The Obituary Writer, by Ann Hood

The Obituary Writer: A Novel by Ann Hood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've been a fan of Ann Hood's writing for years, ever since reading her novel Somewhere Off The Coast of Maine (1987). So when I stumbled across her book The Obituary Writer: A Novel, I had to read it.

The Obituary Writer is about two women who are faced with life-changing dilemmas, albeit years apart. Clair's dilemma takes place between the November 1960 election of John F. Kennedy and his January 1961 inauguration, while Vivian's happen during the first two decades of the Twentieth century.

Clair and her suburban neighbors are fascinated, bordering on obsessed, with JFK, and his stunning wife Jackie. The neighbors plan to have a party to watch the inauguration on TV, a party that Clair and her husband will miss. Instead, they will be with her mother-in-law to celebrate the other woman's eightieth birthday.

Clair's dilemma is that she is unsure if the child she's carrying is her husband's or her lover's. Her husband managed to catch the two together, and he, too, is unsure whose baby his wife is carrying.

For Vivian, 1906 was the year she lost the love of her life. The San Francisco earthquake strikes while the two are apart. Vivian is sure that her married lover is alive, but she can't find him. Over the next few years, she becomes an obituary writer to learn how to deal with the pain of loss. Finally, with the help of another man, Vivian learns the truth of her long lost love.

Back in the '60s, the reader discovers the link between Clair and Vivian. Part love story, part mystery, The Obituary Writer vaguely resembles Somewhere Off the Coast of Maine in that Hood brings the reader back and forth between two time periods and several women's stories to show the commonality of life.

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