A debut novel about a young girl at the center of the secret world of professional mourners, where women are trained extensively and paid handsomely to attend the funerals of strangers. Mem is a wailer, a professional mourner hired to cry at funerals. One of the few remaining American girls in this secret, illegal profession, Mem hails from a long line of mourners, including her mother, a legendary master wailer hired for the most important funerals in her hometown of Philadelphia. Though Mem is to eventually become a renowned wailer herself, she at first struggles with her calling. She is a girl who cannot make herself cry, and though her mother loves her fiercely, she must use ancient, emotionally abusive, cultlike rituals to train Mem to weep. When Mem emerges as the greatest wailer that the profession has ever seen, her infamy brings with it unwanted attention, especially from the authorities. Interweaving poetic prose and artifacts spanning six thousand years and seven continents, Open Me is an utterly original novel about mothers and daughters, dark underworlds, and the play between fact and fiction. A Reading Group Guide is including in this edition.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
A trudging fascination with ancient rites hampers this disappointing debut novel about Mem, a professional girl mourner in contemporary Philadelphia paid top dollar to wail at local funerals. The women in Mem's family have been grieving for money since ancient Roman times, passing down to their daughters the art of crying on command. Though the profession is illegal, Mem's family persists with cultish zeal, with mothers training their children to cry by verbally assaulting them and threatening to abandon them. Mem distinguishes herself as a stunning wailer, and as her bookings increase, so does the level of interest from law enforcement. The necessity of the harsh training Mem receives is never questioned, nor is the demand for professional mourners in modern society made plausible. Though O'Donnell's prose is deft and accomplished, it suffers in service of an improbable premise that's short on plot and long on overstated themes of ritual, motherhood and feminine sexuality. Unfortunately, O'Donnell neither demystifies the past nor illuminates the peculiar present she's created. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
From Booklist
The employment of children as part of a centuries-old, ritualistic profession, albeit illegal, puts a compellingly odd twist on the subject of child abuse in the story of Mem, a young "star" mourner, paid to weep and wail at funerals. O'Donnell's meticulously researched first novel juxtaposes ancient texts, including a ninth-century T'ang dynasty poem, novelistic exposition, twentieth-century newspaper reports, and historical notes on such weeping maids and wailing women still employed by funeral directors today when too few mourners appear at burials or when surviving relatives pay someone else to perform their grief. Many states have banned the practice because of the training methods inflicted on little girls by mothers and grandmothers who teach them to weep on cue (e.g., forcing five-year-olds to fondle corpses, abandonment because of inadequate performance). Perhaps the emotional abuse of ritual humiliation and degradation within this cult of tears is the novel's most disturbing aspect. A mother's love for her daughter, however, is what ultimately grabs the reader. Not for delicate sensibilities. Scott, Whitney
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a breath of fresh air!,
This review is from: Open Me (Paperback)
I bought this book to take on a vacation after a friend recommended it to me- and did not put it down until I had finished reading it. When I came back from the vacation I read it on- I purchased several for friends who I knew would love it- and those who have already finished reading it can not stop raving about it either!
The characters are well developed, the entire story and concept is completely original. It is so refreshing to read a new author who knows how to paint a complete picture and take you into another world with an excellently written piece of work. Thank you Sunshine O'Donnell, thank you thank you!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Must Read Debut Novel,
By
This review is from: Open Me (Paperback)
I recently picked up this book, and I could not put it down once I started reading. Ms. O'Donnell has also written poetry, and that shows through her brilliant imagery. There is a rhythm to her writing, also, that draws the reader into and through the story. In between chapters, each headed by a question, Ms. O'Donnell has placed documents, prose, and poetry which add to learning about the topic of professional mourners, as well as learning about the protagonist, Mem. Readers will follow Mem's progress from novice mourner through her rise to the greatest of all mourners. Readers will laugh at the silliness of those around Mem, both professionals and unprofessionals, as those outside of her business are called, but mostly readers will care about Mem. John Connolly once remarked that fiction is the best because it allows the reader to fully experience the lives of different people. This novel certainly allowed me to do that, but it did even more. I considered the idea of death, and Mem considers the different terms used for death. I considered the role of a mother in a daughter's life, and Ms. O'Donnell got me to thinking about the roles of female children throughout history, not only as professional mourners. Her writing is lively, thoughtful, and beautifully crafted. The characters are people I come to know. Some I love; some I pity; and some I dislike. At times, I even found myself forgetting that I was reading a novel. I look forward to reading her second novel when it is available. This is a book that I will read again, possibly to the point of having to eventually buy a new copy. If you seek something fresh and new, then I highly suggest this book. I am telling everyone I know about this book, and I will purchase a copy for my local library. As the other reviewer said, "A breath of fresh air."
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Open Me (Paperback)
It saddens me that this novel isn't getting the acclaim it deserves. There are so many terrible books on the market that make millions of dollars, while this one is barely on anyone's radar.
Open Me tells the story of a young wailer named Mem, a young gothic looking girl who is paid to mourn at strangers' funerals. For those not familiar with the details of this profession, it was outlawed many years ago in order to spare emotional and financial abuse (for those who have lost loved ones and for the actual wailers). O'Donnell doesn't pick sides, though. She presents the plot events objectively in the sense that she acknowledges both the psychological trauma endured by young apprentice wailers and the beauty of raw emotion. Wailers are like car accidents; their grief is disturbing and unsettling, but you can't help staring, at least for a second. This is true of the novel as a whole; the grief and confusion Mem feels is not uplifting, yet you cannot pull away from reading about it. Sunshine O'Donnell deserves the utmost respect for producing this amazing piece of literature as a first novel.
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