By Alice McDermott
Someone is well-written,
but the book club members did not like McDermott's style of moving back-and-forth
in time. There were too many gaps in Marie's life. We all want more
details about Tom Commeford and their courtship. Marie briefly meets Tom before
the war, while the next section starts with Marie and Tom married. We are
all disappointed we do not know more about Gabe's life. We would like to
know his thoughts and the real reasons why he left the priesthood and how he
ended up in the Suffolk Mental Institution.
Tom and Gabe were the two characters we like the most, but know the
least about.
The job at Mr. Fagin’s seems to
increase Marie’s station in life and help her mature because of the way she
softly greeted mourners, guided them through the wakes and services. Marie is happy to work in Brooklyn
after hearing how hard it is to work in the city. Marie decides to take the job because she is
allowed to charge five dresses to Mr. Fagin’s account. These dresses change her life; she refers to
the dresses numerous times throughout the book.
Marie also learns a lot of people from
Mr. Fagin's sister and the nuns who discussed all the people who pass through
the funeral home. The women tell stories and remember each person.
And if they did not know the person, they read their obituary and created
things about the person.
One of my
favorite topics discussed was the idea that we each have stories to tell that
are fascinating and extraordinary and someone would love to read. But not each of us has the talent to write
these stories and bring together a motif of our lives. I think this is definitely true, we all live
interesting lives. Each decision you
make leads to different paths and no two lives are exactly the same.
Even though
no one liked the book but we had plenty to discuss.
