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Life Sentencesby Laura Lippman |
Donna Newman: A book recommended on the Today Show,
Life Sentences is a beautifully written novel that explores
the themes of memory, family, friendship and race relations
in Baltimore in the 1960s. The main character, Cassandra Fallows,
is a successful memoir writer. The premise of this book is Cassandra's
research into the crime committed by one of her elementary school
friends who was incarcerated for seven years for declining to answer
questions about the disappearance of her infant son. The book is so
much more, however, as Cassandra opens up her life and the lives
of her parents and her friends to us. As in A Reliable Wife,
no one is truly what he or she appears and the characters
are not ones I want to befriend, but I could not put the book
down in anticipation of the unraveling of the mystery.
Unfortunately, Lippman rushed the ending and omitted
explanations I would have enjoyed. I do recommend the book,
and I think it would be a good movie.
Rating: *****
