The Life We Bury

Carl, age 64, lives in Hillview Manor nursing home, where he is waiting to die of pancreatic cancer. He was let out of Stillwater Prison to die. He’d been locked away for 30 years for the rape and murder of 14-year-old Crystal. He is initially presented as a “monster” because of this background. This is juxtaposed by his characterization as a “hero” by his Vietnam War buddy Virgil. Even this story shows Carl’s character embodying conflict: While Virgil thinks Carl was simply saving his life, Carl was risking his life hoping to die. He was suicidal, but his religious beliefs prevented him from taking his own life.

The instability surrounding Carl's character as either a monster or hero exemplifies the book’s thematic explorations of the multifaceted nature of the truth. Like many of the other characters, Carl also suffers the consequence of attempting to live with a “buried life” due to his murder of Sergeant Gibbs, which haunted him to the point that he sought out suicide—and even found a life in prison preferable to trying to live with the demons of this memory. Ultimately, Carl identifies the need to live life fully when he tells Joe, “This is our heaven. We are surrounded every day by the wonders of life, wonders beyond comprehension that we simply take for granted. I decided that I would live my life—not simply exist” (195). 

Jeremy, age 18, is Joe’s autistic, younger brother. Jeremy is straightforward and honest. As Joe describes him, “It was easy to lie to Jeremy, his trusting temperament being incapable of understanding deceit. I didn't lie to him to be mean. It was just my way of explaining things to him without the complexity or nuance that came with the truth” (21). Jeremy’s character thus serves as the one stable point of straightforward honesty in the book, an antidote to a narrative that is constantly shifting in terms of the truth it presents. When speaking, Jeremy uses short, declarative phrases and frequently starts them with the word “maybe,” such as “Maybe Larry hit me” (262). Even in his language, Jeremy unconsciously absolves himself from any possibility of deceiving someone. When every phrase is couched in the possibility of “maybe,” it’s never definitive, which makes it never fully true or false. 

Joe’s mother, Kathy, is an alcoholic. She refuses to seek help for her problems. She lives with Jeremy in Joe's hometown of Austin, Minnesota. Kathy is emotionally and physically abusive. She is manipulative with Joe, getting what she needs from him, such as bail money, without providing maternal support or paying him back in return. Kathy is hampered by past traumas and mental health difficulties, including alcoholism and a gambling addiction. Her mother died when she was a girl, and her condition worsened after her father’s death. She is seen exclusively with aggressive, violent men. Although her inability to protect Jeremy from her abusive boyfriend ultimately makes her irredeemable as a mother, she is not purely bad. 

Lila is Joe’s next-door neighbor and later becomes his girlfriend. The two develop their relationship as they investigate Crystal’s murder. She is a straightforward, smart young woman who is initially resistant to Joe’s advances and skeptical of the possibility that Carl might be innocent. Throughout the book, her character reveals a softer side as she comes to view Joe as a trustworthy romantic partner and Carl as an innocent man. Her initial distrust of these male characters may be in part due to her previous traumatic experiences: Lila was raped in high school. She took a year off to go through therapy before going to college and still carries marks of self-harm that she inflicted on herself during this period. Her character’s resilience speaks to the fact that the marks of trauma, both emotional and physical, can heal. 

Raped and murdered in 1980 at age 14, Crystal is a mere ghost in the narrative, however she is also its driving force. Putting together the puzzle of her murder brings Joe and Lila together and fuels the action-driven plot at the novel’s end. Crystal is portrayed as a normal adolescent girl, taking part in cheerleading, experimenting sexually with her boyfriend, and looking forward to attending homecoming. Her intelligence is seen in the fact that she coded her diary entries. It’s only in Crystal’s diaries that the dead girl is given a voice. 

Daniel is Crystal’s stepbrother and murderer, who also kills his own father to decrease the likelihood of the authorities getting any DNA evidence to use against him. In the final chapters of the book, it’s revealed that Crystal was not his only victim: He was a serial rapist. Daniel’s character represents the pinnacle of irredeemable human violence in the narrative. Although Virgil and Carl killed people in Vietnam, they were doing so as part of their soldier’s duty in war. Although Carl killed Sergeant Gibbs, he was doing so to prevent future rapes and killings. Even Douglas, although he attempted to kill Joe, was doing so to protect his own son. Daniel is the only character who engages in violence for pure pleasure. For instance, he could have killed Joe and Lila immediately but instead kept Joe alive with the plan of forcing him to witness Lila’s rape, all for his own perverse pleasure.

Douglas is Daniel’s father and was previously married to Crystal’s mother, Danielle. He was an emotionally abusive stepfather who would threaten to send Crystal to a private religious school if she got in trouble. Andy describes how Douglas told Crystal she “should be thankful that he was not Jephthah”—who sacrificed his daughter to God. Douglas and Danielle divorced 25 years prior to the book’s narrative, about five years after Crystal was killed. Douglas’ obsession with religion yet willingness to cover up murders and take Joe’s human life makes Douglas a hypocrite. Douglas protected his son, Daniel, and helped cover up Crystal’s murder. His character supports the theme of familial obligation, as he is inextricably bound to his son by blood and a terrible secret; they are family and coconspirators. 

Danielle is Crystal's mother. Her primary purpose in the narrative is to reveal the truth of DJ's identity. When Danielle leaves a message on Daniel’s answering machine, she calls him DJ. Lila and Joe only learn about the identity of the mysterious “DJ” thanks to Daniel’s wife describing this answering machine message. Although unknowingly, Danielle plays a pivotal role in solving the mystery of her daughter’s death. 

Grandpa Bill was the only grandparent Joe ever knew. When Joe was 11, Bill died in a boating accident on a fishing trip. Joe witnessed the event and blames himself for it. Joe kept the details of Bill’s death a secret until he met Carl. After Bill's death, Kathy’s behavior became more volatile and violent. Joe thus carries some of the burden of having “contributed” to her decline. Because Kathy’s decline also makes life more difficult and dangerous for Jeremy, Joe carries the burden of having to support his brother. 

Virgil and Carl served together in Vietnam. Initially, Virgil appears to be the only person who believes that Carl is innocent. This is because he saw Carl refuse to rape a girl in Vietnam, even though Sergeant Gibbs was commanding him to do so, at gunpoint. Virgil provides insights into Carl’s past that the trial documents and Carl will not provide. Carl also saved Virgil’s life in Vietnam: Virgil doesn’t understand the reason for this, and the two men’s differing accounts of the event reiterate the fact that the truth is multisided. Virgil defines Carl as a hero who saved his life. However, Carl reveals to Joe that his actions were a suicide mission. Unable to commit suicide because of his religious beliefs, Carl seized an opportunity to come under fire to end his life. 

Andy was Crystal’s boyfriend at the time of her death. He dropped her off at home on the day she was murdered and, as the last known person to see her alive, was a suspect. Like many of the novel’s characters, Andy has a “buried life” he has long concealed—the secret of his and Crystal’s hit-and-run accident in 1980, shortly before she was killed. The guilt Andy carries with him manifests itself in continuing nightmares about Crystal. Andy is characterized as weak and selfish because of his refusal to reveal the truth of the hit-and-run accident. He was worried that he’d get in trouble and is more concerned with himself than with the fact that an innocent man has spent his life in jail. His character also speaks to the injustices that humans commit against one another, as speaking up might have saved Carl from a wrongful conviction.

Gibbs was Carl and Virgil’s squad leader in Vietnam. He raped a young Vietnamese girl and attempted to force Carl, at gunpoint, to rape her as well. Gibbs is depicted as racist and brutal, encouraging violence against civilians. The moral philosophy debate of when it is permissible to enact violence against another human comes to a head in the “turning point” narrative centering around Gibbs. To Virgil and Carl, rape is an unacceptable act, both in the civilian world and during war. However, both differentiate between “murdering” in a civilian context and “killing” in a wartime context. They appear to accept that a soldier’s “duty” is to kill but agree that rape is not part of the job description. Gibbs reinforces this worldview when he refers to his rape of the girl as an “interrogation,” explicitly placing the act under the remit of a military action. 

Yet another “ghost” in the story, the girl’s name is never known and her voice is never heard, but she plays a powerful part in Carl’s narrative. His refusal to rape her, even at the risk of his own life, supports the argument that he wouldn’t have raped Crystal. Her figure is a ghostly symbol of Crystal herself—both were young girls, raped by older men, whose bodies were burned afterward. Although they are worlds apart in terms of timing and place, they meet the same fate. 

Max is the detective who Joe and Lila approach when they have cracked the code in Crystal’s diary. Although ultimately integral to solving Carl’s case, Max represents the logistical difficulties that arise when trying to vacate criminal convictions. He is initially reluctant to get involved, noting that he has his hands full with modern murders and doesn’t need another one from 30 years ago to deal with.