Customer Reviews

The Undertaker's Wife

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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

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.

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.

I have read almost all of Loren D. Estlemen. Sorry not the westerns though. All of the Amos Walker and the Detroit series.

This books is different from his other novels. It is a historical view, while not seeming to be one, through the eyes of a devoted wife of that period. One might learn a bit more about the undertaking process than he wanted to know, but very interesting. From Michigan to Californina to Kansas, keeps one's interest.

Estlemen's view of women in his novels has been a bit cynical, each of them having a personal agenda. Here he shows his sensitivity to the feminine emotions and the culture of the time.

I love Estlemen's style of writing. Think it is among the very best of novelists today. I don't like all of Estlemen's novels equally, but I do love how he tells it. He can make you feel as though you are there, you can smell the rain and snow. Know the charaters on sight. Give you some humor without lowering it to gags. He knows you have met these people before, he is just allowing to think about them in depth.

An unusual subject...undertaking in the 1800's and as a backdrop for a story of love and marriage, it's even more odd. But don't let the subject matter deter you from reading this well written, interesting and poignent novel. From the first sentence to the last, this historical look at the undertaker's art and life is a winner.

This book was enjoyable from the perspective of writing, subject matter, and characterization. The initial chapter leads into a presumed plot that becomes a backdrop of the true story line - the life and work of an undertaker in the mid ninteenth century. The reader is treated to information about embalming and the funeral trade of that era. The author also provides glimpses into early San Fransisco as well as other western towns. The realities of a gritty life jump off the page. The title, however, is somewhat confusing. While some of the story is told in retrospect, there are hints of a tragic ending. When that ending occurs, it is almost anti-climactical in its simplicity and abrupness. Nontheless, the book is a worthy read.

This is a most unusual book about what life was like for a young man and his wife who decided to move west after the Civil War and try to make a living as an undertaker.
Every one of us must face the services of an undertaker in the end;but few ever want to think about it or even to think about what is involved in the everyday life of those people who have the job of looking after our final arrangements.
I have been a long time fan of Western Novels and the undertaker is someone who is as ever present as is the local Marshal ,Sheriff or Gunslinger.
We all know that when the shooting is over ,the undertaker has to clean evrything up. In this book we are given a very intimate look into what takes place behind the "closed doors" of the funeral establishment.It brings home what great service undertakers do for society. Most of what takes place in this book occurs in the Old West during the second half of the 1800's.These were generally pretty hard and ruthless times,and the remains of people had to be looked after just as today.
It must take a special beeed of person to be continually faced with grief and all the sorrow that comes with the dying, whether it is the result of old age,accidents,drowning,war,murder,epidemics,and disasters of every kind and with bodies in every imaginable state.
We all get a glimpse of it at one time or another,but to live amongst it every day is something few of us could ever imagine.
Since the time period of this book ,great advances have been made in the undertaking business that results in most of the unplesant things being done for the surviving family and friends ,so that it is made as easy as possible ;but that doesn't mean that what goes on behind the scene is any different,
The author has done a lot of research and written a story here that has a great degree of authenticity. It is really a hitorical novel that brings us close to home in the early days of San Francisco to start with,and later to the small town of Hays ,Kansas in its earliest days.In Hays,we meet up with Wild Bill Hickcock as part of everyday life .
Lucy and Richard,the main characters in this book move back and forth from Michigan to several towns in the West and go through many trials and tribulations over a period of about 40 years.Besides the basic occupation of burying the dead,they also must face the everyday problems of running the business and trying to create a family life as well.
This book may not be the type of thing everyone would care to read about ;but nevertheless it is a side of life that has been going on and will continue to take place;whether we like to think about it or not.

A book by a well-known and well-respected author, this is, as one would expect, good writing, especially if you wish to know more about the undertaking business or how it was conducted in the West during the period of western expansion. But the book, the story of one man and his wife's life as they travel about, lacks a villain or the tension necessary to make one want to turn the page.