Customer Reviews

The Obituary Writer

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I found this book on the shelf of a used bookstore and was immediately intrigued. I identified with the main character of "The Obituary Writer", young aspiring journalist Gordie Hatch, following in the footsteps of his father - an accomplished newspaper man whose life and career were cut short. But after the first forty pages the story line turns predictable, the dialog clunky, and the characters fail to develop. Shreve is a talented writer that keeps you turning the pages but the novel never delivers to its potential. The novel is reminiscent of Raymond Chandler and so my hopes were high. In the end I concluded that this was written more as a movie script than a serious novel. It was close, but no cigar.

Gordie Hatch is an obituary writer, a position he sees as the start of a great career in journalism, following in the footsteps of his father. Fortunately or unfortunately, Gordie finds he can't ignore his journalistic curiosity (or his hormones for that matter) when a mystery slowly begins to unravel around him.

Its difficult to stress how wonderful this novel is. It has both humor and heart and left me speechless. Shreve is obviously a talent to watch. His characters were rich and well developed, the suspense subtle, and the end result was powerful. Not to be missed.

This is a nicely conceived and executed story, written with a perfect blend of narrative and dialogue. The first-person narrator, Gordie Hatch, is completely believable as a character, driven to journalistic success by a demanding mother cherishing memories of her dead husband -- himself a newspaper man. There are two simultaneous romantic threads, at least one mystery, and, of course (because it's about an obituary writer), plenty of death, albeit rendered in a mostly detached kind of way. The mystery is what kept me absorbed, and because it involves an attractive widow, it occasionally smacks of old-fashioned (read: tired) crime noir. Even as an over-used convention, however, Shreve makes it work in the context of his story, and I guess that ultimately is why I'd recommend it to others: it's an enjoyable story. One of the several surprise twists at the end rang a little false for me, and the widow's evolution as a character seemed at times fabricated for the sole purpose of arriving at this particular twist. Still, all in all, I'm glad I read it, and I would read more of Shreve's work.

I discovered this book quite by accident -- the writer's sister is my co-worker and had a copy of the cover at her desk. What a great find!!!

The protagonist is Gordie Hatch, a 22-year-old obituary writer for a Midwest newspaper. Newspapers have always been part of his life -- his father, who died when Gordie was 6, was a journalist who, by being in the right place at the right time, covered JFK's assassination and had a stellar, if short, journalism career.

One day while he is writing the obituaries, Alicia, a young widow, calls Gordie with information about her late husband Arthur. She presses Gordie to write a feature about Arthur. Gordie agrees to meet with her and eventually gets romantically involved with her. However, Arthur's family members insinuate this is not a wise move on his part. With little information or knowledge about any of these people, Gordie does not know whom he should believe.

In the background is Gordie's truncated relationship with his high-school girlfriend Thea, who has just moved back to St Louis for the first time in 4 years. In addition, he starts to examine his relationship with his mother. All the while, he tries to further his career in the style of his father.

This is a great read, there is always something interesting going on, and the author has a great way of setting the scene without going into lengthy descriptions. You will never guess the ending, not even while you are reading the last chapter.

I was scouring the New York Times Notable Books for 2000 looking for a secret find when I came across the notice for The Obituary Writer. It was my turn to come up with a novel for my book group, so I took a chance on this one, thinking hey it's the New York Times and won't everyone think I'm clever suggesting a book nobody'd heard of.

Well, it turned out a couple people had caught Porter Shreve on NPR and others had seen good reviews so it wasn't quite the discovery that I'd hoped for. But in the end everyone liked the book a lot and we had a great debate about it, particularly over the ending, which totally caught me by surprise.

One of our book groupies is a big mystery reader (not the brightest candle when it comes to talking about literary fiction -- sorry J). She kept saying how she saw the twists and turns in the plot coming from a mile away, and at first I felt like maybe I was the obtuse one. But when we started to talk about the deeper stuff -- character development, psychological complexity, language -- J kind of clammed up. She's a plot junkie, and that apparently was all she'd been reading for.

I still think The Obituary Writer has a great plot, but maybe mystery readers will disagree. If you're a general book lover, though, someone who cares about character and emotional depth, this is a righteous read, either for a hot summer Sunday or a book group.

Porter Shreve's feather-light riff on noir classics feels like the beginning of a "Hardy Boys" series for restless, romantic dreamers in their early twenties. There's no doubt that Shreve knows his audience, and that it's a big one.

Gordon Hatch is an earnest, capable young journalist, eager to prove his mettle on that most depressing of beats, the local obituary desk. As he settles into predictable youthful disillusionment with his lot and his futile efforts to transform it, a proverbial phone call turns his world upside down, and calls him, like a siren, into the dangerous erogenous zones of sex and death.

Alicia Whiting seems lifted directly from the mildewy paperbacks of Ed McBain. An older woman, beautiful, mysterious, spooky, she takes an instant interest in our hero and the possibility that he might write a story about her dear, recently departed husband. Since the husband led the most ordinary life of a bank manager and dog breeder until his untimely death of a heart attack, Gordon can't see the point. But Alicia's whispery insouciance draws him in, as he starts to realize that her appearance in his life might be all the story he needs.

The plot unfolds in the most predictable way, with a couple of side trips through Gordon's abandoned relationship with a childhood sweetheart and his tit-for-tat sparring with his devoted and overbearing Mom. Shreve's writing is even and light-hearted. In the hands of a lesser writer the story would seem sophomoric and trite, but Shreve saves the day by never taking himself or his project too seriously.

If you're a modern young person with a nostalgic yearning for the style of mysteries past, this book is for you.

I'm from Belgium, 18 years old and had bought this book for an oral examination in my Englisch classes. I'm sure this little review will contain many linguistic faults, so I hope they don't bother you. I have bougt this book when I had read a review in one of our standard high quality newspapers "De Morgen". That review was very grateful to this book, it considered it as "highly recommended". During the reading I found out Porter Shreve doesn't handle a difficult English. My knowledge of the Englisch language is at a primary level, but I could read it without the use of a dictionary. The Obituary Writer certainly is a very good book. I read many books - normaly in Dutch, my native language - and so I have to say that it isn't really my favourite. It's a good book, with many pleasant passages and an intelligent plot that you'll keep you a while busy, but I have read many much better books than that. Maybe it is to blame to the language barrier... However, I enjoyed reading it and have to confess that I hardly couldn't stop reading. A very good book, but I don't think it will be a bestseller...

Porter spins a good yarn tackling themes such as cutting your teeth in midwestern journalism, following in the rather impressive footsteps of his father and a complex love triangle. The characters are vivid, unique and I enjoyed losing myself in the descriptions of the book. Yet overall, the depth of the characters did not overcome the blandness of the story - I did not find the plot gripping and felt that it plodded along. If I had to guess, this story seems a bit autobiographical. But I would recommend this as a good read to those who embrace Richard Ford or Elizabeth Stroudt

This is a mesmerizing, complex, twisted, and touching tale. Initially I ranked it a 4, but then determined that a plot which leaves you debating what motivated the readers and what in actuality may have occurred warrants a higher rating. The plots of too many other highly rated books are more straightford, less complex, and not at all thought provoking. This is one which prompts vigorous discussion by different readers -- it's ideal for a book group.

The plot involves a cast of sad, slightly flawed characters leading unremarkable and slightly dissatisfying lives. The protagonist Gordy's life and goals are a manifestation of his mother's life long deferred gratification in the hope for vicarious fame.

While I was engrossed in the quick moving plot I can't say that I found it amusing -- the characters' aberrant behavior seemed a response to delusions in the midst of disturbing compromises navigating a quotidian existence.

This is a book which warrants rereading to appreciate the characters' many inspirations and its subtle meanings.

The biggest compliment I can give is that I am halfway thru this novel and I do not want it to end! A very engrossing and readable story. Having lived in St. Louis and having had a daughter attend grad journalism school at U-MO-Columbia, makes it all the more interesting. Will be following this author for future works.