Book Review: The Raising by Laura Kasischke

The Raising

Author:  Laura Kasischke

Publisher:  Harper Perennial

Date Published: March 15th 2011 (PB)

From Goodreads:

Last year Godwin Honors Hall was draped in black. The university was mourning the loss of one of its own: Nicole Werner, a blond, beautiful, straight-A sorority sister tragically killed in a car accident that left her boyfriend, who was driving, remarkably—some say suspiciously—unscathed. 

Although a year has passed, as winter begins and the nights darken, obsession with Nicole and her death reignites: She was so pretty. So sweet-tempered. So innocent. Too young to die. Unless she didn’t. Because rumor has it that she’s back.

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We all go into books expecting the best or we wouldn't pick them up, but darn it really sucks when all those high hopes disappear on the last 50 pages of a 496 page book.  The Raising dragged here and there but overall I was enjoying it, until the story went nowhere.  

The Raising is a dark book about peoples ugly manipulative side told in a weird gothic way.  The story takes place at a college with quite a bit of players.  Some characters I wondered why they had so much dedicated to them since to me they did nothing for the movement of the plot, hence the dragging I mentioned.  

The whole of the book is really about Nicole Werner, and still after almost 500 pages of people talking about her and so on I still don't have any idea who she really was.  There were a lot of faces to her, but which one was truly her I have no idea.  In the end I was just frustrated with The Raising.  

The one bright spot was the history lesson I learned about the cultural differences and rituals done for the dead.  Really cool to know why we do certain things when people die and how these things started and why.

Basically to sum it up I did not like The Raising, nor can I recommend it.