這是媽媽為逝去愛女直搗黑幫、單挑惡人的復仇記。然而核心的想法卻是：單憑膚色而代代累積的種族仇恨，到底是怎麼回事？
1974年6月，波士頓法院下令廢除種族隔離政策並重劃學區，規定在9月開學後Southie區裡白人就讀的公立高中將有黑人學生入學。為了反抗此項命令，Southie的愛爾蘭人決定舉行大規模的遊行示威行動。某夜，Mary Pat Fennessy即將17歲的女兒Jules外出後就此失蹤；同一晚上，一名黑人年輕男性死於離奇的地鐵撞擊。這兩件看似不相干其實卻是因果相連的事件，造成了日後一連串追究與掩蓋雙方的角力火拼。
在這個誰都認識誰的愛爾蘭社區Southie裡，黑幫老大Marty Butler是唯一的王者。單親媽媽Mary Pat的兒子從越戰回來後判若兩人，最後死於吸毒過量。被深愛的第二任丈夫離婚後的Mary Pat為尋找下落不明的女兒，接下來的表現不是「女煞葛羅莉」也是「女版藍波」—單槍匹馬直搗黑幫酒店，痛揍女兒的男友；登門拜訪黑幫家人的豪宅；綁架餵毒逼供老大情婦的兒子…。在得知來龍去脈的真相後，更是變裝擄走Marty的左右手/女兒真正的情人且未婚懷孕/不干被要脅而殺人埋屍的Frank。在黑幫眼線四通八達的情況下仍來去自如的Mary Pat，除了證明「為母則強」外，最後煙火般火力四射的壯觀場面，更為玉石俱焚做了最好詮釋的結局。
另一名重要人物是前越戰退伍軍人的警探Michael “Bobby” Coyne。除了藉由他鍥而不捨的辦案以補足以Mary Pat「直接」得到的資訊外，故事中也描述這名有著九歲兒子的離婚男子，從戰場回歸後吸毒後又漸漸戒毒的心路歷程，如何使得他成為一名思考人性軟弱之必然與執法不外人情的警探。
小說背景放在1974年的波士頓，絕對是因為要討論無可避免的黑白種族問題。故事中Mary Pat嗜讀哲理書籍後在名校擔任警衛的第二任丈夫，主動提出離婚的原因是幾年後愛意的消磨，更是思想上的漸行漸遠（Mary Pat為找女兒不得已去前夫工作的地方探問，出現遇到前夫的新歡，受高等教育的黑人女子的場面）。
書名《Small Mercies》只出現了一次—當晚四名青少年被Frank脅迫將受重傷但尚有意識的黑人男子拋到地鐵軌道上時，Jules在主動包裹男子傷勢、狂喊Let him go不果後，拿起石塊頭把男子砸昏。
Frank 對Mary Pat說，”I think She did it as a small mercy.” (p. 277)
“…He is dead because of you.”
“No”…”You raised a child who thought hating people because God made them a different shade of skin was okay. You allowed that hate. You probably fostered it. And your little child and her racist friends, who were all raised by racist parents just like you, were sent out int the world like little fucking hand grenades of hate and stupidity……” (p. 252)
另外，Mary Pat在準備執行「最後行動」前打電話給警探Bobby的一大段——
Mary Pat: “When you’re a kid and they start in with all the lies, they never tell you they’re lies. They just tell you this is what it is. Whether they’re talking about Santa Claus or God or marriage of what you can or can’t make of yourself. They Tell you that’s the Way. And you, you’re a fucking kid, you think, I want to be part of the Way. I sure don’t want to be outside the Way. I gotta live with these people my whole life. And it’s warm in there. So warm. The rest of the world? That’s so fucking cold. So you embrace it.…And then you dig in because now you got kids and you want them to feel warm. And you spread the same lies to them, mainline them into their blood. Until they become the kinda people who can chase some poor boy into a train station and bash his head in with a rock.”
“It’s okay” he says gently.
“It’s not!” she screams into the confines of the phone booth. “It’s not.…I sold my daughter lies. And before she ended up swallowing them? She knew it. The always know it. The know at five. But you keep repeating the lies until you wear them down. That’s the worst of it –you wear them down until you scoop all the good out of their hearts and replace it with poison.”
“Why are you my friend?” she manages eventually.
“Because we’re both parents,” he says.
“I was. Not anymore.”
“No, you still are. You always will be. And all parents know failure. It’s the only thing we know for sure. So, yeah, your daughter, Jules, she had some failings that you passed on to her. Okay. But everyone I spoke to about her? They all talked about how kind she was. How funny. What a great friend she could be.”
“What’s your point?”
“You gave her those qualities too, Mary Pat. We’re not one thing. We’re people. The worst of us has good in him. The best of us has pure fucking evil in his heard. We battle. It’s all we can do.” (pp. 267-268)
整部小說的鋪陳，一開始像是在雪地裡的暖車，慢慢地慢慢地加速，目不暇給的鏡頭接踵而至，每一章節丟出一些線索，多給一塊拼圖。哪裡Mercies了？哪裡Mercies了？
邊想著情節發展，邊思考內涵深義。看著成了圖像般的精采畫面，讀到宛若槍聲炮聲的文字…。
這絕對是部可以改拍成好電影的精彩小說。
談到種族仇恨時，就會想到長長的受教期間，被餵養的、滿滿的國仇家恨。其實不記得確切是在何時才意識到那些洗腦是多麼可怖的束縛，只知道經歷好幾次得自問「為什麼」的事件後，終於從「鄙視原生才高貴」的謊言中掙脫出來。
都知道恃強凌弱是不對的，也知道對不同膚色的恨意是不對的，那為什麼在台灣，被迫認同他鄉為故鄉就是會對的呢？
1974年6月，波士頓法院下令廢除種族隔離政策並重劃學區，規定在9月開學後Southie區裡白人就讀的公立高中將有黑人學生入學。為了反抗此項命令，Southie的愛爾蘭人決定舉行大規模的遊行示威行動。某夜，Mary Pat Fennessy即將17歲的女兒Jules外出後就此失蹤；同一晚上，一名黑人年輕男性死於離奇的地鐵撞擊。這兩件看似不相干其實卻是因果相連的事件，造成了日後一連串追究與掩蓋雙方的角力火拼。
在這個誰都認識誰的愛爾蘭社區Southie裡，黑幫老大Marty Butler是唯一的王者。單親媽媽Mary Pat的兒子從越戰回來後判若兩人，最後死於吸毒過量。被深愛的第二任丈夫離婚後的Mary Pat為尋找下落不明的女兒，接下來的表現不是「女煞葛羅莉」也是「女版藍波」—單槍匹馬直搗黑幫酒店，痛揍女兒的男友；登門拜訪黑幫家人的豪宅；綁架餵毒逼供老大情婦的兒子…。在得知來龍去脈的真相後，更是變裝擄走Marty的左右手/女兒真正的情人且未婚懷孕/不干被要脅而殺人埋屍的Frank。在黑幫眼線四通八達的情況下仍來去自如的Mary Pat，除了證明「為母則強」外，最後煙火般火力四射的壯觀場面，更為玉石俱焚做了最好詮釋的結局。
另一名重要人物是前越戰退伍軍人的警探Michael “Bobby” Coyne。除了藉由他鍥而不捨的辦案以補足以Mary Pat「直接」得到的資訊外，故事中也描述這名有著九歲兒子的離婚男子，從戰場回歸後吸毒後又漸漸戒毒的心路歷程，如何使得他成為一名思考人性軟弱之必然與執法不外人情的警探。
小說背景放在1974年的波士頓，絕對是因為要討論無可避免的黑白種族問題。故事中Mary Pat嗜讀哲理書籍後在名校擔任警衛的第二任丈夫，主動提出離婚的原因是幾年後愛意的消磨，更是思想上的漸行漸遠（Mary Pat為找女兒不得已去前夫工作的地方探問，出現遇到前夫的新歡，受高等教育的黑人女子的場面）。
書名《Small Mercies》只出現了一次—當晚四名青少年被Frank脅迫將受重傷但尚有意識的黑人男子拋到地鐵軌道上時，Jules在主動包裹男子傷勢、狂喊Let him go不果後，拿起石塊頭把男子砸昏。
Frank 對Mary Pat說，”I think She did it as a small mercy.” (p. 277)
“…He is dead because of you.”
“No”…”You raised a child who thought hating people because God made them a different shade of skin was okay. You allowed that hate. You probably fostered it. And your little child and her racist friends, who were all raised by racist parents just like you, were sent out int the world like little fucking hand grenades of hate and stupidity……” (p. 252)
另外，Mary Pat在準備執行「最後行動」前打電話給警探Bobby的一大段——
Mary Pat: “When you’re a kid and they start in with all the lies, they never tell you they’re lies. They just tell you this is what it is. Whether they’re talking about Santa Claus or God or marriage of what you can or can’t make of yourself. They Tell you that’s the Way. And you, you’re a fucking kid, you think, I want to be part of the Way. I sure don’t want to be outside the Way. I gotta live with these people my whole life. And it’s warm in there. So warm. The rest of the world? That’s so fucking cold. So you embrace it.…And then you dig in because now you got kids and you want them to feel warm. And you spread the same lies to them, mainline them into their blood. Until they become the kinda people who can chase some poor boy into a train station and bash his head in with a rock.”
“It’s okay” he says gently.
“It’s not!” she screams into the confines of the phone booth. “It’s not.…I sold my daughter lies. And before she ended up swallowing them? She knew it. The always know it. The know at five. But you keep repeating the lies until you wear them down. That’s the worst of it –you wear them down until you scoop all the good out of their hearts and replace it with poison.”
“Why are you my friend?” she manages eventually.
“Because we’re both parents,” he says.
“I was. Not anymore.”
“No, you still are. You always will be. And all parents know failure. It’s the only thing we know for sure. So, yeah, your daughter, Jules, she had some failings that you passed on to her. Okay. But everyone I spoke to about her? They all talked about how kind she was. How funny. What a great friend she could be.”
“What’s your point?”
“You gave her those qualities too, Mary Pat. We’re not one thing. We’re people. The worst of us has good in him. The best of us has pure fucking evil in his heard. We battle. It’s all we can do.” (pp. 267-268)
整部小說的鋪陳，一開始像是在雪地裡的暖車，慢慢地慢慢地加速，目不暇給的鏡頭接踵而至，每一章節丟出一些線索，多給一塊拼圖。哪裡Mercies了？哪裡Mercies了？
邊想著情節發展，邊思考內涵深義。看著成了圖像般的精采畫面，讀到宛若槍聲炮聲的文字…。
這絕對是部可以改拍成好電影的精彩小說。
談到種族仇恨時，就會想到長長的受教期間，被餵養的、滿滿的國仇家恨。其實不記得確切是在何時才意識到那些洗腦是多麼可怖的束縛，只知道經歷好幾次得自問「為什麼」的事件後，終於從「鄙視原生才高貴」的謊言中掙脫出來。
都知道恃強凌弱是不對的，也知道對不同膚色的恨意是不對的，那為什麼在台灣，被迫認同他鄉為故鄉就是會對的呢？
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