Review: The Obituary Writer

The Obituary Writer
by Ann Hood
Published by W.W. Norton & Company
Publication Date March 4, 2013
Source: Library
Genres: Historical Fiction
Goodreads

A sophisticated and suspenseful novel about the poignant lives of two women living in different eras.

On the day John F. Kennedy is inaugurated, Claire, a young wife and mother obsessed with the glamour of Jackie, struggles over the decision of whether to stay in a loveless but secure marriage or to 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 these two women will change Claire s life 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.

An obituary exhibits surviving family members, degrees, slight accomplishments, but never a full story of the decease’s life.  Both Vivien Lowe and Ann Hood showcase this in The Obituary Writer.

I almost dropped The Obituary Writer twenty pages in.  When we are first introduced to Claire the reader is indulged to her thoughts on sex with her husband.  To paraphrase, in the summer she disliked having sex because of how miserably hot it was and cringed at the thought of her husband’s sweaty body on top of hers, and how Claire never came until after.  All I could think was, please don’t go there.  I don’t think I can take a whole book of this.   It ends with Claire contemplating leaving her loveless marriage for another man.   It is 1961, the day of JFK’s inauguration.  A turning point in the country and in Claire’s personal life.

Vivien also indulges with a married man only to lose him in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.  She spends years grasping on to hope that he survived, and in a sense stopped living.  She deals with this underlining grief through others, as an obituary writer.

Maybe, it’s just the books I’ve been reading but I’m really sick of fictional characters having affairs.  It seems redundant and hope it is a passing trend.  Or is it just a fact of life that is more common than I realize?  Either way, I wanted to throw something at these two women.  It is unfortunate if they have become unhappy with their life choices but it is also tactless.  There, I’m done with my rant.

Vivien and Claire’s lives intertwine to the day Jackie Kennedy wore beige at her husband’s inauguration. During his oath I forgot that I almost dropped Ann Hood’s book.

It may have been my first impression but I enjoyed reading Vivien’s story more than Claire’s perhaps this is because hers really did revolve around her infidelities and her wallowing in self-pity.  Vivien I felt had more depth and a deeper story.  Tragically so, and is difficult to explain without delving into too much detail.  Let’s just say that as much joy there is in loving someone, it also comes with pain.

In the end, my first impression did turn around and am glad I finished it but it isn’t something I’d write home about.  I didn’t close the book saying wow.