I really enjoyed this and realized all the hype was worth it. Well and cleanly written - good story and good characters.

Read this one first. It has lots of holds on it

First, I’ll tell you about the robbery our parents committed. Then about the murders, which happened later. So begins the narrative of Dell Parsons, whose life takes a turn in 1960. When their parents were arrested for armed robbery, 15-year-old fraternal twins Dell and Berner Parsons must decide what to do next. Berner runs away, and Dell accepts help from his mother’s friend, who drives him to Canada. In Canada, Dell encounters yet another reason to run. He forces readers to wonder if things could get any worse. I enjoyed Ford’s spare prose and engaging narrator, but the novel suffers from a lack of action. Still, I was riveted by Dell’s story.

This is one of the finest novels I have ever read. Many authors have written about the same - abandoned young men / boys faced with a hostile or uncaring environment. Think David Adams Richards, Cormac McCarthy, Charles Baxter, Russell Banks. If you are looking for a whodunnit or a predictable plot driven police procedural then don't read this book. If you are looking for great literature that smacks you into thinking about the big question -how one picks up the pieces of a broken life, moves into the unknown and bravely creates a new existence, then this novel is for you. kw

Beautifully written novel..very insightful..almost quit reading it due to the slow pace, but the prose like writing style drew me in..and eventually the storyline as well..a classic in my opinion

If a book hasn't grabbed me by page 50, I usually put it aside. I gave this one to page 100 just because of the title and other people's reviews but it's going nowhere. There are too many other books out there to waste any more time on this one.

Couldn't put it down.

On picking this book up it felt like a large daunting read, but once I started I couldn't put it down. The story draws you in and before I knew it I was almost reading it while walking- a sure sign of a great book but not a good thing to do really.

Dense exploration of one man and the shattering events of his childhood that made him into the person he became. Dell and his twin sister Berner are living in rural Montana during the late 50's and early 60's when their parents take a sudden wrong turn in life leaving their children alone to fend of themselves. Dell finds himself in Canada among strangers, barely a teenager, and the events that befall him shape his life forever. Slow going, but wonderfully written.

One of my favourite writers but this time there is little of the humour that comes through in previous works. It’s very downbeat in its tale of a boy growing up with the legacy of his parent’s naïve attempt to rob a bank. He’s sent across the border to Canada which turns out to be another country in every sense. Dark and gripping. Best reads of 2012: Philip Tew, Selection and Access Librarian, shares his top novels of 2012.