Blameless

Lisa Reardon

3.51 · Rating details · 59 ratings · 9 reviews

Mary Culpepper is a strong woman, fearless and independent to a fault. But when she discovers the body of a child in her small northern Michigan town, she suffers a breakdown that has her family and friends treating her like "sulfuric acid about to spatter". In the following months, Mary does all she can to keep her mind off the upcoming trial, in which she will have to te ...more

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Jan 14, 2015 Aimee Massey rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, adults, dysfunction-junction, ian-might-like-this, angela-might-like-this

I love this book! The characters reminded me of people I know; not literal specific people, but they, and their small Michigan town, were as familiar to me as my own small Delaware town and the people who share it with me. The good, the bad, the ugly, they're all here.
Mary is a woman in her thirties who seems like a no-nonsense, independent kind of person. She has been amicably divorced for years and lives by herself in a cute little house in the country. She drives a school bus, plays softball, I love this book! The characters reminded me of people I know; not literal specific people, but they, and their small Michigan town, were as familiar to me as my own small Delaware town and the people who share it with me. The good, the bad, the ugly, they're all here.
Mary is a woman in her thirties who seems like a no-nonsense, independent kind of person. She has been amicably divorced for years and lives by herself in a cute little house in the country. She drives a school bus, plays softball, loves her cat and her 1965 Mercury.
But Mary is tormented. She has terrible nightmares and panic attacks. Gradually we learn why: about six months ago, Mary found Jennifer Colby, a first-grader who rode her bus, dead in her (Jennifer's) bedroom closet, after Jen's brother and sister asked Mary to come into their house to check on her.
Jennifer was killed by a blow to the head and her mother is being charged with her death. Mary is to testify for the prosecution, something that upsets many of the townsfolk, who believe Mrs. Colby's claim that the blow was accidental. Mary keeps insisting that she never saw any signs that Jennifer was being mistreated, and she is prepared to testify in court to that effect, much to the prosecutor's dismay.
Mary's tough, breezy facade begins to crumble. We learn that shortly after finding Jennifer's body, Mary had a breakdown and was hospitalized after trashing her own house. She is beginning to grow tired of her friends and family treating her "like sulfuric acid about to splatter" so she works hard to maintain her facade, but her denial runs deep.
Mary begins to share her memories with us and we see how all her life she has closed her eyes to ugly truths for fear of upsetting her own carefully-constructed perception of herself and her world. Mary slowly acknowledges that her father was unfaithful and an alcoholic, and while she enjoyed her status as his favorite, he tended to use her as a wedge between himself and Mary's mother.
Mary also admits to herself that her husband's leaving her for her best friend hurt her far more than she let on to either of them, and that continuing to be friends with both of them was only a way of shielding herself from having to do without them and find new friends.
And as Mary embarks on a disastrous affair with the married father of a young girl she's become close to, she also must acknowledge the hurt she is causing others.
And finally, mary allows herself to acknowledge that all along, she knew things were not well with Jennifer Colby. Jennifer was not a happy, normal child with a happy and normal family life. Her bruises and burns, her thinness and raggedy clothes, can't all be explained away.
But will Mary have the courage to tell what she knows now? Will she be able to accept responsibility for what she has done, and just as importantly, for what she has not done? And can she come to terms with the fact that she is not so blameless after all? ...more

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Mar 30, 2010 Michele rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: subiaco-library, detroit

Lisa Reardon follows what Alice Munro called a "brave, heart-wrenching debut" with another extraordinary tale of pent-up violence, trespass, and redemption."Blameless" -- that's all Mary Culpepper longs to be. Free of the tug of human need. Mary's a big woman, a strong woman: drives the local school bus, hurls a mean softball, likes a cold beer and knows how to make her beloved '75 Mercury run. But she hides a wounded soul behind her capable, even prickly exterior. It is only when she discovers ...more

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Sep 06, 2015 Al Sevcik rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Mary drives a school bus. At least she did until she found one of her riders, a young girl, dead in a closet, with a head wound. Haunted by her discovery, Mary has a breakdown and is put on probation. The novel covers the few days before she is to testify in court. The fate of the girl’s mother depends on Mary’s testimony – and Mary isn’t at all sure about the “facts” surrounding her discovery. She is under pressure to testify that she noticed signs of mistreatment before the event. She doesn’t ...more

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