Rating: 
Summary: A Prayer For The Dying
Review: Here goes, yes O'Nan did a superb job of writing this novel in second person, yes I was compelled to read it quickly, however, I was very discouraged, well even outraged when I finished it. I know life is NOT a bed of roses and no I don't expect all novels to be uplifting...as a matter of fact, I don't read many that are, but I was totally disappointed when I closed the book. I expected at least one good thing to happen in this town or to Jacob. I was particulary put off by the things that went on with his wife and baby (not to give the story away I won't say). I found it grotesque and offensive. I'm sorry I spent three hours reading this book when I could have read something more enjoyable, "A Morticians Guide To Embalming" for instance. I dropped the book in a puddle (it was an accident) but as I bent to pick it up and looked at it lying there like a bloated swollen corpse, I realized it was appropriate and left it there.
Rating: 
Summary: Weird, creepy, compelling
Review: This book is written in second person. O'Nan pulls off this very difficult technique beautifully, but it might take the reader a little time to adjust to it. "A Prayer For the Dying" is a horror novel made all the more horrifying because, unlike vampires and werewolves, we cannot assure ourselves that fatal outbreaks are things of fiction. This story will stay with you for quite some time after you've finished the final chapter.
Rating:
Summary: What Would You Do?
Review: How would we react today if an outbreak of an uncurable sickness spreads like wildfire through out a city? We almost had a taste of it with the anthrax scare after the 9/11 attack. In Stewart O'Nan's novel, A Prayer for the Dying, the book shows what can happen when an outbreak is not stopped and how man reacts to it. Written in second person the narrator becomes the reader. We are Jacob Hansen as he tries to save both his family, himself, and the city--but is unable to as the disease spreads and erupts through the countryside ending in widespread death, fire and destruction. He (the reader) questions the disease and all that it conquers as if it were evil and the devil's work, questioning his own spirituality as to the "why is this all happening?" Did he have a hope, why was he the only one left, did he succumb to this creeping "evil?" This novel is one of O'Nan's best works and is especially relevant today with the scare of anthrax and other germ warfare. It makes the reader wonder - what? What would we do when something like happens? A very formidable thought indeed.
Rating:
Summary: Saddening, thought provoking, amazing...
Review: This is the type of novel that makes me happy to be an English major (although I plan on teaching, not writing). Stewart O'Nan has created a novel that is beautiful and horrifying at the same time. As other reviewers have stated, the novel is written entirely in the second person. This is extremely hard to pull off, but it works wonderfully here, helping the reader to get inside the Hansen's head. It almost makes one feel as if they ARE the main character. This is what makes using the second person perspective so effective. The novel is very poetic. O'Nan exhibits a mastery of prose here. Sentence structure rules are out the window, leaving room for anything and everything. I love this writing style, and I love this book. I will probably end up buying every single book this man writes. I strongly urge you to pick up this book, whether you are a casual reader, or a writer looking for some fantastic examples of the uses of the second person perspective. This is, by far, one of the best books I've ever read. The strange thing is that I'm not exaggerating.
Rating:
Summary: A staggering achievement in writing.
Review: Stewart O'Nan continues to gather momentum in establishing himself as one of the master writers of our time. His novel THE NAMES OF THE DEAD revealed insights into the Vietnam tragedy like few others have matched. He is able to explore the interstices of human behaviour and response to unthinkable tragedy with such clinical precision that at times his stories must be read again to take note of the eloquent lyricism of his writing gifts. A PRAYER FOR THE DYING is in ways a metaphor for the Christ figure: one man is sent to absorb all the sins of the world, knowing that the end will be his own sacrifice/loss. Jacob Hansen strolls through his war-injured life as a constable/minister/undertaker in a small town of Friendship, WI post Cival War time. Gradually that stroll becomes a march toward the evils of diphtheria and a ravaging fire until the march becomes a race toward the inevitable destruction of all that is dear to him. Cosmic tragedy consumes him and it is this process where we find the heroism of the indomitable spirit. In Jacob's own words "If all of this has taught you anything, its that hope is easier to get rid of than sorrow." This book is small in size, short in pages, but overwhelmingly important in content. Here is a study in perspective for the harrowing times in which we now live.
Rating: 
Summary: Macabre historical novel
Review: In this little gem of a novel, Stewart O'Nan depicts a late 18th century Wisconsin town decimated by a frightening and tragic diptheria epidemic. There is an unforgetable nightmare yet lyric quality to the account which follows the town's combination sheriff, pastor and undertaker through the grim tasks which he must perform in order to maintain order in a literally dying town. The memorable and horrifying quality of this book places it with James Dickey's current masterpiece, "To The White Sea"
Rating: 
Summary: Unpleasant
Review: I gave it 3 stars because the writing is haunting, and I've never read O'Nan's other work, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. But I think there could be much more compelling renderings of the same story, and there are portions of the story that are downright reprehensible with no apparent explanation except the horror of always being the survivor while everyone around you dies. All in all, I just didn't care for it. Washington Post did it a disservice by comparing O'Nan to Stephen Crane and Stephen King -- it set the wrong expectations. Much more Joseph Conrad and the Heart of Darkness. Fine if you like that sort of thing, but irritating if you thought you were curling up with Stephen King.
Rating:
Summary: nothing like it.
Review: Stewart O'Nan has the remarkable ability to condense thought and emotion into simple phrases that do not minimize the scene but intensify it. The smallest decisions made by the main character contribute to the spiraling decline of Friendship. This novel must be put on your summer reading list.
Rating:
Summary: RIVETING AND BLEAK -- AND STUNNING
Review: I came across this unusual novel by Stewart O'Nan quite by accident. I had never heard of the author or the book, and was simply browsing through one of my local bookstores one day, when the cover caught my eye -- something about it was familiar to me, although I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. I picked up the book and leafed through it, thought it looked interesting and took it home. I was drawn into the story immediately -- by O'Nan's unusual use of the second person narrative, certainly, but mainly by his amazing descriptive talents, both of scene and emotions. The story laid out here is a horrific one -- as are the choices faced by the main character. The novel, as life, never ties up all of the questions raised with easy answers -- O'Nan leaves that to the imagination and conscience of his reader, and I for one got a sense of respect from him in that aspect. It was only after finishing the book that I realized what was familiar about the cover. On the page containing the publishing and cataloguing data, O'Nan credits Michael Lesy, author of the book 'Wisconsin death trip', as the source of the cover photo. I have that book, and another by Lesy, published in the early 70s, containing photographs and newspaper clippings from the era (and area) in which this novel takes place. O'Nan was inspired by the images and events contained in Lesy's book to give an expanded, fictionalized account of some of those events -- and he has done so to great effect. Not the 'feel-good hit of the summer' by any means -- but I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a well-written, challenging read.
Rating:
Summary: A Prayer for the Dying
Review: I thought this was one of the best books I have read. The question that I had through the whole book, was, was this man good or evil? His thoughts were so kind but his actions were so incredibly .. evil, or crazy. I couldn't figure that out. If I knew Jacob I think he would scare me. I have, since, bought Stewart O'Nan's book Snow Angels, and I am looking forward to it.
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