An indictment of American culture
Customer Rating: 
"A Season In Purgatory" is not simply a fictionalized account of the Martha Moxley murder, nor is it just a trashing (or recounting, depending on your view) of the Kennedy family. While it uses both of these to full advantage, the result is more than that.
Dunne shines a light on the American desire for their heroes to come with a narrative that matches the national mythology - rags to riches, religious, family centered, generous, philanthropic, handsome or beautiful, and above all, successful. The fictitious Bradleys, who will stop at nothing to perfect this image and grab the power and money that is the reward for reaching the pinnacle of the American dream, leave a trail of destroyed lives in their wake. That Dunne has been able to write an interesting novel that also raises deep issues about "American values" is what makes "A Season in Purgatory" a great read.
By merging three generations of Kennedys as well as tossing in the Skakel family (Ethel Kennedy's family, one member of which was convicted recently in the murder this book was inspired by), we get a sort of Frankenstein's Monster - a creation that is so corrupt and so ultimately destructive that it is a tragedy both for iteself all all it comes in contact with. I also appreciated the details Dunne included - such as the family patriarch hiring a ghostwriter for his son's book and also buying up large numbers of the same book to ensure a bestseller, actions that have been attributed to Joseph Kennedy, for example. These, and other details, force us to realize that there really is always a "man behind the curtain". Dunne is famous for his hatred of the manipulation of the justice system by the privileged, and this book clearly shows how the blame for this lies not only in the willingness of the wealthy and famous to lie and cheat and buy "justice" , but of the public's willingness to let them get away with it in order to keep our heroes on their pedestals. A good job by Dunne, who can sometimes come across as pretty smug but mostly avoids that in this book.
Family curse
Customer Rating: This is a fascinating read, a barely disguised ( or not at all) expose of one of the most notorious families of American political history. When Harrison, a teenaged boy is orphaned by the murder of his parents, he is scooped up under the wing of the family of his classmate, Constant, at boarding school. His excellence at writing makes him a useful friend to Constant, whose family has great expectations for him in a political future. When he witnesses some of Constant's worst excesses, he is bribed to silence by having his schooling financed by the head of the family. Being very young and inexperienced, he goes along with his position until he is grown and realizes that he will be forever in their thrall. It's not until twenty years later, when the murder committed by Constant becomes public, that he accuses the family of covering up the crime in which he was made an accessory, and he unburdens himself of the guilt he has carried for all of these years. The whole book is an indictment of the power of money and position, in smoothing over the less savoury parts of people's lives and characters and how these same people can learn to justify their actions and to blame everyone else for their own faults and weaknesses.
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