Customer Reviews

The Dearly Departed (Chivers Sound Library)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I agree totally with the review of my fellow new yorker below. I love Elinor Lipman, but even the one other book of hers I didnt care for was better than this. It's as though she got another good idea, but wasnt really paying attention when writing the story. There are too many bit players in too many subplots that go nowhere. The main character is almost a complete blank. All we really know about her is she plays golf and seemed to have a rough time socially in high school. The main plot is also neglected. About halfway through I was asking myself, where is this going? What's the point? The usual snappy dialogue and feisty characters seemed to be watered down also. This is NOT typical Lipman. I found five of her other books to be excellent. If this is the first one you read, try one of the others. Even if you think this book is good, youll see how much better she can be. I'll try for better luck with her next one.

Elinor Lipman creates off-the-wall characters (generally misfits), who have difficulty keeping jobs and maintaining relationships.

In her latest novel, "The Dearly Departed," Margaret Batten and her lover Miles Finn are found dead, the victims of a defective furnace that leaked carbon monoxide. Brought together for the funeral are Sunny Batten and Fletcher Finn, two half-siblings who never knew of one another's existence. Sunny and Fletcher are both at loose ends and they are dissatisfied with their lives. When they come to the small New Hampshire town of King George to bury their parents, they also try make peace with the past and figure out where they are headed in life.

Sunny revisits the people with whom she grew up, and she finds romance with the Chief of Police, Joey Loach. Joey had a crush on Sunny in high school. Although he is now a respected peace officer, Joey is also a stifled mama's boy straining to get out from under his mother's ministrations. This book is filled with comic characters, such as Dr. Emil Ouimet, who, although married, harbored a deep (albeit unrequited) passion for Margaret Batten over the years. The doctor publicly and embarrassingly falls apart at Margaret's funeral, and he continues to cry at the drop of a hat for days afterward.

What makes Lipman's books unique is her light touch with plot and characters. Everything is played for laughs and even sudden death is fodder for the author's droll humor. The characters trade witticisms, insults and assorted bon mots on every page and their repartee is entertaining and outrageous. For a light comedy of manners with characters too funny to be true, pick up Lipman's "The Dearly Departed".

I looked forward to the release of this book so eagerly because I have loved- LOVED- everything else of Lipman's I have read... Ladies' Man, Inn at Lake Devine, Isabel's Bed, etc.

But I was so disappointed by this one that I left it on the airplane rather than drag it back home.

While it is Lipman's usual collection of eccentric characters with interwoven lives, I felt like nothing HAPPENED in this one. What did Sunny want? What was she after? She was a protagonist without a rudder. And the big revelation at the end is that her mother was slutty? So what? In the end it affected no one at all, apparently.

If you have never read Lipman I definitely would start with some of her others. In my opinion, she is usually a much better writer.

Elinor Lipman has written another perfect book for summertime reading--a witty, wry commentary on social conventions combined with characters with whom most readers would want to invite to the next party. I started this Friday evening and finished it before I left the beach on Saturday afternoon. Much to my dismay, I read them far more quickly than Lipman can write them. I anxiously await the next group of characters she'll introduce to me.

This was my first Elinor Lipman book and I am currently reading a second one. I enjoyed this book very much. Nothing too deep or dark, just a cast of interesting and nice people dealing with the quirks of life. I am always excited to find a good woman author, and some of the previous reviewers said this book is not her best, so I must be in for even better reads in the future. I plan on reading all of her books.

I really liked this book. I know other reviewers have mentioned that it is not as good as her other books and maybe it's not. However, the worst Elinor Lipman book is better than most other author's best book. When I'm looking for light, smart, fast moving, funny books she's the author I turn to. Her books are not literary masterpieces just good fun reads filled with quirky characters.

Lipman's newest novel is so light and fluffy the words may float off the pages. This is not necessarily a bad thing, especially with a novelist like Lipman, who knows how to create appealing, identifiable characters. The novel's theme is not as heavy as her last book, "The Inn at Lake Devine", which dealt with anti-semitism. Even though the center of this story concerns the death of two people, the tone is kept humorous and the protagonist, Sunny's grief is handled with the same light touch as the rest of the novel.

It's all rather pat, from Sunny's relationship with her newly discovered smart-aleck brother to her relationship with an old schoolmate, now the Andy Taylorish chief of police. But we like the characters and we like this book, which is a perfect summer read.

The Dearly Departed is an interesting novel and a pleasant enough read. As the book opens, Sunny receives word that her mother and a male companion have died, so she heads back to the small town where she grew up. It's a town where everyone knows everyone, and so she ends up having to deal with people she knew (some for the better, some for the worse) and seeing how they've changed. She also meets the half-brother she never knew she had, as their shared father is the one who died with her mother.

The writing in this book is superb. Scenes transition flawlessly from one point of view to the next, and everyone's history and backstory is given, making you truly understand what motivates each individual and why they turned out the way they did. Because of this, the novel is more like a character study than a plot-driven work of fiction.

While this wasn't the best book I've ever read, I found it fascinating to read about so many characters whose lives collided at different points in time, all in this one small town. There is not a whole lot of action in the book, as the plot is fairly weak, and the ending is not the most satisfying (it sort of leaves you wondering what the point of the novel was), but I would definitely recommend this novel to those seeking out a character study or are interested in small town life.

Do NOT get this book on tape---the Reader, Jen Taylor, is the worst I have ever heard. She thinks all women speak like babies or little girls, and all men speak VERY SLOWLY.

I was tortured as I listened to it---in fact the ONLY reason I stuck it out was due tothe storyline, which was good.

I found The Dearly Departed by Elinor Lipman a very good short novel for a teenager. It related to me with the problems Sunny Batten faced when she was in high school, such as not having a father in the picture, being poor, and the only girl on the golf team. It has some laughter and tears along the way.