it can be said that this is not just a story about murder nor a who done it. It is about identity and how we think we can shed our past, which can never be buried, it is a shadow that accompanies us to our dying day. It will demand to be acknowledged, if you can’t learn to embrace it and chose to run, it will drag you back.

Maisie’s little brother Benny was a character I wanted to spend more time with too. We know from the start of the novel, his ‘whim’ to have a kitty is a catalyst that changes the course of the friends lives. Benny is different from most people, and that never changes. I wish more time was spent on him, aside from Judith- he was a character I fell for. The story jumps through time and characters so it can confuse some readers. However, the story is a provocative one. It’s interesting to wonder how different Judith’s life would have been had she been born in this decade. Anything built on lies will eventually crumble, if all our childhood stories and fairy tales taught us anything it is that and yet we still lie to ourselves and others. Everything comes back around to bite us eventually, despite our intentions there comes a time we have to confront the consequences of our choices. For Judith, the time is now. How does Quentin play into all of this? Quentin’s decision destroys something inside of his friend Rachael as much as the death of Wailer does. This is a bit of a lesson in how we touch others in every choice we make, how we can have a strange effect on the lives of those near and dear even when we don’t mean to, when our steps are full of intentions based on our own feelings and we never stop to think how others could be poisoned by it. But we cannot understand the damage that will last long after our acts, not always, not even those of us who claim to be wise. There is a mountain of compassion I had for Judith, on the other hand you have to consider her beloved Jake and their son Falcon. Lies by omission are still lies, and Judith’s are whoppers- it is robbing Jake of his free will in a sense when she keeps her story to herself and yet there is a deep compassion one feels for her inner struggle, and understanding as to why she chose to remain silent. “There are times when I think it’s impossible to know another soul. I don’t know, maybe we’re lucky that way. If we knew what really went on inside other people’s private hearts it would make our eyeballs bleed.”

Wailer isn’t the only who disappears. Her death is senseless, it is ruinous for everyone at the prison. Who locked the friends in? How could something turn so deadly? Casey feels unworthy of the love he had. Before his wife’s body is found, years pass and he imagines that maybe she got a look at her ‘slob’ of a husband and ditched him. Maybe Wailer just walked on off to a better life. He never felt worthy, and he is living in limbo, letting the years eat away at him. Becoming more the slob he felt himself to be, frozen in one moment. It’s interesting how we let our minds create a reality that is brutal to us, victimizing ourselves. The use of the old penitentiary is an interesting choice, as we come to see the characters locked behind prisons of their own creation in the years that follow. The body can be a prison just as much as the mind We may not know who did it, but we know Casey is innocent. We know Quentin can’t vouch for him this time. Will Judith give up her life to save her friend, who once saved hers? You’ll have to read. I also have to comment on the cover, it is gorgeous and the title fitting. What hides behind the Long Black Veil?

Publication Date: April 11, 2017

Crown Publishing

...more

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Apr 06, 2017 Susan Crowe rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: giveaway-wins, dtbs, very-favorite-books-ever, 2017-books, arc

I won an ARC of this book through a giveaway on Goodreads. Thank you Penguin Random House/Crown Publishing and Jennifer Finney Boylan.
I LOVED THIS BOOK!!
Wow! i really can't recall ever reading anything like it. I've never been one of those people who "could not put this book down". Because i can. i can be on the last page of a murder mystery, about to find out who the killer is and i can put the book down. But I COULD NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN! If life hadn't gotten in the way, i would have read it ...more

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Apr 30, 2017 Julie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Long Black Veil by Jennifer Finney Boylan is a 2017 Crown publication.

Lithub gave this book a fair amount of ad coverage a few weeks back, and I could swear someone, somewhere along the way, compared this book to Donna Tartt’s ‘The Secret History’. Well, that was all the prodding I needed. I checked it out of the library ASAP.

Well, no offense to the author or this story, but it’s not a modern day ‘Secret History’, and once again a categorization misstep by the publishers will most likely hurt ...more

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May 06, 2017 Jessica Woodbury rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, crime-mystery, lgbtq

I suspect I am not the only person who is a sucker for books that claim to be readalikes for The Secret History. This one said it was for fans of Donna Tartt and Megan Abbott and they basically forced me to hand over my money and purchase it immediately. But the thing that normally happens is I finish the book and I am angry because it is not The Secret History, not even close, and I feel manipulated. Long Black Veil is not The Secret History, and yet I do not feel like they were entirely off th I suspect I am not the only person who is a sucker for books that claim to be readalikes for The Secret History. This one said it was for fans of Donna Tartt and Megan Abbott and they basically forced me to hand over my money and purchase it immediately. But the thing that normally happens is I finish the book and I am angry because it is not The Secret History, not even close, and I feel manipulated. Long Black Veil is not The Secret History, and yet I do not feel like they were entirely off the mark. It's the first time I can say that in my many years of reading books in that fruitless search for another Secret History. It's not a readalike exactly, but there was so much here that I enjoyed that I am glad the book called out to me and made me read it.

The Secret History comparison comes from the early scenes where a group of college friends is involved in a horrible crime. But then the book begins to move in a very different direction. It is still about that horrible crime and its aftermath on the characters' lives, but after a while you realize that those things are really just the vehicle for a much deeper story about one of these characters. If you enjoy crime novels that are more character studies than whodunnits, this is a good selection. Which is why that Donna Tartt/Megan Abbott callout ultimately works for me. The writing and the story may be different than those authors, but much of the intent is the same.

At first it will seem like there are too many characters to keep track of, but give yourself a little time with it. Boylan quite expertly gets us introduced to them individually and gives us the opportunity to get to know them more deeply. And the multiple points of view is great to let us see just how differently one event can be interpreted through different characters. For me this was definitely a character-driven literary crime novel and I really enjoyed spending time with it.

I am going to include a spoiler section here, even though most people would consider this basic and non-spoilery, but I try to include as littler spoilers in my reviews as possible. So if you want to come to this one totally clean, go for it. If you're curious to learn more, here's some basic discussion of one of the major themes of the book: (view spoiler)

I listened to the audio of this book, which is read by the author. I love books read by the author. I would recommend doing an audio sample if you're considering it. I suspect many readers will find the author's particular style a little offputting if they are used to a more traditional audiobook reader. Personally I hate traditional audiobook readers much of the time, so I really enjoyed it. Plus Boylan does great voices when required. I love knowing what a certain character is meant to sound like and here--particularly with Casey--I would never have read him the way Boylan does and it helped me get the character much better. ...more

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Jul 22, 2017 Jeanette rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Spots are ok, but it was 75% slog for me to get through these people and their selective or responsive traumas. Not any enjoyment or entertainment factors in this at all for me. Who am I? What's it all about, Alfie- those type of works need to be snappy, clever, sharp with more joy capacity than this one to rate it 3. DNF, but at 75% I rated my enjoyment and interest plus the writing style. No go for me. And I did understand what Quinlan's dilemma was. How could I not with the current trends of ...more

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Mar 25, 2017 Cindy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: librarything-giveaways

I started this book several times (confused due to a big cast of characters) and wanted to put on my DNF shelf but since I won it from LibraryThing I thought I had better finish and review. Long Black Veil was page turner! The story begins with 6 students, 1 teacher, and 1 little boy sneaking into an dilapidated, run down, closed state penitentiary. Of course it's dark and scary and of course they get locked inside. They try to find a way out, get separated and a tragedy occurs. Thirty years lat ...more

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May 20, 2017 Irene rated it it was ok · review of another edition

The above is the description taken from Goodreads.
However as fitting as that is, it is not the description from the cover, and I feel a bit let down. I was expecting this book to be more of a thriller, and I guess I was expecting it to be.... thrilling. I suppose it is more a mystery, and it's aftermath. When the reason for Wailer's disappearance was revealed I was let down again, and even more so at the ridiculous ending.
I received a complimentary copy for review
...more

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May 10, 2017 Melissa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ah-deadly, she-and-or-they-but-not-he

This falls apart rather spectacularly at the end, but either because it was so fabulous up until then or hell, just as points for how amazingly preposterous it all gets, this is going to get a deadly from me. One of those rare books that I read really quickly because I adored it but then needed to hold off on finishing because I didn't want it to end. ...more

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May 12, 2017 Heather rated it liked it · review of another edition

3.5/5
Find all of my thoughts here! ...more

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Jul 25, 2017 rachel rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: lgbtqia, 2017

If you've ever heard Jennifer Finney Boylan speak at length (or watched her take on the unenviable work of shepherding Caitlyn Jenner out of the white and wealthy worldview bubble, as a trans advocate on I Am Cait) then you have a good idea what to expect when you pick up this book. She is one of those writers who writes exactly as she speaks, and her voice comes through very strongly here.

I'd like to start this review by stating that I admire and am grateful for Jennifer's work as she shares a If you've ever heard Jennifer Finney Boylan speak at length (or watched her take on the unenviable work of shepherding Caitlyn Jenner out of the white and wealthy worldview bubble, as a trans advocate on I Am Cait) then you have a good idea what to expect when you pick up this book. She is one of those writers who writes exactly as she speaks, and her voice comes through very strongly here.

I'd like to start this review by stating that I admire and am grateful for Jennifer's work as she shares and normalizes a trans perspective, and I find her to be a warm person whom I'd probably like to know.

That said, though Long Black Veil is well-written and readable (I regularly clocked 100 pages a night), I'm not really sure that this book is for me. For one thing, I had hoped that it would be steeped in creepy gothic mystery: the cover art featuring Leonardo Da Vinci's St. John the Baptist and the Eastern State Penitentiary setting, along with the plot description indicating that the long dead body of the main character's disappeared friend is found, really got my hopes up. Imagine my disappointment when the culprit AND motivation for the murder is outed like halfway through the book. The mystery element is propulsive through the first section of the novel, but it turns out to be a rather weak motivator to keep reading.

The second criticism I have of this book is that even though the first plot of the disappearance/murder of main character Judith's friend Wailer, and the second plot of Judith's "disappearance" from her previous life as a man named Quentin (she faked her death for all intents and purposes and transitioned from male to female at age 29), are thematically similar, I don't think that they necessarily work well mashed up together into the same book. On one hand, you've got a murder mystery. On the other hand, you have the story of a young man gone missing of his own choosing, because he had not been living an honest female life. The plots are superficially alike, in terms of there being a missing person, but with totally different intention and motivation.

A lot of time is spent on Judith's story, with it finally becoming an impassioned plea directed at readers to not judge people about who they are to find out if they are worthy of love, but to just offer love anyway, as one human to another. I read this and thought, "Obviously this is the point of the book. It's so important that Boylan had to break the fourth wall to say it. So why even bother with the mystery plot? Just tell Judith's story." I believe that this is the story Boylan really wanted to tell, but suspect that it is packaged inside a mystery plot to find a wider audience.

My third major criticism of this book is that I find it funny that Boylan is about spreading warm, non-judgmental love to people regardless of whether they fit a mold...but then every single character cannot stop referring to Casey's size whenever they talk about him, always referring to him as a "walrus" or a "fat fuck." At the end of the book, he even begins dating a woman who calls him something like "very large and unhealthy" during their first real conversation. It is strange that Boylan lets any character be abused for the way they look, even if he is amiable and just takes it in stride.

Even though I've done little but criticize thus far, there is enough to recommend to this book that I chose to give it three stars. It is well-written, with whispers of Donna Tartt's Secret History, with some endearingly eccentric characters. And despite thinking it is in the wrong book, I found Judith's life story to be compelling, before and after "death".

But since this book clearly brings out the rant in me, I'd also like to say that I really look forward to the day that a character in a book can just be trans and that is simply one fact about them, not the basis of a plot of having to explain themselves to everyone they had ever known in the past. I'm sure we are a long way from that, given many people's complete lack of understanding of what it is to be trans, but it frustrates me that this is even a controversial matter. It's so arrogant to reject another person's understanding of him or herself. Sexuality, gender, none of it should matter. If you're inclined to like someone, then like them. If you're not inclined to like them, don't. Who cares what parts they have or what sex(es) makes them all tingly inside? Just listen when they tell you who they are. ...more

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Mar 30, 2017 Sam Sattler rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-fiction

Long Black Veil is a difficult novel to get into because the author immediately introduces about eight characters known only by their first names – and since several of the first names are non-gender-specific nicknames, it is difficult even to be certain at first of the sex of some of the characters. I would suggest jotting down a note or two for each character as they are introduced as a way of maybe easing yourself into the story.

The story itself is about a group of misfits who become friends Long Black Veil is a difficult novel to get into because the author immediately introduces about eight characters known only by their first names – and since several of the first names are non-gender-specific nicknames, it is difficult even to be certain at first of the sex of some of the characters. I would suggest jotting down a note or two for each character as they are introduced as a way of maybe easing yourself into the story.

The story itself is about a group of misfits who become friends during their freshman year of college. And what misfits, they are. I’m trying hard here to think of one of the bunch that is even remotely normal, but I’m coming up empty. They were lucky to find each other and even luckier that the friendships endured for four years because not long after leaving school, one of them was dead under very mysterious circumstances, circumstances that ended the friendships.

The group’s fatal mistake is to visit an abandoned Philadelphia prison on a “dark and stormy night” during which someone decides to lock them inside. In the near-panic that followed, one of the girls, Wailer,” disappears and is never seen again – never seen again, that is, until thirty years later when someone discovers her remains where the body had been hidden all those years ago.

Now the pressure is on to figure out why Wailer died, who killed her, and who has been covering up the crime for so long. Is a member of the old group guilty? Will they turn on each other? Do others have to die before Wailer’s murder is finally solved?

Jennifer Finney Boylan is certainly not afraid to move her plot along, and in the process, she takes the reader on quite a ride. Just about the time you begin to believe that the plot has been stretched to its breaking point, Boylan stretches it even farther (but for some readers these additional stretches may be stretches too far to retain credibility). Long Black Veil makes for fun reading but it’s a hard novel to take very seriously. If this were a movie, it would probably be playing at your local drive-in theater…if you still have one of those around. ...more

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Mar 20, 2017 Blair marked it as dnf-arcs · review of another edition

Abandoned at 20%. Initially intriguing, this past-and-present mystery has, at this point, sagged into a mess of weird characters who aren't so much unlikeable as incomprehensible. I've long thought there's a subset of the 'books compared to The Secret History' minigenre that consists of American novels in which people behave so little like any human I've ever met that they more closely resemble aliens. Examples include The Whole World, Red Leaves and, slightly more tenuously (since it's not a ca ...more

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Jun 21, 2017 Danielle N rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, favorites

Long Black Veil is rather unique in what it brings to the table. What essentially begins a mystery centered around the loss of a friend develops into a detailed exploration of the lives of Judith and 4 other individuals forever connected by their past.

“You carry the past with you. Even if there’s a before, and an after, in your life. It’s still the same life. The trick is to build a bridge between that and what comes later.”

20 years ago Judith and 5 other college friends decided to visit Eastern Long Black Veil is rather unique in what it brings to the table. What essentially begins a mystery centered around the loss of a friend develops into a detailed exploration of the lives of Judith and 4 other individuals forever connected by their past.

“You carry the past with you. Even if there’s a before, and an after, in your life. It’s still the same life. The trick is to build a bridge between that and what comes later.”

20 years ago Judith and 5 other college friends decided to visit Eastern State Penitentiary. Only 5 of them would ever leave. It was a day that would forever alter the course of their lives. Now events from that tragic day have resurfaced, and Judith finds that she must return to face a past she left far behind or a friend may be charged with a heinous crime he did not commit. But returning also means possibly sacrificing everything that she values in life.

I hesitate to label Long Black Veil as a mystery. There is an unsolved disappearance at the core of the story, but this is a beautiful examination of characterization and life. Through an eccentric ensemble of cast, we are exposed to the trials of Judith’s journey into self acceptance and happiness. Judith is a refreshing protagonist the contributes many valuable and attractive variables that solidified the success of this story for me. It is unfortunately impossible to discuss the heart of what makes her so profound and fascinating without spoiling the book’s most rewarding and surprising facet.

“I think it’s very human, the hope that an all-encompassing love will change us into someone else, someone better. That this hope usually turns out to be false makes it no less human; the world is full of hopes far more unlikely than being transformed by love.”

While the setting is credible, this a character driven novel that relies heavily on the thoughts and actions of each individual in order to tell a complex story. The narration shifts from past to present and frequently passes between characters. But each transition is clean and easily defined, creating a fluid experience. However, I find it fair to warn that due to the larger number of individuals involved, I found it took several chapters to acclimate myself. But once I did, it was impossible to put Long Black Veil down. This is the sort of book that beckons you to turn the light back on and read one more chapter.

Boylan’s writing is elegant and immersive. Her words carry you effortlessly through each page, creating a hauntingly lavish experience with a welcomed element of diversity that begs to be devoured. I have read reviews of those who flaws with the author’s approach to certain topics, but I cannot be counted among them, nor do I recommend reading them before approaching the book. I am enthusiastically recommending Long Black Veil to anyone who seeks an engaging and personal reading experience.

*I would like to thank Crown Publishing and Blogging for Books for supplying this copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

You can also find my review on Books, Vertigo and Tea. ...more

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About Jennifer Finney Boylan

Jennifer Finney Boylan

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Jennifer Finney Boylan is a widely praised author and professor.

Edward Albee summed up her oeuvre in 1988: -- "Boylan observes carefully, and with love. [Her] levitating wit is wisely tethered to a humane concern…. I often broke into laughter, and was now and again, struck with wonder."

Jenny's memoir, She's Not There, published by Broadway Books in 2003, was one of the first bestselling works by a Jennifer Finney Boylan is a widely praised author and professor.

Edward Albee summed up her oeuvre in 1988: -- "Boylan observes carefully, and with love. [Her] levitating wit is wisely tethered to a humane concern…. I often broke into laughter, and was now and again, struck with wonder."

Jenny's memoir, She's Not There, published by Broadway Books in 2003, was one of the first bestselling works by a transgendered American; until 2001 she published under the name James Boylan. She's Not There, currently in its eighth printing, is popular both as a textbook in high schools and colleges as well as with readers's groups. The paperback edition contains a "readers guide" in addition to the main text, which consists not only of Jenny's insights on "a life in two genders" but also includes an afterword by Pultizer Prize winner Richard Russo, whose friendship with James, and later with Jennifer, provides part of the books narrative.

She's Not There won an award from the Lambda LIterary Foundation in 2004, the year after its initial publication. The book has since been published in many foreign editions, and was an alternate selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club. Anna Quindlen called it “a very funny memoir of growing up confused, and a very smart consideration of what it means to be a woman.”

Her 2008 memoir, I'm Looking Through You, is about growing up in a haunted house. While trans issues form part of the exposition of the book, the primary focus of I'm Looking Through You is on what it means to be "haunted," and how we all seek to find peace with our various ghosts, both the supernatural and the all-too-human.

Jenny has been a frequent guest on a number of national television and radio programs, including three visits to the Oprah Winfrey Show. She has also appeared on the Larry King Show, The Today Show and been the subject of a documentary on CBS News’ 48 Hours. She has also appeared on a wide range of local and syndicated television shows, as well as NPR's Marketplace and the Diane Rehm show. In 2007 she played herself on two episodes of ABC's "All My Children." She has spoken widely around the country on gender and imagination, at venues including the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. and the New Jersey State Theatre. She has given plenary and keynote speeches at conferences on diversity and scholarship around the country, and at colleges and universities including Amherst, Wesleyan, Dartmouth, Columbia, Vanderbilt, Duke, Bucknell, Dickinson, Bates, Ohio State, Middlebury, Gettysburg, Georgia State, the University of Puget Sound, and Westminster College in Salt Lake City. She has spoken at law firms, at corporate events, and at bookstores from Seattle to Vermont.

Her nonfiction has appeared on the op/ed pages of the New York Times, in GQ magazine, Allure, and Glamour. She is also an ongoing contributor to Conde Nast Traveler magazine; her most recent work there was on Easter Island, published in the January 2007 issue.

Boylan's first book, a collection of stories entitled Remind Me To Murder You Later, was published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 1988. Her first novel, The Planets, was published in 1991 by Poseidon Press. (Simon and Schuster). Loosely based upon the classical piece of music by Gustav Holst, The Planets followed the lives of several fictional characters in the real town of Centralia, Pennsylvania, which has been afflicted by an underground coal fire since the early 1960s.

Her second novel, The Constellations follows the lives of several of the characters from The Planets, some of whom flee from angry cows, discover a latex brain, and begin a life of dognapping.

Her 1997 novel, Getting In, published by Warner Books, focused on four high school students who go on quests to get into college. The novel was optioned for film by Renny Harlin and Geena Davis, and Jenny was tapped to write the initial screenplay for New Line Cinema.

Born in 1958 in Valley Forge, Boylan ...more

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I'm Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted

Stuck in the Middle With You: A Memoir of Parenting in Three Genders

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Quotes from Long Black Veil

“I have a different theory, which is even more harebrained. It goes like this: Maybe we should all just love one another, even if we don't completely understand the things that people bear in their dark, strange hearts, even if the stars that other men and women are following seem invisible to us. If we make ourselves open to the humanity of others first, maybe understanding will follow. An incomprehensible theory of the universe isn't necessary if your only ambition is to embrace another soul. What you need, maybe all you need, in fact, is the willingness to love.” — 6 likes

“Maybe we should just love one another, even if we don't completely understand the things that people bear in their dark, strange hearts, even if the stars that other men and women are following seem invisible to us. If we make ourselves open to the humanity of others first, maybe understanding will follow. An incomprehensible theory of the universal isn't necessary if your only ambition is to embrace another soul. What you need, maybe all you need, in fact, is the willingness to love.” — 3 likes

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