A Prayer For The Dying: A Novel

Stewart O'Nan's A PRAYER FOR THE DYING renders a story about a plague that strikes Friendship, Wisconsin after the Civil War. It is narrated by Jacob Hansen, the sheriff, undertaker, and pastor. It is a moody book. I've been struggling with how to describe it. It isn't anxiety provoking or depressing. O'Nan certainly hasn't written a grotesque or disturbing novel either. It is eerie, uncanny. The thing I've come up with is this: hypnotically morbid. After all, it is a plague that comes to town. You want to read it closely and slowly until the bitter end, savoring the beautiful script. You look forward to Jacob's conversations with the dead and even though it deals with some rather painful turn of events, you want it to be a bit longer than it is. I like the writing style and I really liked the story.

Oh yeah, as the consequence of reading this novel I keep noticing people around me that are sick. Ever sneeze, every cough. Eight coughs on the bus yesterday, two sitting in an office. Three at the bus stop. I think that's what I meant by uncanny.

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"It's all right. They'll all come to you someday, and they know you'll do right by them" (5).


"But what the answer is, you don't know. It's easier to hide it, keep it private, which makes you ashamed. You don't trust people with secrets" (17).

"She must know it's too late to change things. It's the right decision…" (31).

"'I'll be fine,' she lies. 'Go.'
And, damning yourself, you do. (103)