Un thriller intriguant et au fil des pages finalement très captivant.
Un accident de voiture dans lequel meurt une jeune étudiante, une autre jeune-fille disparue sans que quiconque au sein de l'administration de l'université s'en inquiète, des séances ésotériques et dangereuses d'intronisation au sein d'un club d'étudiantes de l'université, des jeunes hommes et jeunes femmes découvrant la vie d'étudiant, seuls, éloignés de leur famille, manipulables, prêts à découvrir des expériences de la vie, pour certains fascinés par la mort, persuadés de voir des revenants.... C'est dans le monde très particulier d'une université américaine que Laura Kasischke place son intrigue en dénonçant par la même ce milieu sous influence des donateurs et soutiens financiers, prêt à tout pour protéger l'image et la renommée de l'université, le monde des clubs étudiants véritable secte et l'hypocrisie morale d'une société américaine repliée sur l'apparence, le cynisme de l'entre-soi et la peur du quand dira-t-on.
Dans un style très agréable, la construction du roman est remarquable par des incessants aller-retour entre les personnages et les périodes.

La grande réussite de ce roman est de rester toujours sur un entre deux, laissant en suspens les éventualités, comme le résume si bien en milieu de roman, Mira, une enseignante assurant un séminaire sur la mort et les traditions culturelles autour du culte des morts.
"On peut se dire non superstitieux. On peut avoir l'assurance de ne pas croire à la vie après la mort, si c'est ce que l'on veut. Mais cela n'empêche pas, Perry, que nous soyons ici, nous autres humains, dans une bien étrange situation. En parfaite connaissance ed la façon dont cela finira, et sans la moindre idée de ce qui arrivera ensuite - juste une poignée de symboles, un peu de musique et quelques mythes pour nous montrer le chemin. " (p301 Ed Folio) ( )

I kind of feel like I wasted my time reading this book. Yes, it was a decent storyline, yes the author is a good writer. But it was totally confusing. The story jumped around so much from present time to past without you knowing it and it jumped from one character to another and sometimes it was almost a puzzle which character was being featured until you read a few paragraphs. I don't like working that hard on a book. I like a book draw me in and I get absorbed into the story, not spend most of the book trying to figure out what is going on and who is talking.

I think this could have been a really good book if the structure was different. Also, now that I'm done, I'm still totally confused at what really happened. I don't feel like it was wrapped up with a clear explanation. It's not like this is the first book of s trilogy.

I almost gave up several times reading it but I thought I would finish to find out what really did happen. Nope. Someone clue me in. Because if it was there, then it was really subtle and I didn't get it because I was having to concentrate so hard on who was who and how they were connected to each person and trying to just remember characters. I think the "flashbacks" should have been more obvious or maybe instead of short chunks of story, have the chapters be the voice of a different character with their name as the chapter so the reader didn't have to concentrate on who was talking. Just very disappointing. ( )

This was probably one of the better books I've read this year. The style of this book... a mystery slowly unfolding through the perspectives of several different characters... reminded me a bit of Carol Goodman's writing. The murder mystery and ghost story were comparable as well. In this way, I could also compare it to Testimony by Anita Shreve.

It's one of those books that just hook you. I didn't want to stop reading. The only thing that disappointed me was the ending. ( )

The Raising grabbed me from the first, beautifully written line. I'm a big fan of Ms. Kasischke because her chilling psychological thrillers read like literary fiction.

The unraveling of a number of characters' lives was gripping in the sense of inevitability, and yet, it was satisfying to see them gain a sense of acceptance and peace in the end. About a quarter of the way into the book I feared it might turn into a "vampire" story, but Ms. Kasischke is too talented to fall into a cliche. She creates an ominous atmosphere around the fear and the details of death that are hidden in western culture.

The characters are so well-crafted and the writing so elegant, a plot point that slightly strained credibility became insignificant. At first, I was disappointed with the ending as it seemed too ambiguous, but as the story settled into me, I realized it was perfect. I highly recommend this for anyone looking for a literary psychological thriller. ( )

It really had me enthralled until the "conclusion", which seemed like a cop-out. I loved the mystery, the poetry of Kasischke's words, but it lacked resolution. ( )