October 10, 2006Book suggested by Stacy, and meeting hosted by Carol M.
We had mixed reviews of this book, though most of us liked it. We thought it was a little unbelievable that these women could drop out of their daily lives and take part in a traveling funeral, but most of us were envious of the concept of temporarily removing ourselves from daily routines. A couple of us thought the book contained way too much drama and were turned off by that.
As we read the book, we were a little taken aback by the very high pedestal where they placed their deceased friend, and were somewhat relieved when some of Annie's weaknesses were revealed at the end of the book. We thought that Annie was independent and close to these women while remaining guarded. We wondered a little bit about how these presumably close friends could not know more about Annie's past, particularly surrounding the identity of her children's father and details related to her Minnesota roots.
We enjoyed the relationships that developed between the funeral-goers. We appreciated how they came to look at life (and death) as a result of this trip, and how they began to see their everyday routines/priorities in a different light. Some of the coincidences and occurrences in the book were not really believable.
One member of our group pointed out that the locations where the ashes were to be dispersed were symbolic of the period of her life that Annie lived there. For example, she was in the dry desert-like southwest when she was in rehab, in a beautiful remote area when she was closest to and in seclusion with her family, and in the Florida Keys while she was young and carefree.
We talked a little bit about how we could relate to this book as we have had to deal with death and dying people that are close to us. We agreed that death can be a reason for celebration and that it brings about personal introspection when someone close to us dies.
Kris Radish's website: http://www.krisradish.com/
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