"THE OBITUARY WRITER"

I just finished July's Book Club selection, The Obituary Writer, by Ann Hood.  It was a fairly quick read--even for me--but in the end, I couldn't shake the vague feeling that I would like to have all those hours back for some other purpose.

When Kathy announced the title, I dropped by Amazon to check it out.  Regarding Book Club, I always read reviews in order to know whether to purchase a hardback copy, a paperback, a Kindle download, or simply visit the library and save the money.  In this case, Amazon sprinkled enough Fairy Dust over the page to make it seem worth the $8.41 download.

As with our May selection, this is one more novel in which two characters alternate chapters.  Vivien, the obituary writer of the title, inhabits 1919 San Francisco.  Claire, a young wife and mother, lives in a 1961 D.C. suburb while her husband climbs the civil-service ladder at the Department of the Navy.

Vivien is definitely my favorite of the two.  She moves through a San Francisco and Napa Valley that have depth and description to them.  I can envision her "love nest" that David purchased before he disappeared in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake; as well as the office cum cozy apartment she pulled together later when her writing career began to flourish.  Vivien was real to me.  She was a sympathetic character who, quite realistically, didn't always make the best choices, but I was with her all the way.

Claire, unfortunately, is an entirely different matter.  Perhaps the problem is that I remember 1961 and I don't see or feel any of it here.  Ann Hood seemed to be up against a brick wall, and no matter what she threw at it--distracted husband, whiny baby, lonely housewife--none of it rang true.  She tried, but cocktails and Cheez Whiz was a lousy way to define the era.

Not to beat a dead horse, but poor Claire has the personality of a paper doll and, as the book progresses, the common-sense of a fig.  Yes, her husband is dry and dull, but her solution--an affair, in her own home, in the middle of the day, with no protection of any sort--will obviously end badly. 

And, don't even get me started on her obsession with Jack and Jackie Kennedy.  Those lines pop up out of nowhere with absolutely nothing to give them weight.  If you want obsession with Jack and Jackie, talk to me.  Claire is an amateur.

Claire and Vivien's paths do indeed cross  toward the end of the book.  If I know it's going to happen before it happens (and I did), you'll have it figured out within minutes of opening the book.  That meeting pulls everything together in a tidy little package, but it's too pat for me.  One assumes that Ann Hood plans for everyone to become a better person because of this encounter.  I'm not sure that will happen.  I'm hoping they'll just grow up a bit.

Margie

PS:  Sadly, I still do not have enough self-confidence to write this way about a book and not feel badly but, I've only got so much time left, and The Obituary Writer took too much of it.  I'm happy for Ann Hood though.  She actually wrote a book, had it published and it ranks #17,180 in the Kindle Store and #405,470 in Amazon books.  She is way ahead of me.