This Dark Road to Mercy in Bound Together

Jan 21, 2015 Angela M rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Wiley Cash has shown once again that he is a writer I will continue to follow. I have to admit that I didn't feel the grip of the writing quite as much as I did with A Land More Kind Than Home; this one was a little less edgy . But I was so taken with one of the narrators, 12 year Easter. It's impressive how Cash gets inside the head of this young girl. I fell in love with the precocious Easter and her sweet younger sister Ruby.

They've had sad little lives right from the beginning . It's heartb Wiley Cash has shown once again that he is a writer I will continue to follow. I have to admit that I didn't feel the grip of the writing quite as much as I did with A Land More Kind Than Home; this one was a little less edgy . But I was so taken with one of the narrators, 12 year Easter. It's impressive how Cash gets inside the head of this young girl. I fell in love with the precocious Easter and her sweet younger sister Ruby.

They've had sad little lives right from the beginning . It's heartbreaking when first introduced to them . Living with their drug addicted mother, abandoned by their father , Easter tells this is how they lived :

"They'd see that we didn't have any furniture except for a plastic deck chair and two folding chairs that you might take to the beach. And they'd see that me and Ruby didn't have beds but just slept on mattresses on the floor that had mismatched sheets on them . They'd know that I'd called them from the corner store because we didn't have a phone and they'd see that even if we'd had food we didn't have no clean plates to eat from. I stood there looking all around that kitchens it ha knot in my throat and an empty stomach, and I swear I could hear flies buzzing in just about every windowpane in that house. I just wanted to leave it all behind ." (P25 kindle version)

With that I had a knot in my throat as well for the rest of the book . All I wanted was the best for these children and I wasn't always sure what that would be. When their wayward father returns to get back his daughters , I felt a twinge of hope for them even though he has made poor choices , he seemed to love his daughters. The question is - is that enough?

There are multiple narrators here as in his first novel . Besides Easter , there is Brady Weller , their court appointed legal guardian and Pruitt , the personification of evil as we would expect there to be in this type of novel . All of our narrators are in some way seeking and searching for something. Easter is seeking safety and a good life for her and her sister Ruby . Pruitt is seeking revenge against Wade , who injured him long years ago when they were minor league baseball players. Brady Weller is seeking redemption , a disgraced police detective, coming to terms with his past and his daughter . Easter is my favorite by far , but it is through all three of these narratives that we learn about not just their pasts , but Wade's. Wade , though not a narrator also seems to be seeking redemption for his past as a rotten dad and the mistakes he's made . He says he wants a normal life and we know that is what Easter hopes for too . But I kept questioning whether he could give them that .

I felt separated from Easter and Ruby by the other narratives and I kept wanting it to go back to Easter's perspective. A child narrator may not always be a reliable one but I felt Easter had a better handle on what was happening around her than anyone else in the novel. But does a twelve year old truly know what is best for them ?

Regarding the baseball throughout , I definitely enjoyed reading about the Sousa - McGuire rivalry, and I thought it connected Wade and the girls but I kept wondering what this meant in terms of the story as a whole . Who better to explain than Cash himself in an NPR interview.2/2/14 :

"That's kind of an interesting juxtaposition. I think at first glance it would seem as if the story has nothing to do with baseball. But, you know, the home run race is something that came during a particularly cynical time in American political history.

In 1998, we had a lot of scandal in D.C. But at night, we'd all turn on the television and we'd sit down as a family and we'd watch these two American heroes try to break this famous record, and it really brought us all together. But now we look back and we realize that that was fiction, that none of that was true.

And so that's kind of what this novel is about: It's looking back at things that we once believed to be true — whether it's about our families or about ourselves or about our national obsessions — and asking ourselves, "Am I believing correctly? Am I seeing this with clear ?"

It's a story of growing up much too quickly under difficult circumstances, a story of people seeking redemption, about making the right decisions even if they aren't the easiest. Cash's inspirations , he tells us in a note were from multiple sources but the one that touched me the most was the young girls that he knew as a young boy . Perhaps my expectations were too high after reading his first novel and maybe I would have given it 5 stars had I read this first . Definitely recommended! ...more

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Nov 04, 2013 Diane S ☔ rated it really liked it

3.5 Wiley Cash has the enviable knack of writing about siblings needing to protect each other and he has created two sisters this time that find themselves in that same situation. Just the protecting because Easter and her little sister Ruby, are not in danger from their father Wade, but from a man who is after Wade for revenge.

I liked this book, liked outspoken and incredibly wise for her years, Easter and loved little Ruby who looks on so many things with wonder. Loved the baseball talk and th ...more

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Nov 05, 2013 Connie Cox rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2014

I really looked forward to this after loving A Land More Kind Than Home and I was pleased to read another wonderful story from Mr. Cash.

I would say that this one does not smack you in the face quite as quickly as his first, but the tension builds slowly and the page turning becomes faster as you move along. Cash creates some characters who have suffered broken dreams, hard times and have not always made the best choices. Some of them are trying to pull themselves up (without much luck) while o I really looked forward to this after loving A Land More Kind Than Home and I was pleased to read another wonderful story from Mr. Cash.

I would say that this one does not smack you in the face quite as quickly as his first, but the tension builds slowly and the page turning becomes faster as you move along. Cash creates some characters who have suffered broken dreams, hard times and have not always made the best choices. Some of them are trying to pull themselves up (without much luck) while others are bitter and full of grudges. I appreciate that these feel like real people to the reader. The story is not slick, full of glitz and glam....but rather takes the reader to a rural place where people struggle to "make it" or at least keep on going. Life is not always pretty or fair in this world.

Once again Cash used children as the jumping off point to his story, and I love that part of the narration comes from Easter's point of view. She is a savvy, rather world weary character all at a much too early age but she see's things very clearly. She and her sister Ruby, who is still able to be a child, give the story balance. They are an adaptable pair who sadly have not had a very good start in life. The relationships some of the other characters (Wade & Brady) build with these girls, and the girls feelings towards them, redeem these rather sad men for me. Cash also makes the settings so real. I could see the rather seedy hotel rooms, smell the chlorine in the pool and the musty smell of a young boys room, abandoned long ago. I felt the sweat that pools and makes your legs stick to a car seat....his descriptions are spot on!

All in all, this is a story of making mistakes, seeking revenge, dealing with moral questions. It is a race to see which character can get to these "kidnapped" girls first....the villain or the questionable hero. I liked the ending, with a satisfying little twist. I also liked that the timeline followed the famous McGuire/Sousa battle to break the home run record and the race was on to find and maybe save Easter and Ruby.

...more

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Nov 28, 2015 ☮Karen rated it really liked it

Shelves: audio, read-in-2015

First let me say how much I adore stories involving little girls. I cannot resist them. Secondly, the three narrators on the audio version were just so good, I don't think I missed a word, which rarely happens. Third, the story itself is simply irresistible. So very fine. Great Southern lit; a dad on the run from a particularly bad fellow while at the same time trying to win the approval of the two girls, his estranged daughters, so they can be a family; and a very loveable ex-cop who i ...more

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Nov 06, 2013 Alena rated it really liked it

Shelves: bpl-ordered

I'm not sure what I expected as a follow up to the brilliant A Land More Kind Than Home, but I have to admit it took me a little while to admit to myself that Wiley Cash was writing about a whole new cast of characters in his second novel. Once I accepted I wouldn't find charismatic preachers and deaf-mute children, I settled in for a really good read.

Once again we have broken spirits, vulnerable children, fractured families and one truly bad guy that made my skin crawl; but in this novel the ch ...more

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Jan 30, 2014 Annet rated it liked it

Shelves: crime

I like this writer, Wiley Cash, he writes good, entertaining stories, good storylines, compact writing style, great character buildup, easy to read, keeps you in the book....I can see this story in a movie or tv movie, without doubt.
However, I did like his first book, A land more kind than home, better than this one.
I found this 2nd story a bit on the bland side, a bit predictable, while with his first novel, the story intrigued me from beginning til the end, That's why I rate the first one 0.5 ...more

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Dec 12, 2015 Irene rated it liked it

This book had a good balance of action and family relationships, of lightness and engaging story line. Two young sisters are kidnapped from foster care by their estranged father. As he tries to out run the authorities, he also is being chased by a hired hit man. What I liked about this book was the theme of redemption and the likable characters. What I felt were weaknesses were the predictable story line, the implausible near misses and the indistinguishable narrator voices (a 12 year old girl, ...more

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Jul 07, 2019 Glenda rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley

After their mother's unexpected death, twelve-year-old Easter and her six-year-old sister Ruby are adjusting to life in foster care when their errant father, Wade, suddenly appears. Since Wade signed away his legal rights, the only way he can get his daughters back is to steal them away in the night.

Brady Weller, the girls' court-appointed guardian, begins looking for Wade, and he quickly turns up unsettling information linking Wade to a recent armored car heist, one with a whopping $14.5 millio ...more

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Mar 27, 2014 Pat rated it really liked it

I enjoyed this rather dark novel set in No. Carolina during Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa's run to break Roger Maris's record of 61 home runs - possibly because i read it the week before baseball season opens. I do enjoy Wiley Cash's "countrified" narratives; so appropriate for his settings! This is a sad story of two little girls who lose their mother and their father who gave them up comes to claim them, sound ominous but it isn't because they have good people all around them except the one bad ...more

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Feb 04, 2014 Paula Hess rated it it was amazing

If you haven't read a Wiley Cash book you need to start. I really liked his first book, A Land More Kind Than Home. This Dark Road to Mercy may be even better. It's a suspense read that grabs you from the first page and doesn't let up till the last sentence. I highly recommend Wiley Cash and can't wait for his next novel. ...more

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