Mystic River Reviews

I really, really wanted to love this book. I think the problem was my expectations; I'm not used to reading rough n gritty books like this. Of course it was a marvelous story and very well written, the quality was great. I just can't bring myself to enjoy it.

My #1 reason for this is the bleak and dismal atmosphere of the whole novel. I can only take so much of "the world sucks, people suck, life sucks" before I felt like the characters where trying to prove just how crappy they personally had it. I don't buy into the philosophy that life just sucks and then you die anyway, and having everyone in the story go on about the lack of happiness they or everyone else was experiencing got exhausting really quickly. I can understand a cop being bleak, which is probably why I didn't mind Sean's character so much. His general woe felt reasonable, as cruel as that is to say.

Spoilers here:
Another thing that was a miss for me was, I was really hoping for a "good guy" besides Sean. Not necessarily a good ending, given the plot, but someone to reflect my feelings of hope as the story becomes simultaneously untangled and more chaotic. The further I read the more everyone felt like the enemy, and I was in that mood I get when watching the news about awful real life crimes that can't possibly end good. Of course this is a great accomplishment for the author, he wrote a story that felt pretty damn real to me, as far as my youthful, naive self can see. But it didn't give me much pleasure where I had expected it: the murder mystery felt hopeless and pointless even as clues and twists were unveiled. There was no excitement to move forward into the plot, only dread- frustration with the characters- a need to end my misery and get to the last page already.

I can truly see why Mystic River is so amazing, and despite my disenchantment with it I highly recommend it to fans of the genre and similar novels. It was a fascinating, raw, realistic look at some tough issues people have to deal with, obstacles you run into in life and the decisions people make and regret, and some they don't regret. A good warning against leading an empty life as well.

Final verdict: if Mystic River sounds like something you might like to read, go read it, it's great. If it sounds too dreary, depressing, moody, you're absolutely right, and you probably won't like it.