Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a rich, emotional tale of a young thirteen year old boy and the tragedies that befell his family and his community in the summer of 1961. The story, in many ways, is not compelling nor is it particularly memorable. What is so striking is the way the story is told, with tight, well-edited prose, subtle imagery, and symbolism.

Krueger has done an amazing job of separating what are really two narrators: the boy, and the current older, presumably wiser adult. He tells the story with tight, well-edited prose, subtle imagery and symbolism.

It is a story about family. And it is a story about believing in God and the wonderful grace that comes from giving your heart to God.

quotes:
“Fishing, Danny boy, is purely a state of mind. Some men, when they are fishing, are after fish. Me, I'm after things you could never set a barbed hook in.”

“The dead are never far from us. They’re in our hearts and on our minds and in the end all that separates us from them is a single breath, one final puff of air.”

“That was it. That was all of it. A grace so ordinary there was no reason at all to remember it. Yet I have never across the forty years since it was spoken forgotten a single word.”

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