Burgess boys by Elizabeth Strout

 It is funny how some books touch your heart and really disturb you. This is one such book. 

The two Burgess boys - now men in their 50s are poles apart. Jim, the composed, dignified, smart, rich - you add all nice adjectives you know - and that is he. With a nice home and a beautiful wife, kids studying well. A famous lawyer, well known in his home town of Shirley falls, seen on TV for many days in a famous case, now settled in New York. A successful man.

Bob -is a lawyer too, but not famous, not confident and always looking for approval by his elder brother. He is divorced, lives in what looks like 'college dorm' - according to Jim. Has no children - in fact that is what made his ex-wife Pam leave him. Jim constantly criticizes Bob and still Bob keeps visiting their home and is emotionally dependent on his brother. 

They have a sister too - Susan. Susan and Bob are twins. And are not very fond of each other. Susan still lives in their home town Shirley falls, is separated from her husband and has a teenage son Zachary. 

Well the story starts with an event - Zachary rolls down a frozen pig's head into a mosque of Somali people. How monstrous! Not really, the boy is not a bully, nor a racist. What made him do that, we are not certain.

When Susan tells the news to her brothers, Jim asks her to take Zach to police station and confess everything. Because we Burgess are not afraid. And she takes him to police station, with the confidence that  her son will be safe as he has two lawyer uncles. 

But that news grows out of proportion - it is painted as hate crime, as racial crime by the local liberal people in the city. Soon it becomes national news. People taking sides and all. 

And the poor Somali people are scared - they think this boy is part of some kind of white supremacy. They have been facing discrimination on daily basis but don't protest as they can't afford to go home.

Susan whose life revolves around her son is depressed and worried. She has observed her son being mild, being bullied in schools, keeping to himself always. Will he get bail? Will he be imprisoned? What will happen to him, if he goes to jail? 

But let us go to their childhood. Doesn't that define all of us - as shrinks like us to believe? When Bob and Susan were 4 years old, there was a freak accident. The kids were playing in the car, and it started moving and their father was killed by the car. Bob was sitting in the front. So he felt that some how he killed his father.  That completely changed him, he had to undergo therapy. 

And their mother Barbara felt that she can't be hard on Bob as he is already extremely fragile. And she started criticizing Susan for everything. She would pour all her love and affection on her two sons and she is left with little for her daughter. Little Susan feels neglected and decides when she has her own children, she will love her daughters unconditionally.

My rating:  4.75/5