I always enjoy reading biographies or memoirs and for years have been fascinated by crime stories. The Rising is
a great blend of both genres. It is the true story of the Petit family,
an upper middle class family living in the suburbs of Connecticut. Bill
Petit is a Yale grad and skilled physician. His wife, Jennifer, a
beautiful pastor's daughter and pediatric nurse. They had two
daughters, Hayley, an popular athlete preparing for college, and
Michaela, a sweet happy eleven-year old. They had it all until one night
two men broke into their home and the unthinkable happened. Everyone's
worst nightmare: the men beat Bill within an inch of his life,
assaulted Michaela, choked Jen to death, and murdered the girls by setting the house on fire.
This
book tells the story of both Bill's and Jennifer's childhood, their
dating and early marriage years, and then the time when they raised
their children. The reader really gets a feel for who this family is
and what makes them tick. Then the author tells the story of the
horrific night when Bill's marriage, family and home were destroyed. He
then goes on to describe what life was like for Bill afterward. The
devastation, the deep loss, the agony--both physical and emotional.
Ryan D'Agostino does a wonderful job of answering the question: how does
one survive a tragedy like that?
For me, one the most
fascinating aspect of the book was the trials of the two men who
committed the grisly crimes. It was very interesting to peek into the
courtroom and into the minds of the attorneys and defendants. Thankfully
justice prevailed. But most of all love and grace prevailed. More than
anything, The Rising is a story of the power of love and the resiliency of the human heart. I received this book from
Blogging for Books for free in exchange
for my honest review.
