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No Saints in Kansas Amy Brashear Books

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No Saints in Kansas Amy Brashear Books

NO SAINTS IN KANSAS by Amy Brashear
If you are at all familiar with Truman Capote’s IN COLD BLOOD, you will recognize the story Brashear has used as the backdrop for her teen angst novel. Outsider Carly is a “friend” of Nancy Clutter who is the ultimate insider. The novel revolves around Carly’s obsession with solving the murders of the Clutter family in 1959 and clearing Bobby Rupp, Nancy’s boyfriend.
The characters are believable; the situations and conversations spot on. Capote and Harper Lee make cameo appearances and bring a bit of New York brashness to the Nebraska Midwestern wholesomeness. When Carly’s father is appointed to defend the murderers, she (and her whole family) becomes an instant pariah to the entire town. Small town morals and infighting come to the fore as the novel progresses.
Although billed as a young adult novel, anyone with an interest in the Clutter murders or small town life will find this novel appealing. Carly is a fictional character, most other characters and situations are based on the actual murders.
5 of 5 stars


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No Saints in Kansas Amy Brashear Books Reviews

It's all but impossible not to refer back to Capote's beautiful classic prose and storytelling (fact telling) in "In Cold Blood" and in fact brashear includes many clever references back to Capote's work but that isn't her focus. Her focus is to retell the story through a fellow teenager's eyes for a teenage audience.

Carly Fleming, her younger jock brother Asher and their defense lawyer father and '50's housewife mother move from Manhattan, the one in New York not Manhattan, Kansas and the family gets busy trying to assimilate to the mainly farming community. It's difficult. Like most teenagers Carly longed to fit in and have friends. She considers it her first big break when her math teacher talks her into being math tutor to the popular Nancy Clutter. Then the murders happen anc Carly's on shaky ground again. She's determined to play Nancy Drew and find out who killed her friend and her family.

"No Saints in Kansas" is a gritty book that will appeal to more mature teens who can handle such a dark theme. I know kids are used to reading apocalyptic tales but this one feels personal because of the more finely honed psychology Brashear incorporates. As an adult I also enjoyed the book though I couldn't help pulling Capote's book off my shelves and delving in from time to time.
This book feels to me like someone had a germ of a good idea and decided to go with it, and then never realized that it was only a germ and not a full novel's worth. The story is that of Carly Fleming, a high schooler who attended school with Nancy Clutter. In order to create a new character in one of the most documented towns in literature, Brashear says that Carly was Nancy's secret math tutor. Carly has a fixation on Nancy Clutter that walks just this side of creepy.

The ending is honestly just not good. But it's also not bad. Just nothing happens. It just ends. I'm not sure what I expected, but I felt like I trudged through so much book that I definitely wanted *something* to happen... except it doesn't.

The fact that Brashear is a first time author felt very, very obvious to me, which is a shame. For one thing, Carly's aunt is a super convenient figure, who sends her things like Chanel dresses and Ouija boards and cameras, conveniently timed as the plot needs them. References to Truman Capote and Harper Lee are ham-handed at best. The disdain Carly's classmates feel for her for being from New York City ("the wrong Manhattan," as is repeated probably a hundred times in the book) is unbelievable. It's impossible that everyone would look down on her and not a single person would be curious about the city. And worst, it doesn't work as historical fiction, either. For instance, every kid in the book has their own car. Carly's family seems to have three cars, no less, one of which is a Porsche (on a public defender's salary!). And there's no explanation for how her family ended up in Kansas, aside from a brief mention of her dad having spent some time in Colorado when he was a kid.
I'm only on page 60, but I am having a hard time getting myself to finish. I don't understand why the author chose to attack the character of a murdered teenage girl. I find it distatseful and unsettling. I regret this purchase.
NO SAINTS IN KANSAS by Amy Brashear
If you are at all familiar with Truman Capote’s IN COLD BLOOD, you will recognize the story Brashear has used as the backdrop for her teen angst novel. Outsider Carly is a “friend” of Nancy Clutter who is the ultimate insider. The novel revolves around Carly’s obsession with solving the murders of the Clutter family in 1959 and clearing Bobby Rupp, Nancy’s boyfriend.
The characters are believable; the situations and conversations spot on. Capote and Harper Lee make cameo appearances and bring a bit of New York brashness to the Nebraska Midwestern wholesomeness. When Carly’s father is appointed to defend the murderers, she (and her whole family) becomes an instant pariah to the entire town. Small town morals and infighting come to the fore as the novel progresses.
Although billed as a young adult novel, anyone with an interest in the Clutter murders or small town life will find this novel appealing. Carly is a fictional character, most other characters and situations are based on the actual murders.
5 of 5 stars