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The Obituary Writer: A Novel Kindle Edition

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 1,479 ratings

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, 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.
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Product description

Review

Quietly contemplative --Sunday Herald

About the Author

Ann Hood is the author of six works of fiction, including the bestseller The Knitting Circle and, most recently, The Obituary Writer, as well as a memoir, Comfort. She is also the editor of Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting. The winner of two Pushcart prizes as well as Best American Food Writing, Best American Travel Writing, and Best American Spiritual Writing awards, she lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B007Q6XN82
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company (4 Mar. 2013)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 524 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 294 pages
  • Customer reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 1,479 ratings

About the author

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Ann Hood
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Ann Hood is the author of over a dozen novels, including the bestsellers The Knitting Circle, The Obituary Writer, The Book That Matters Most, and Somewhere Off the Coast of Maine; and several memoirs, including the bestsellers Kitchen Yarns: Notes on Life, Love and Food and Comfort: A Journey Through Grief, which was named one of the top ten books of 2008 by Entertainment Weekly. Her most recent book, Fly Girl, a memoir about her years as a TWA flight attendant, will be published in May 2022 by WW Norton.

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4.2 out of 5 stars
1,479 global ratings

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  • sandyamore
    4.0 out of 5 stars storia molto avvincente
    Reviewed in Italy on 29 May 2017
    sicuramente un libro molto avvincente e particolare. la conclusione è un pò affrettata, ma altrimenti il libro è interessante e coinvolgente.
  • Alyssa Donati
    5.0 out of 5 stars No billowing gossamer fabric or sadists wielding handcuffs...
    Reviewed in the United States on 4 September 2013
    THIS BOOK WILL PROBABLY APPEAL TO YOU IF YOU:

    A. Do not like chick lit or fun flirty beach reads clogged with designer clothing and witty banter over lattes.
    B. Do not like adjectives like flaxen, bronzed, swarthy, strapping, torrid, turgid, billowing, brawny or balmy.
    C. Could do without sullen vampires, windblown hair, and sadists wielding handcuffs...

    Thankfully, You will find none of the above in The Obituary Writer.

    This book is about women however the writing surpasses the whole chick lit genre. The narration alternates between Claire and Vivien -- two women living in different time periods in the 20th century. Both characters struggle: Vivien with the loss of the man she loved, and Claire with the inability to move past an affair and revive her failing marriage. Hood doesn't make it easy. She forces you into the mangled lives of her protagonists. These women who wade through life as if it were molasses thick. They're frozen in one staggering moment. They're bandaged up in their skin, often wishing to escape. Ann Hood writes exquisitely of loss, and even though she puts them through hell, you can see she has genuine empathy for her characters. Avoid this book if you don't want your senses drenched. Hood will take you into a Howard Johnson's in 1961 and the frazzled and exhausted waitress will stand right there. Right next to you. Right over you. The menus in her hand casting a shadow on your face. You'll see the ketchup and gravy stains on her uniform and the smeared mascara under her eyes. You'll smell the bitter coffee, the greasy clams and when a sullen and pregnant Claire studies her husband's face you'll endure her despair. The whole novel is not bleak, but it isn't uplifting. I admired the main character's resolve and was surprised by the way the story unfolded. I could not predict the twists in the novel, but if you crave books with feverish plot machinations and explosive suspense this probably won't satisfy you.

    The Obituary Writer is a profound, insightful tale that will especially appeal to you if you enjoy novels with durable and psychologically complex characters. It is a beautiful novel -- better than The Knitting Circle and The Red Thread.
  • David J Gillies
    5.0 out of 5 stars Ann Hood, A good read !
    Reviewed in Canada on 26 March 2013
    This was a great read. Moved along well and kept this reader wondering.
    Have read a couple of other Ann Hood books and never disappointed.
    I would recommend this author to any book lover.
  • Marion Marchetto, author
    4.0 out of 5 stars Faith, Hope, and Love
    Reviewed in the United States on 20 November 2013
    This is a story of hope. We begin with Claire, a wife and mother who does her best to be everything she was brought up to be. While she goes through the motions of her life -caring for her daughter and her husband, maintaining a clean and comfortable home, being the perfect social hostess - she feels there is something lacking in her life. She realizes that she needs something more to make her feel complete and, like so many other women of the time, she focuses her attention on the upcoming inauguration of John F. Kennedy and the promise of a bright future for the United States. Claire identifies with Jackie Kennedy and like her contemporaries emulates everything about the First Lady-elect. But at one of her crowd's dinner parties she meets Miles who will give Claire the excitement and attention she feels she deserves.

    Going back to 1908 we meet Vivien, a single independent-minded young woman who takes on chance on a handsome man she meets quite by accident while shopping in San Francisco. They have dinner and end in each other's arms. David is married but that poses no problem for either he or Vivien. She becomes his paramour and they soon realize that they are meant to be together. But fate steps in and on a morning in 1908 Vivien bids David a sleepy goodbye as he leaves for his law office; when she is finally awakened by the rattling of dishes (she believes it is their Chinese housekeeper) she soon becomes aware that the rattling is more than she thought. The San Francisco Earthquake has struck, causing chaos and mass destruction in the city. Vivien's thoughts fly to David but who can she contact to find out if he's alive? She spends the next fifteen years living in the hope that David is alive and that she will find him.

    I liked this book and found the characters to be interesting and in their own ways provocative. Although they live in different eras the two women are still alike - each searching for something to make them feel complete and hoping that what they need is just around the next corner. We follow their lives in a parallel manner, hoping for their happiness and somehow realizing that they just might find what they need when its right in front of them.

    This was an easy read and would make a wonderful book to take on a business trip or vacation. It held my interest and I liked the plot twist towards the end. What made this book a winner for me was the spot-on descriptions of the 1960s - I won't reiterate them here as so many other reviewers have already done that. But for this child of the 60s it was a throw-back to my early teen years.
  • Laurel-Rain Snow
    5.0 out of 5 stars EXPLORING GRIEF, REGRET, & HOPE
    Reviewed in the United States on 16 August 2013
    In the early 1960s, Claire, a housewife living in the suburbs of the Nation's capital, feels her life changing in unexpected ways. Focusing on the Kennedys, especially Jackie, she suddenly starts to realize some of the disappointments of her own life, her marriage, and the fears that nobody is safe. A feeling triggered by the kidnapping of a young boy in the neighborhood. But in listening to the new President's inaugural speech, she starts to feel a surge of hope. A feeling that people can change their lives.

    Across time and at the beginning of the 20th Century, a woman named Vivien composes detailed obituaries to celebrate the lives of people who have died. And mourns the loss of her lover who disappeared in the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco.

    I was immediately drawn into this story, especially captivated by the housewife in the 60s who reminded me of what my life looked like back then-and what I did to change its landscape. The author totally captured suburban life, from the clothes, the food, and to the neighborhood residents that remind us of the mood of the times. But as the stories across time continued, I also felt a kinship with Vivien. Halfway through The Obituary Writer: A Novel, I would figure out how the lives of these women intertwined. The mysterious elements that lurked beneath the surface kept me eagerly reading.

    The characters from the 60s were like people I have known, facing the issues many of us faced back then. I could relate to Claire, whose husband is a good provider, but who dismisses her ideas and feelings and makes choices for her. As if she only exists as an appendage to him. Claire suffered from what the feminist Friedan labeled "the problem that has no name," an issue that would stir to life many who recognized these feelings in their own lives.

    And Vivien, whose time period coincided with my grandmother's, reflected the issues of her times.

    What, if anything, connects these two women whose lives seemingly would never have intersected? How does Claire resolve her feelings of unhappiness with her husband, who is a good man and a good provider, but who never listens to her? How will Claire take action to find her own happiness?

    A delightful page turner that touches on themes facing women in pivotal moments in their lives, and how they discover that they can make their own choices and "rescue themselves." Five stars.

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