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Grief |
Author: Andrew Holleran
Published: 2007-06-05 |
List price: $12.00
Our price: $9.60
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As of: November 23rd, 2008 01:38:34 PM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Living with the dead in a city of ghosts
In Andrew Holleran's "Grief"--a book that will, I think, be eventually regarded as his masterpiece--there are passages that seem pulled from a Jamesian ghost story. Slim yet fully realized, the novel is set in a tranquil, atmospheric District of Columbia that may as well be a ghost town, a landscape similar to the city eerily described in Gore Vidal's short story "A Moment of Green Laurel." And like Vidal's protagonist, the unnamed narrator of "Grief" is haunted by the specter of his mother, while the urban isolation is deepened by memories of a generation lost to AIDS and even by the century-old spirits of famous Americans.
Far from being a gloomy read, however, Holleran's novel is infused with wit and erudition; it is instead an almost celebratory ode to mourning--and to our nation's capital. The story's central character has come to Washington ostensibly to teach a course on Literature and AIDS but actually to learn to live again both outside the confines of a closeted existence and without the decade-long presence of his mother's debilitating illness.
But, even removed from his home, he can't escape death. He becomes entranced with a book of letters by Mary Todd Lincoln, describing her desolation after her husband's assassination; he recalls Henry Adams's devastating numbness after his wife had killed herself when her father died; he tours museums in a city whose "grandeur is mostly indebted to the Civil War"; he visits the mother of a dead friend ("When one needed a mother, anyone's would do"); and he steadfastly avoids any possibility of intimacy with his fellow survivors of an earlier era. His closest companion is his landlord's dog when the man is away at work.
Every mourner in the novel experiences grief as remorse, as guilt, as regret. ("It was the sense of guilt that made it so important. Otherwise one didn't grieve for death," as Graham Greene puts it in "The Heart of the Matter.") Bereavement becomes not only longing for the presence of lost ones but also lamenting the lost opportunities when they were still alive: "I killed my mother with my secret and my shame. I killed her with banality," Holleran's narrator moans.
To such wallowing sentiment--to the suspicion that "life's rotten"--the landlord exclaims, "We have an obligation to live in the present--to be happy now!" Only Frank (a friend whose outlook, equal parts sardonic camp and weary cynicism, keeps the book's glumness firmly in check) understands that such an obligation is "more easily honored in the breach than the observance." Still, in the end, the ever-present possibility of hope and the ever-intruding presence of the living make that obligation easier to observe with the healing passage of time. After death, there is always life.
Good Grief!!
This is a wonderful quick little read, that warrants a second or maybe even a third reading. I have bought three copies and shared them all. This is a beautifully written story of a middle aged gay man coping with the death of his mother and the impact it has on the routines of his own life. He takes a temporary job teaching a course on Post Aids Issues in Washington D.C. where he takes a room with a friend of a friend. He discovers a volume in his room, The Letters of Mary Todd Lincoln. He becomes mersermerized with how she resonded to the tragedy and losses in her life and how she never failed to move on after the death of her husband. While living in D.C. he observes the ways in which his contemporaries have dealt with their own losses from the Aids Crisis, lost lovers and friends and from just getting older. He also gives a fascinating look at life in the city--the side most of have never seen away from the monuments and public buildings. The book is interspersed with many gems about how people--not just middle aged gay men--deal with grief and loss in their lives. I brought this book to a book club for discussion. It proved one of the most thoughtful and interesting discussions we have experienced.
 Mourning can be such fun...
I have a hunch that the novel was meant to make readers experience the grief of the main character. It gave me grief instead.
If you're looking for the Holleran who wrote The Dancer from the Dance you won't find him here. You get the style but nothing of a story so one star is for the style. If you're looking for a hero you can identify with, you won't. Unless you are a fiftyish academic with no aim in life. It is true that most academics don't have an aim in life but this fact has been analysed in detail by campus novels.
Don't read it in November, you may end up with sever depression. Don't read it if you have just lost someone near and dear, it won't help (the books's conclusion is that nothing does and it is not a spoiler, nothing can spoil anything here). Just don't read it. Full stop.
You may, however, read reviews most of which tell you what the book could be or should be. Sadly, it isn't.
 More Holleran Greatness
Like another said, I would buy a book written by Andrew Holleran if it was on toilet paper--he's SO good, writes so well. I don't think this is my favorite of his, but I liked it. He's a very descriptive writer and you can always get right into what's he's saying or describing. I hope he writes more books. I've read everything he's done.
Good, but no tour de force
While I read this book ravenously and do feel the author is extremely talented, I couldn't help but feel some of the reviews were a bit over the top. To be sure these are timely issues and the backdrop of DC is enchanting. I got tired of some repetitive characters (spec.) man picking up leaves one by one and pocketing them. And the constant reference to the White House. I get it, DC is pictaresque, no doubt. But find some new landmarks to describe. I found the parallel diaries of Mary Todd Lincoln to be fascinating and even more so the way the character latches on to her while still ridiculing her. He does not want to admit his grief. He has a dear friend who helps him with his boarding house troubles, but I felt this was a bit impersonable. And the ageing lawyer is far too selfish and emotionally removed for me to begin to care about him. While he is loveable he isn't likeable in the way that he withholds affection from the narrator. I kept wanting the two of them to get together. The ending is too abrupt and I felt it could have had a softer landing. Still, not to be passed over and definitely an excellent write.
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