The Frequency of Souls: A Novel [Paperback]

Mary Kay Zuravleff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 10, 2005

George Mahoney suspects he is getting a little stale at redesigning refrigerators, after fourteen years in the same job. With the arrival of his new office mate, Niagara Spense, George is forced to re-evaluate everything in his life from love and family, to science itself. Obsessed by the six feet tall Niagara, the very foundations of George’s belief in facts and the physical world are shaken when she reveals that she is on an incredible quest for electrical evidence of life after death—“audible fossils” she calls them. As Niagara Spense seeks the dead, and George seeks her, everything suddenly becomes possible in a novel that makes engineering funny, and mixes the world of icemakers and buttersofteners with the miraculous.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Zuravleff's impressive literary debut is as unassuming as its hero, mild-mannered engineer George Mahoney, whose wife describes him as "a textbook passive-passive." At 39, George embarks upon a tentative voyage of self-discovery when he develops an unlikely crush on his awkward office mate, Niagara Spense, who wears a hearing aid, sews her own ill-fitting dresses and is the complete antithesis of his attractive and hyper-organized spouse, Judy. One of Niagara's chief attractions is that she views her job designing Coldpoint refrigerators as a prosaic way to support her quest to hear and record the electrical sound waves of the dead. Set in Washington, D.C., this comedy of manners revolves around quirky, domestic details: George's lifelong passion for dinosaurs; Judy's single-minded attempts to control the weight problem of their son, Harris; and Harris's entry in the school science fair. Zuravleff is a clever and entertaining writer with an eagle eye for the farcical aspects of mating and marriage. Perhaps she too carefully rations offbeat traits one to a character-as if a sprinkling of eccentricities might distract the reader from the basic characterizations. But that doesn't muffle the success with which she portrays how George finds it in himself to bring an engaged wonder to everyday life.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

George Mahoney is a refrigerator engineer, married with two children, whose routine life is ready for a change when Niagara Spense is hired to replace a retired engineer called the Veteran. Niagara is a hefty, six-foot-tall woman who wears outrageous clothes and does not cover up the fact that she wears a hearing aid. She spends every moment outside the office in a trailer she has converted into a laboratory listening for the voices of deceased people she feels convinced are carried over sound waves. George is a witness to her successful theory when the Veteran, who dies shortly after his retirement, speaks to them over her radio. George's obsession with Niagara leads him to discover not only the truth about his own past from his deceased family but also the significance of his voice as a husband and father. Pulled together with heartfelt and humorous situations and characters, this delightful first novel keeps us entertained to the very last page. Recommended for all collections.?David A. Berona, Westbrook Coll. Lib., Portland, Me.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Picador (March 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031242485X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312424855
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,283,084 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Theme was a little different than expected, but satisfying., January 17, 2001

By 

"space_mouse" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Frequency of Souls (Hardcover)

I had been looking to read a story that did not require the heavy concentration of "work", that took me away a bit at bedtime, that was comfortable on the mind if not the spirit.This book's title intrigued me because I am interested in outer space, music, sound, and the relationship of people and sounds in the universe.

I enjoyed this book. It did exactly for me what I was looking for - escape. It was a decent story. However, the book is more a novel about a man in mid-life dealing with love, life, family and work, with some science flavors, rather than a fictional story where the primary theme involves galactic frequencies or paranormal phenomena with people as the conduits. So if you are looking for the latter, beware. Basically, since I was really expecting a story about "The Frequency of Souls", I felt teased and let down that this theme was not primary. Otherwise, the book is a basic fun read. And I happily learned a lot about the creative history of refrigerator design.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing premise and characters with chemistry!, September 16, 2007

By 

Jennifer S. Delaney (Niwot, Colorado) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Frequency of Souls: A Novel (Paperback)

We gladly suspend belief for Mary Kay Zuravleff's novel, The Frequency of Souls, a delightful tale with vivid characters and an intriguing premise that lures the reader along. Zuravleff gives her characters clear intentions, yet vulnerability based on idiosyncrasies that bring them to life. I appreciate the unpredictability of the chemistry between main characters, refrigerator engineers, George and Niagara. The secondary characters are as distinctive and well developed. While George's ponderings mire the plot about three quarters of the way along, the book picks up pace again for an ending that is not pat, yet pleasing.

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Escape, February 9, 2011

By 

Jan Kellis "Author of Bookworms Anonymous & T... (DeTour Village MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Frequency of Souls: A Novel (Paperback)

I read Zuravelff's book after hearing about it from her brother-in-law, who hired my husband to work on his cabin. The title and cover intrigued me enough to buy the book and I'm glad I did! I always enjoy tales about people with jobs I've never considered, and the role of refrigerator engineer definitely falls into that niche. The characters are quirky (my favorite kind) and funny, but still human and lend this delightful escape from reality some verisimilitude, especially when the supernatural encounters with those long deceased occur. I don't normally read any kind of fantasy or sci-fi but this light interjection of the afterlife was just right.