I spend at least 2.5 hours a day in the car schlepping my kids to and from school so I listen to books. I typically listen to a TON of non-fiction (plus I love to listen to podcasts) so one of my New Year’s Resolutions was to listen to one fiction book each month.
One of the first books I ordered was The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens and I LOVED it…so I thought I’d share it with you and hopefully you’ll love it too!
The Life We Bury
I will admit, that I kind of really like crime novels and this one does NOT disappoint on that front (Have you listened to Serial or Undisclosed?) so this one may not be up everyone’s alley. And I’m not the only one to like it…it has 4.5 stars out of 5!
Here’s the synopsis from Amazon:
College student Joe Talbert has the modest goal of completing a writing assignment for an English class. His task is to interview a stranger and write a brief biography of the person. With deadlines looming, Joe heads to a nearby nursing home to find a willing subject. There he meets Carl Iverson, and soon nothing in Joe’s life is ever the same.
Carl is a dying Vietnam veteran–and a convicted murderer. With only a few months to live, he has been medically paroled to a nursing home, after spending thirty years in prison for the crimes of rape and murder.
As Joe writes about Carl’s life, especially Carl’s valor in Vietnam, he cannot reconcile the heroism of the soldier with the despicable acts of the convict. Joe, along with his skeptical female neighbor, throws himself into uncovering the truth, but he is hamstrung in his efforts by having to deal with his dangerously dysfunctional mother, the guilt of leaving his autistic brother vulnerable, and a haunting childhood memory.
Thread by thread, Joe unravels the tapestry of Carl’s conviction. But as he and Lila dig deeper into the circumstances of the crime, the stakes grow higher. Will Joe discover the truth before it’s too late to escape the fallout?
I really enjoyed the Life We Bury. It definitely makes you confront your preconceived ideas about people and reminds you that everyone has a story.
If you’re looking for some other book recommendations, in the summer of both 2013 and 2014 I did a book a week challenge where I read 9 books each summer. I must admit, I did a good job of choosing them too. Click here for the 2013 list and click here for the 2014 list! Maybe I’ll make a graphic for a book a month list for 2016…hmmm.
Do you think you’d like this book?
