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Written by Andrea Braun Tuesday, 16 June 2009 14:55

The tone of A Prayer for the Dying reminds me of Stephen King's The Gunfighter…if The Gunfighter were actually entertaining or interesting.

You often hear the phrase "the best author you aren't reading." In Stewart O'Nan's case, you may well be reading—and enjoying—his work. Or, you might wonder what all the accolades over his 25-year career are about. I'm somewhere in the middle when it comes to his work in general, and this novel in particular. O'Nan once collaborated on a book with Stephen King, and here, King's influence shows. The tone of A Prayer for the Dying reminds me of The Gunfighter, the first in King's Dark Tower series, if The Gunfighter were actually entertaining or interesting.

O'Nan's protagonist, Jacob Hansen, is the sheriff/undertaker/pastor of Friendship, Wisc. The time is just after the Civil War, and irony drips from the first page. Jacob is about to encounter a holocaust of trouble, sweeping him, his family and his town into Hell. Friendship becomes considerably less friendly, and Jacob needs only to remove the second and third letters of his name for the reader to understand who he represents. As a minister, particularly, Jacob is tormented by things he did in the War and his feelings of inadequacy to shepherd his flock. Also, his three jobs are in a kind of opposition to each other. As sheriff, he carries a gun; as full-service funeral provider, he treats the dead with embalming fluid, custom coffins and a great deal of respect; and as pastor, he hopes to bring them around to God before they have need of his mortuary services.

We encounter Jacob when he is called to a farm where a wandering soldier has been found dead of mysterious causes. Shortly thereafter, Jacob encounters a mortally ill woman, and soon panic and quarantines ensue. To add to Jacob's woes, a huge fire is coming toward Friendship, destroying everything in its path. Soon Jacob, his wife and child, and his friends are engulfed in illness, death and destruction. Jacob struggles to maintain his faith in God throughout his ordeals.

The point of view O'Nan chooses to use may make or break your good opinion of A Prayer for the Dying. It is first person narration in the second person—that is, O'Nan has Jacob speak as if he were Nancy Reagan who, when interviewed, had the odd habit of talking about how "you" feel when people criticize your fancy china or your husband is shot. Jacob speaks directly to us. You may find this clever or contrived, engaging or disconcerting; me, I don't much care for it.

I do, however, recommend this book, even though it does drag a bit in spots. Even though we are immersed in mega-emotions, at times our slog as readers seems to match Jacob's as his carefully constructed life, built on the trauma and ruin of war, goes up in flames. | Andrea Braun

*This review refers to the second Picador printing in 2009 of O'Nan's 1999 novel.