A Prayer for the Dying

Stewart O'Nan has constructed a miniature world with A PRAYER FOR THE DYING, and he peoples it and describes it so vividly that you nearly feel you are a part of it. This effect is all the more chilling when that world starts to implode. A diptheria epidemic--something virtually unknown in modern times--is stealthily, then openly, decimating a small Wisconsin town. Jacob Hansen, who serves as a combination sheriff, undertaker and minister, is doing his level best to deal with his combination of duties in the face of the epidemic. He is a strong and silent type, a Civil War veteran, and he does what has to be done as many of the townspeople are stricken. By the time O'Nan reveals the subtle, horrifying breadth of the epidemic, he had me so involved that it nearly took my breath away. This is an outstandingly fine novel--elegantly made, profound in its implications, and still reverberating in my mind weeks after I finished it.

I came across this unusual novel by Stewart O'Nan quite by accident. I had never heard of the author or the book, and was simply browsing through one of my local bookstores one day, when the cover caught my eye -- something about it was familiar to me, although I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was.I picked up the book and leafed through it, thought it looked interesting and took it home. I was drawn into the story immediately -- by O'Nan's unusual use of the second person narrative, certainly, but mainly by his amazing descriptive talents, both of scene and emotions. The story laid out here is a horrific one -- as are the choices faced by the main character. The novel, as life, never ties up all of the questions raised with easy answers -- O'Nan leaves that to the imagination and conscience of his reader, and I for one got a sense of respect from him in that aspect.It was only after finishing the book that I realized what was familiar about the cover. On the page containing the publishing and cataloguing data, O'Nan credits Michael Lesy, author of the book 'Wisconsin death trip', as the source of the cover photo. I have that book, and another by Lesy, published in the early 70s, containing photographs and newspaper clippings from the era (and area) in which this novel takes place. O'Nan was inspired by the images and events contained in Lesy's book to give an expanded, fictionalized account of some of those events -- and he has done so to great effect.Not the 'feel-good hit of the summer' by any means -- but I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a well-written, challenging read.

I've just read for the third time this amazing book. It's as stunning a read the third time as the first. Told in the second person -- which, admittedly, can first be a bit disconcerting (with its hey-look-at-me-I-got-an-MFA-in-creative-writing pretensions) but that soon becomes an evocative part of the haunting prose -- the novel involves Jacob Hansen, sheriff, undertaker, and preacher to 1860s Friendship Wisconsin. Jacob's life is no pleasure cruise: he finds himself battling a terrible outbreak of diptheria that steals his town, his friends, his family; in addition, there's an out-of-control forest fire bearing town on his little town. Part horror story, part treatise on the nature of good and evil, on the choices we make, part poetry, the tale is unforgettable, one that will linger long after you've shut the book. There is a litany of horrific revealations toward end, each more shocking than the one before. You'll reel, you'll gasp, you'll read more. And that last line will ring loudest, reverberating in your mind for a long time to come.In the end A Prayer for the Dying is all about decisions and how some choices are less choices than obligations. What O'Nan allows us to discover through Jake Hansen is that our goodness is sometimes contingent on circumstances (something most of us don't like to admit -- if we even bother to think about it in the first place).Tremendous.

This is a truly gifted author. I became familiar with him when I read Snow Angels, and since then I have purchased nearly every book he has written. Each novel is an original piece. This novel, Prayer for the Dying is another stunning acomplishment. He takes the reader to post Civil War Wisconsin. His first person accounting is riveting as he takes you into the heart, mind and soul of Jacob Hansen, town sheriff, undertaker and pastor. Add to this odd mixture of occupations a devasting diptheria plague that threatens the town's human and animal population. A gentle, loving and spiritual family man, he must make horrendous decisions involving the township. While tradgedy befalls the town, he must cope with the possibility that he may have infected his beloved wife and baby daughter after undertaking the initial diptheria cases. Stewart O'Nan sets a thoroughly researched scene for the reader. You will walk through his surroundings and feel yourself in every step he takes, while you explore all his thoughts that challenge his faith and own mortality. An absolute masterpiece.

Sick of books that run out of steam around the the last 50 pages? This incredible novelette will knock you on your butt! This is no joke. If you haven't read a good horror book for a long time, and are sick of carbon-copy stories by King, Koontz and Rice, stop whatever you are reading and go pick this up! O'nan's story comes out of the clear blue nowhere and leaves you in awe the last 15 pages. You'll have to go back and re-read just to comprehend the scope of what he's just done to you, the reader. People in the field of horror might say that this has already been done before in stories like Faulkner's "A Rose For Emily", but as an overly avid reader of horror I promise you that O'nan's work is fresh, original, and very compelling. This has to be a strong contender for the Bram Stoker award. In most stories you are given the luxury of considering how you would act if you were the main character. In "Prayer for the Dying" you don't have a choice. YOU ARE THE MAIN CHARACTER!! My hat's off to O'nan.