Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A small gem on an overlooked slope . . ., August 21, 2005
Like most of Loren Estleman's writing, this novel seems predestined to never get the readership it deserves.
Despite a trunk full of glowing critical reviews, the great mass-audience that eludes the author will see in this latest effort only a "genre" novel, and a "western" at that. The author, thank heavens, doesn't seem overly bothered by this, though, and continues to produce some of the richest reading in print.
Esleman's books are small, perfect gems, nearly always under 300 pages. Within these pages, always, are perhaps the best passages of dialogue that I have ever read and immense histories told perfectly with grace, melancholy, and precision. Consider the following description of late 19th century San Francisco as put down in a letter in "The Undertaker's Wife":
"It seems the city itself is nothing more than one of those ancient fountains in Europe, into which one casts a coin, makes a wish, and retires, uncertain as to whether the boon will be granted, but certain one's purse is lighter for the attempt."
Rich period details abound in this novel, which tells the life story of an undertaker and his wife (Estleman may be the patron saint of unappreciated professions, considering the subject matter of this book and his earlier and egually brilliant "The Master Executioner"). The heroine of this story, and the subject of the title, is a character that nearly pulses of the page with passion and subtlety. Like any worthy writer, Estleman brings characters to life with a few deft strokes, and I guaranty you that both the undertaker and his wife, along with several satellite characters, will be placed in your memory as if they had lived. I cannot remember any book that has brought the character of James "Wild Bill" Hickock to such vibrant life as does Estleman in this novel.
If you like Westerns you already know about this author and his work. If, however, you have stumbled upon this review because you were intrigued by the title, whereupon you experienced disappointment learning that it was "only a Western", I urge you to buy it and read it. Estleman never, ever disappoints any lover of the English language. -Mykal Banta
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Artifice vs. reality., December 10, 2005
Loren Estleman's "The Undertaker's Wife" is one of the most unusual novels that I have come across in some time. The story takes place in the second half of the nineteenth century. Richard Connable is the undertaker in the title, and he is a perfectionist at his trade. He learned mortuary science from his father, Janus, and Richard has elevated it to a high art. His knowledge of chemicals and makeup is so advanced that he is summoned by a millionaire to work on the corpse of a man who died of a gunshot wound to the head. Richard is one of the few people who can be relied upon to restore the body to its original appearance.
The undertaker's wife is Lucy Connable, a sensitive woman who, had she known what life had in store for her, might never have agreed to marry Richard. After dealing with the many corpses of mutilated soldiers injured in the Civil War, Richard becomes argumentative and abrupt with Lucy, and he starts to drink. In addition, without first consulting his wife, Richard decides that they will head out west to San Francisco to make their fortune. What follows is a series of adventures and misadventures that sorely tests the mettle of this young couple and strains their relationship to the breaking point. The undertaker's ambition blinds him to the damage that he is doing to his marriage.
The author is a master writer who captures the pioneering, "anything goes" atmosphere that existed in certain parts of the country after the Civil War. Profiteering, graft, and outright fraud were commonplace in such towns as San Francisco. Slick characters preyed on the unwary and parted the gullible from their money. Richard quickly finds that setting up a business in this lawless place will be logistically difficult and very expensive.
Estleman's varied cast of characters include a dandified and dangerous Wild Bill Hickok, Max Crespo, a master carpenter who comforts Lucy during her husband's lengthy absences, and a Russian Jew named Sergei Rubyoff, who becomes Richard's partner in Hays City, Kansas, after Richard and Lucy leave San Francisco.
Although squeamish readers will undoubtedly recoil from the graphic description of how a dead body is prepared for viewing, fans of such shows as CSI will revel in the intricate details of the embalming and restoration of the dead. The author has certainly done his homework and his research pays off handsomely. The details of mortuary science in nineteenth century America could not be more realistic. Even with its serious subject matter, however, this book is not depressing. It has many scenes of lively humor and spirited dialogue.
The tale of the Connable marriage, with its infrequent highs and many lows, is both poignant and heart wrenching. Lucy and Richard gradually move in opposite directions, and when tragedy strikes, the damage to their peace of mind is irreparable. Richard has been so busy at his profession that he has neglected his wife's needs and desires. "The Undertaker's Wife" is a richly textured narrative with fascinating psychological, historical, and scientific elements. It is an indelible and touching story of a man and woman whose experiences and attitudes irrevocably drive them apart as the years go by.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Undertaker's Wife, September 4, 2005
Although this book is labeled a Western by those who do such labeling, it only peripherally fits that genre. Here is a book about America told not from the perspective of titans but from the point of view of a woman whose man happens to be an undertaker in the days when the craft-and the country--was young and raw. It is a book about ordinary people living ordinary lives, doing ordinary things about which we seldom think. But Estleman does. And both his thinking and his skill at portraying them enrich us.
As ever, Estleman's characters are nomads, roaming the backroads of his landscape which allows him to draft some of the most descriptive prose being written about places and things. Add to this his meticulous but tasteful treatment of a craft only vaguely understood, even by us moderns, and you have a book that entertains yet informs. Still, it is not the prose or the dialogue that captures us. It is the emotional journey of two people down life's pebbled path that is the core of this book. The man tells a good story. It is well worth the read.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
