Rating: 
Summary: Choices/Obligations
Review: I've just read for the third time this amazing book. It's as stunning a read the third time as the first. Told in the second person -- which, admittedly, can first be a bit disconcerting (with its hey-look-at-me-I-got-an-MFA-in-creative-writing pretensions) but that soon becomes an evocative part of the haunting prose -- the novel involves Jacob Hansen, sheriff, undertaker, and preacher to 1860s Friendship Wisconsin. Jacob's life is no pleasure cruise: he finds himself battling a terrible outbreak of diptheria that steals his town, his friends, his family; in addition, there's an out-of-control forest fire bearing town on his little town. Part horror story, part treatise on the nature of good and evil, on the choices we make, part poetry, the tale is unforgettable, one that will linger long after you've shut the book. There is a litany of horrific revealations toward end, each more shocking than the one before. You'll reel, you'll gasp, you'll read more. And that last line will ring loudest, reverberating in your mind for a long time to come.In the end A Prayer for the Dying is all about decisions and how some choices are less choices than obligations. What O'Nan allows us to discover through Jake Hansen is that our goodness is sometimes contingent on circumstances (something most of us don't like to admit -- if we even bother to think about it in the first place). Tremendous.
Rating:
Summary: Riveting novel from a truly gifted author
Review: This is a truly gifted author. I became familiar with him when I read Snow Angels, and since then I have purchased nearly every book he has written. Each novel is an original piece. This novel, Prayer for the Dying is another stunning acomplishment. He takes the reader to post Civil War Wisconsin. His first person accounting is riveting as he takes you into the heart, mind and soul of Jacob Hansen, town sheriff, undertaker and pastor. Add to this odd mixture of occupations a devasting diptheria plague that threatens the town's human and animal population. A gentle, loving and spiritual family man, he must make horrendous decisions involving the township. While tradgedy befalls the town, he must cope with the possibility that he may have infected his beloved wife and baby daughter after undertaking the initial diptheria cases. Stewart O'Nan sets a thoroughly researched scene for the reader. You will walk through his surroundings and feel yourself in every step he takes, while you explore all his thoughts that challenge his faith and own mortality. An absolute masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Who Prays for the Living?
Review: Jacob Hansen wears three hats in the small town of Friendship. He's the sheriff, the undertaker and the pastor. The Civil war has just ended and he has seen plenty of death, however he's about to see more. A body is found on a farm and as Jacob is bringing it to town, he passes a woman who is in the middle of a seizure. She's foaming at the mouth, bleeding and shouting incoherently. He brings both to town, the dead man and the woman, who he takes to the doctor. Soon they know they have an outbreak of diphtheria on their hands and that was big trouble back in the 1800s. It's up to Jacob to keep order as they quarantine the town. The children die first. Then others. Some commit suicide. The church bells toll, as is the custom, the age of the dead and it seems as if they are going non-stop. And if that isn't enough, there is a fire raging out of control nearby. As the disease, then the fire, ravage everything he loves, we see Jacob's dogged struggle to take the higher moral ground as he fights to hang onto his humanity while everyone else is losing theirs. At times Jacob comes across as stupid, demented, determined and maybe even holy, but always human in this very disturbing story that is impossible to put down. Mr. O'Nan has written a grim and haunting novel that I will never forget.
Rating: 
Summary: An Outbreak and a Fire
Review: The cover of this book was eerie enough to catch my attention. Since the book is largely centered around death, it is somewhat dreary. The story comes across as a 19th Century version of the movie "Outbreak". The author chooses the unique position of addressing you in the place of the main character. He is the sheriff and undertaker in Freindship, Wisconsin. Jacob is faced with two rising problems. A health epidemic is killing the people rapidly and a fire is threatening the town. The raging fire is complicated by the quarantine placed on the town because of the health epidemic. Jacob's wife and daughter both succumb to the disease as the reader would expect. When Jacob catches the last train out of town to beat the fire, the reader knows that he can not leave with his wife and daughter still alive. All of the remaining town is dead. Because of his role as the town's undertaker, Jacob takes on a role that would make Job's fate seem not so harsh. While the topic is morbid, O'Nan forces the reader to do some souls searching. The reader is forced to ponder what he/she would have done in these circumstances. Because of the unique perspective he gives the reader, O'Nan comes through as an effective storyteller. Every story does not have a happy ending. This story is not told to lighten somebody's day. It was written to make people think.
Rating:
Summary: Lyrical Nightmares
Review: As mentioned before, the narrative style is at first disconcerting but eventually seems eternally familiar.
Jacob, undertaker, constable, and deacon, is a small town savior; fancies himself to be anyhow. When diptheria seeps into the Midwestern way of life, it's the job of the sheriff and the doc to reign in the ensuing chaos. The novel builds rapidly-- it's the written version of a wheel turning faster and faster.
O'Nan wisely interrupts the haunting passages of death and sickness with lilting, sweet moments depicting Jacob as a true family man, enraptured with the happiness his wife and daughter bring him.
The concurrent plot line brings a rushing wildfire into the quarantined town. Jacob is given the final decision between who lives and dies in this little place called Friendship, full of people who are no more and no less than a family to him.
I fear this book has provided me with a set of delicate, beautiful nightmares tonight.
Rating:
Summary: Oustanding and darkly poetic
Review: I'm not certain how anyone could rate this book less than 5 stars. Although, it does require a certain type of personality to fully appreciate the depth of such a novel. The story is can be related to anyone's life. Where do each of us draw the line between obligation and freedom of choice? How much grief can one person endure before madness becomes a haven of serenity? The style that the writer has choosen to present the story creates a comfortable transition for the reader to actually become a resident of Friendship, a partner of Jacob's. This unique approach to story telling also makes it diffucult to pinpoint the exact moment that Jacob slips into his madness and it allows the reader to fully appreciate the ease that such a transition can be made. Did Jacob recognize that he had lost his sanity? Even though some of the things that Jacob does are utterly appalling, because you have made this journey with him you understand that perhaps you might do the same or react in ways equally as frightening. Can God save us? The question is more appropriately can God save us from ourselves?
Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable novel
Review: Many adjectives come to mind when I think about this novel: haunting, chilling, sad, intense, original, painful, horrifying, lyrical, disturbing, disorienting. The use of the second person narrative was an effective device for putting the reader within the story --- in the narrator's place, so to speak. The language was very lyrical, which somehow made the story even more chilling. After I finished reading the book, the first thing to enter my head was "Wow."
Rating:
Summary: Haunting - excellent
Review: I read this book in an afternoon and was absolutely floored by it. I bought it more or less sight unseen and didn't exactly know what I was in for. I don't read thrillers or horror stories of any sort and am somewhat surprised that it's lumped with books of that genre. To me, it was more about a man of great faith who has to deal with an unspeakable amount of grief and despair in a very short time - a modern-day (sort of) Job. I was instantly drawn to Jacob - the town pastor, sherrif, and undertaker who clearly relies on his faith in God and humanity to help him deal with immense tragedy. While Jacob's flirtation with madness is upsetting, it is written with grace; it's a testament to the author that he didn't end the book with his main character shaking his fist at the heavens, cursing God. That ending would have been much more expected and stereotypical. Instead, O'Nan wrote a much more compelling and thought-provoking story. While this book is perhaps not for everyone, I recommend it wholeheartedly to those who can deal with a thoughtful, beautifully written book about grief, despair, and faith.
Rating:
Summary: Short book, long read
Review: This is a painful novel, which is not to say there is little to enjoy. O'Nan's language is so precise, I found that I could only handle this book in spurts of 20 pages or so, it is that emotionally taxing. The second person narrative was wonderful at forcing me into the role of Jacob, particularly with regard to the tragedy that befalls his family. This novel is greatly rewarding for those readers willing to see it through. I don't understand how other people could have finished this in an hour or two (as some have indicated). They are lazy readers, more attuned to mass-market pop fiction than writing that challenges. Disregard their reviews. This is a sad and wonderful book.
Rating: 
Summary: Gripping, depressing, pessimistic, dark,
Review: Needs a sequel to show what happens after the prairie fire cleanses all the rot out of the place and time.
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