The Obituary Writer

 

Summary:

     On the day John F. Kennedy is inaugurated, Claire, an uncompromising young wife and mother obsessed with the glamour of Jackie O, struggles over the decision of whether to stay in a loveless marriage or follow the man she loves and whose baby she may be carrying. Decades earlier, in 1919, Vivien Lowe, an obituary writer, is searching for her lover who disappeared in the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. By telling the stories of the dead, Vivien not only helps others cope with their grief but also begins to understand the devastation of her own terrible loss. The surprising connection between Claire and Vivien will change the life of one of them in unexpected and extraordinary ways. Part literary mystery and part love story, The Obituary Writer examines expectations of marriage and love, the roles of wives and mothers, and the emotions of grief, regret, and hope.

(From Goodreads) 

Review:

            The construct of an obituary seems fairly straightforward: Name, birthdate, death date, spouse name, surviving family, military history, employment, etc. . . etc. The generic fashion in which an obituary neatly encloses a person’s life into a few short paragraphs leaves many to wonder, who was this person, really and truly?  The span of a life is much more interesting than just the basic vitals and statistics. It has much more depth and character than the company one was employed by, or the fact that they may or may not have had 15 grandchildren. In the novel The Obituary Writer, Ann Hood allows the reader a unique insight into the world of obituary writing, using two very separate and distinct women in differing eras to show that a person cannot be summed up in a singular way. Instead the multi-faceted nature of a human life is much more complex, and deserves to be expressed in such a way as to give a more accurate impression of the deceased beyond the basic, nonspecific ramblings of modern day obituaries. In the end, the connection between the two will allow them both to find that place of release from grief and guilt that they have carried upon their shoulders like weights.

            In 1906, Vivien is the happiest she has ever been. She has a handsome and wealthy lover, David, whose main purpose in life is to shower her in lavish gifts and expressions his undying love for her. However, that was all about to change. Soon after leaving for work, David goes missing in the Great San Francisco Earthquake. Distraught, Vivien searches the city, looking for any trace of him, to no avail. Fast forward 13 years, the reader finds a mournful and still grieving Vivian working as an obituary writer for the local newspaper. Her obituaries have taken on quite the following, and her talent for conveying the life of the person, not just their statistics, has proved rather profitable. Her own grief being masked by the grief of others, Vivien never completely gives up on finding David, who by this point she assumes has amnesia and is living another life. Fate, in the form of a grief-stricken young woman, was about to run her over like a freight car, leaving her to question everything she thought she knew, including her time with David.

            Leap ahead to the tumultuous and rapidly changing 1960’s. Claire is the quintessential housewife and mother trying to emulate the perceived perfection that was the Camelot Kennedy Era. It’s inauguration day, and while all of the other ladies are taking bets as to the color and print of Jackie O’s dress, Claire is having an internal struggle with her conscience. Should she stay in a somewhat loveless marriage, or run away with her lover, who could quite possibly be the father of the child she is carrying? As the events of the day unfold, a tragic event will either shatter her marriage or bring them closer together, but at what cost? Claire’s devotion and loyalty to her husband is tested, leaving her with more questions than answers. While all along, her own betrayal of her wedding vows eats away at her, threatening to drive her mad.

            Throughout the novel, the theme of feeling trapped runs rampant. In the case of Vivien, she feels as though she is trapped in the same spot, running in circles, ever since the Great Quake. For her, the chapter of David is never really closed until she is able to confirm without a doubt that he has passed on. Claire, too, carries the sensation of being trapped. . .trapped in a unhappy marriage, trapped by guilt over her affair, trapped in the cookie cutter mold of the conventional 1960’s domestic goddess. Both ladies are struggling to break free, but find that they are so paralyzed by their own fears of inadequacy and grief that moving past their hurdles in life seems impossible. Impossible, that is, until they find that they share a connection that neither would have imagined. ( I am purposely dancing around the connection, by the way, to encourage you to read the novel to find out what it is!) Ann Hood uses this connection to wrap these essentially individual short stories together, but in my opinion, it came a bit too late. I think had the reader been trusted with a little more information regarding the connection, it would have made this fluid, easy to read novel a lot more deep and meaningful. Other than that minor flaw, I enjoyed this book. It gives a unique perspective on what it truly meant to be a woman in two very differing and tumultuous times in American history. I give this book 3 ½ stars.

           

            

Frog Music

Summary:

   Summer of 1876: San Francisco is in the fierce grip of a record-breaking heat wave and a smallpox epidemic. Through the window of a railroad saloon, a young woman named Jenny Bonnet is shot dead. 

The survivor, her friend Blanche Beunon, is a French burlesque dancer. Over the next three days, she will risk everything to bring Jenny's murderer to justice--if he doesn't track her down first. The story Blanche struggles to piece together is one of free-love bohemians, desperate paupers, and arrogant millionaires; of jealous men, icy women, and damaged children. It's the secret life of Jenny herself, a notorious character who breaks the law every morning by getting dressed: a charmer as slippery as the frogs she hunts.

In thrilling, cinematic style, FROG MUSIC digs up a long-forgotten, never-solved crime. Full of songs that migrated across the world, Emma Donoghue's lyrical tale of love and bloodshed among lowlifes captures the pulse of a boomtown like no other

(From Goodreads)

Review:

   When I originally read the description of this novel on the New York Times Best Seller list, I was intrigued. I am a sucker for a based on reality, historical crime novel. I immediately added it to my reserve list at the library, and patiently waited for it to come in. Finally, after a month wait, I got the long anticipated email telling me this treasure awaited me behind the circulation desk. I dove head first into this novel as soon as I arrived home, and quite honestly suffered from sleep deprivation the next day because I did not want to put it down. 

   The opening scene, set in an old dusty 1870’s saloon just outside of San Francisco, hooked me quicker than stink bait does a hungry catfish. Yes, I know that might be a slightly unusual way to describe it, but it is the complete truth. The death of a main character in the opening paragraphs seems a bit morose, and quite daring, but Emma Donoghue pulls it off with a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’. The raw, gritty way that Donoghue portrays the death of Jenny Bonnet instantly grabs hold of you, and no matter how unfortunate it may be you can’t get away. What starts off as a couple friends, Jenny Bonnet and Blanche Beunon, singing songs from their French homeland while preparing for bed, quickly turns into a violent, confused scene of murder. The way she chronicles Blanche mentally dissecting the situation as it is happening plants the reader right in the room with the two women, allowing you to almost feel the bloody bed and smell the sulfur for yourself.

    So, who killed Jenny Bonnet and why? To answer that question, the story rewinds to approximately two months prior to the fatal night. Blanche, a French burlesque dancer, is the toast of the nightlife scene. Men want to be with her and women want to be her. Her talent to seduce and tease on the stage is second to none, and her “off stage skills” are in high demand. Little did she know that her life would forever be altered by the fateful day that she was nearly run over by the cross dressing frog catcher, Jenny Bonnet. From that point on, whether they liked it or not, their fates would be intertwined. The characters of Jenny and Blanche were such a breath of fresh air. Not once was there a moment of needy whininess. Oh no! Not from these girls. These were strong-willed, no nonsense, Wild West ladies looking to escape the bondage of male domination. Jenny’s way of doing this was by dressing as a man, which allowed her access to places that a proper lady would never venture. Her male disguise also gave her a separation from her secretive past, which ironically is the inspiration for her persona. Blanche, on the other hand, used her sexual power over the men to her own advantage, earning a very sizable living on their concupiscence. 

 For Blanche, however, the stakes were slightly higher. Enter P’tit, her love child with her Bohemian boyfriend, Arthur. Blanche felt that she would not be able to provide a stable home for her child given her lifestyle, so she agrees to allow her Madam to farm him out, if you will, to a family who takes in unwanted children. To her dismay, Blanche comes to find out that this was not the reality of the situation, causing her world to be turned upside down. She quickly discovers that everything she held as evident truths was nothing more than a lie. The tailspin that ensues threatens to bring about momentous changes in the lives of those around her, including the very existence of Jenny Bonnet. 

 At this point, I will discontinue my explanation of events to prevent me from giving away too much. I will, however, add a bit of commentary about the writing prowess of Emma Donoghue. I am an enormous fan of a good storyteller, and Donoghue did not leave me disheartened in the slightest. The action and intrigue in this book are astounding. Her narrative is colorful and filled to the brim with dynamic and vivid depictions of what life was like in San Francisco just before the turn of the century. From the constant fear of contracting smallpox, to the vast chasm that existed between the wealthy and the poor, Pre-1900 San Francisco was the epitome of the Wild West following the Civil War. Emma Donoghue was able to accurately and romantically bring the characters of Frog Music to life in this dusty, and at time earthquake ridden city, while maintaining the integrity of the factual details of the murder of Jenny Bonnet. I confidently give this book 4 stars.

The Invention of Wings

Summary:

 Hetty "Handful” Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke’s daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women.

Kidd’s sweeping novel is set in motion on Sarah’s eleventh birthday, when she is given ownership of ten year old Handful, who is to be her handmaid.We follow their remarkable journeys over the next thirty-five years, as both strive for a life of their own, dramatically shaping each other’s destinies and forming a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance, estrangement and the uneasy ways of love.
As the stories build to a riveting climax, Handful will endure loss and sorrow, finding courage and a sense of self in the process. Sarah will experience crushed hopes, betrayal, unrequited love, and ostracism before leaving Charleston to find her place alongside her fearless younger sister, Angelina, as one of the early pioneers in the abolition and women’s rights movements.

(From Goodreads)

Review:

 What does it mean to be free? Does it take the literal form as being physically free from bondage? Or, perhaps freedom can also be used to describe an independent state of mind? In Sue Monk Kidd's The Invention of Wings, both scenarios are true. Set in the slave-driven south, Kidd’s fictional interpretation of the lives of famed abolitionists and female rights activists Sarah and Angelina Grimke delve into the idea of freedom as a concept both mental and physical, showing each from the unique perspective of both hesitant master and slave.

 The opening scenes of the book truly set the stage for what will develop into a complicated and, at the time, socially unacceptable relationship between Sarah Grimke and her 11^th birthday present, a young slave named Hetty “Handful” Grimke. Sarah, even at the young age of 11, knows that slavery is wrong, and tries to reject her “gift”, much to the chagrin of her overbearing mother. This disdain for the peculiar institution of slavery never leaves Sarah, even after forcibly accepting Handful as her slave. If anything, it propels her to follow a path that she feels is righteous and true.  Sarah has dreams and aspirations of pursuing a career in law, just like her father and brother, hoping to be able to one day make a real difference in the world. She feverishly studies her father’s law books, and even garners her father’s praise as having a gift for the vocation.  A turning point for both girls is the discovery that Sarah has taught Handful to read. This is viewed as criminal in the racially divided South, leaving Handful with physical scars from a severe beating, and Sarah with the mental scars of being severed from her father and his beloved books.  

 After having her dream of attaining a law degree is dashed, Sarah leaves the South and Handful behind to pursue an abolitionist’s cause. Once in the North, however, Sarah finds that her freedom from the South is merely just a physical removal, encountering her own form of discrimination because she is a woman who holds strong opinions. Her struggle for women’s rights brings her great notoriety, as well as influential enemies bent on suppressing her voice. This begs the question: Is she TRULY free?

 Handful, in contrast, spends her days perfecting her seamstress craft. Eventually, she becomes well known for her talent with a needle and thread, and finds herself in high demand, not only on the Grimke plantation, but all over Charleston, South Carolina. Handful hopes this new found demand is her ticket to freedom. She creates a mental sense of independence that gives her the courage to believe that one day she could be free. Her true freedom comes by way of a family quilt started by her mother that depicts the lineage of her family. Her need to finish this quilt allows her a spiritual freedom that transcends the physical bondage of slavery, even though she remains on the Grimke plantation where even Sarah is unable to set her free. It becomes clear that her mental freedom is far more liberating than Sarah’s bodily freedom in the North.

 After reading this novel, I was left with a real admiration for Kidd’s attention to detail and adherence to historical reality . . . as much as that is possible in a piece of fiction. As I read the story, I found that I could hear the characters speaking to me right from the page. The dialogue is written in such a way, that you feel as though you are there, hearing every twang and colloquial term that you might expect from the time period.  The complex task of unveiling the antebellum South through the eyes of both master and slave is done with great mastery, while still making this a story of triumph over great adversity that transcends the centuries.

Admittedly, I have not read any other pieces by Sue Monk Kidd, so I really have no basis to compare this with her other novels, but as a stand-alone The Invention of Wings has all of those smart touches that makes the reader want to devour more of her work. She runs the gamut of emotion from witty humor to unabashed disgust over the treatment of Hetty and her fellow plantation workers. Readers will laugh, cry and cheer out loud! If you are expecting the run of the mill antebellum novel, you will be more than pleasantly surprised at the depth of the characters, as well as the brazen and bold face put to the early abolition and women’s right movements. Without reservation or hesitation,  I give this book 5 stars.