The Life We Bury by by Allen Eskens

Sixteen Members were ready to discuss The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens.   From his web page at http://www.alleneskens.com/about-me.php we can read that he has a journalism degree from the U of M and a law degree from Hamline, here in Minnesota.  After his law degree, he studied under a M.F.A. program at Mankato State University, as well as the Loft Literary Center and Iowa's Summer Writer's Festival.  He has since retired after practicing criminal law for 25 years and I think many are glad he did!  We felt he did a great job on the book and many were reading other books he has written!  The Life We Bury was written in 2014.  The Shadows We Hide is a sequel, published in 2018 and someone in the group mentioned that Allen Eskens had said he had to wait awhile to write the continuation of the story of Joe, just like Joe had to "grow up."  It took time and he had to do it justice this way, the characters become real, they have to age.

A member in the group said that they heard him speak recently, and he said that he hopes when you are reading that you find 2 stories, one, the character development and then two, the mystery.  We felt this was not just a mystery it was a novel!  We wondered if there was a movie that would be written from this as we have heard that he is the screen writer for it, but it hasn't been picked up yet.  We found that when we started reading, we didn't want to put it down.  It was a perfect "summer" read, quick and one you could read, almost in one setting as a few almost did!  The mystery was well-written.  One member said she thought she had it figured out, but she was wrong!  She did like the brother's story, and someone noted that Jeremy was the only character based on a real person.  One person, said, though that the story was too dark, it was too hard to read at bedtime. 

We loved that the story was based in Minnesota.  We liked the title of the book, The Life We Bury, and surmised that we, too, in real life, have a story or incident we may have buried, a story that we have hidden.  We felt that the book had great character development, someone even saying that it reminded them of another MN writer style, parallel to "Cork O'Connor stories in  William Kent Krueger's writing."  A member thought back on reading this the first time, she said she read for the "mystery part" and the second time reading, she noticed she read it with the emotions from the characters.  One person said, "How did so many things happen in this story, there was so much, but everything was solved and worked out.  It was a page turner."  Another added to that and said she liked the "inter-weaving" of the story. 

We talked about how bad the mother was, how did Social Services not get involved?  We had a discussion how sometimes families are overlooked in situations like this, as sad as that is. 

What was buried by the characters in the book?  Carl's conviction, he felt he deserved it, does this really happen in real life?  He was ready to kill himself the day this happened.  Joe with his feeling inadequate to help with his grandfather's death.  We felt that Joe would have had help with his grief if he didn't have such a dysfunctional home life.  Lila and her choices she made earlier in her life.  We also talked about these incidents of making them feel "guilty."  Who were the survivors?  Carl with Virgil, Crystal was a survivor, her story was buried, but discovered through Joe & Lila.  Joe and Jeremy with their family life.  Lila, also a survivor.  Someone said, she was accountable, she rose above it, she went the opposite way.  A member said she "appreciated Lila, so impressed with her, with her connecting right away with Jeremy, that is a gift."  So did guilt drive them to bury their stories, their situations?  Did it change them?

Carl stayed alive just long enough to see his conviction thrown out.  We felt that Carl had compassion, he first off asked about Joe, he drew his story about his grandfather out of him.   We talked about the receptionist  and her prejudice -- we all could be like that receptionist!  She couldn't see the other side of what was "preconceived."

Joe was very courageous and brave, a truth-seeker.  He had true character, true strength.  "The scene where Joe was chased into the woods, my heart just pounded the whole time I read that," someone said and a few agreed!  He was a survivor and he left a note behind!  It was a very realistic scene, very well done.  We also laughed about his physical strength, his "bouncer" strength, he wasn't afraid to use it with some people. 

We just felt that the characters were so well developed, you felt like you were right there with them.  Someone said they heard that Allen Eskens, the author, hears a word and has to have that in the book.  He uses an idea box.  So very creative.  Many of us are ready to pick up another book soon!