Review: The Raising by Laura Kasischke

Publishing: Harper Perennial
Publishing Date: March 15th, 2011
ISBN: 9780062004789
Pages: 496 pgs

My Rating: 3 stars

Summary from GoodReads:

From Laura Kasischke, the critically acclaimed, bestselling author of In a Perfect World and The Life Before Her Eyes, comes a hypnotic mystery about one girl’s tragic death and the fallout that occurs on her closely-knit college campus. Part Stephen King, part Donna Tartt, and wholly unforgettable , Kasischke’s The Raising sets a new standard for hair-raising literary suspense.

My Review:
I got this book from NetGalley for review and when I first started this book I really enjoyed it. It had a rich tapestry of characters and I was drawn right into the story. The story is about a girl who has been killed in a terrible car accident but as the story unfolds something is not quite as it seems. Nicole, the accident victim, is a sorority girl who is dating Craig. Nicole claims to believe in abstinence and in her death many secrets are revealed including the fact that she has been sleeping with Craig's best friend and roommate Perry. The book drifts back and forth between the past and the present. In the present, Craig is trying to deal with Nicole's death, which he blames himself for and Perry is also trying to deal with Nicole's death by taking a course about death and dying. Throughout the novel you start to realize that things just aren't quite right and Nicole starts popping up all over the university campus. People start to believe that they are seeing a ghost. I have to say that I was really drawn into the book and I couldn't put it down. The writing style is amazing and the characters are well rounded. The novel also exposes the life of a student living on campus at university. It exposes the dangers of hazing and also how while it is frowned upon it is still a widely practiced thing on most campuses. I have to admit that while in university I was asked to rush for a sorority and I was tempted at first but then thought the better of it. Don't get me wrong I'm not bashing sororities because they can be an incredible source of support but they were just not for me. Anyhow, in the end I gave this book 3 stars out of 5 because I felt that the ending of this novel was incredibly ridiculous. There were no consequences for any actions. I don't want to give away the ending of the book but it seems to me that none of this would happen in the real world and the book ends with no real conclusion. I just felt quite unsatisfied. I felt that the whole book was so well written that the ending should have had more pizzazz. I would still recommend reading it because of the rest of the novel. The mystery was well played out and I loved the characters. I would just read this book without hoping for a great ending.