3 out of 4 stars
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As an embalmer working in a funeral parlour in Always, Indiana, Horace Carver doesn't have the easiest job. Yet he goes about it methodically and with legendary skill, no matter how tragically disfigured the corpse to be embalmed. In the fictional work A Sibling in Always by Ernest Gordon Taulbee, a small town in middle America is the stage for an epic tragedy, ancient Greek style. It explores the need of the living to have the bodies of the dead embalmed and reconstructed. It showcases individuals helplessly trapped by their circumstances or family members, touching also on themes like living death and legacies that live on.
In beautifying corpses, Horace uses photographs provided by the bereaved. Some cadavers are not accompanied by photographs, such as one he recognizes as the terrifying local madman. His Uncle Seth, with whom Horace has a troubled relationship, says that the man was a doctor who looked after him and Horace’s parents as children. Horace’s skill is such that he can use bone structure to rebuild a face. But what if there is no face? When he and Seth are called out to pick up a strangely small body under cover of night, Horace is confronted by a being without hands, feet, or facial features. He employs his craft to satisfy an urge to give this person an identity in death. Then, his resentment towards Seth boiling over, he drives into town and displays the fixed-up corpse to the delight of local teenagers. Horace’s arrest is just one of the events unleashed by this act of hubris. A strong female protagonist enters stage left, helping to end Horace’s isolation. No one involved will ever be the same again.
The powerful role played by characters who are already dead is stunning. The novel is partly narrated in the first person by Horace, whose abnormal childhood has not left him unscathed. Parts are recounted in an epistolary style by the fallen doctor recognized by Seth. He is writing to a man who abandoned a child born with severe anomalies in Always; Dr Ellsworth attends to its care with increasing frustration towards the elusive businessman. I came out in goosebumps as I learned more about the connection in life between the doctor and the child, who first entered as corpses - one rat-eaten, one a blank canvas for Horace. I was driven to read on to find out why one death might have followed so quickly after the other. As the sheriff said, was a crime committed?
Dr Ellsworth’s prose has an old-world, occasionally whimsical feel to it. As befits his name, Horace’s sections start with poetry. I wondered at first how much value the poems added. I’d recommend reading through them quickly at first to get to the dramatic action of the chapters. Don’t be daunted by the literary devices – the style is always transparent. I came to see that the poems function like a Greek chorus, that is, another voice providing commentary and a perspective on the action. The tension rose alongside doubts about whether the characters' intentions were good and about Horace’s reliability as a narrator. If the early build-up gave me goosebumps, the twists at the end made me feel like I was taking the ice bucket challenge.
This novel comes highly recommended to anyone after an intriguing and compelling read. Like in Greek tragedies, the violence takes place offstage. Its after-effects are often detailed, however. Horace deals with every kind of violent death you could imagine and maybe some you wouldn’t. If that wouldn’t be your preferred reading material, this might not be the book for you.
Given the level of detail about Horace’s activities, the book must have been excellently researched. Oddly, despite the prominence of death, the theme of religion was notably absent. Funerals there were, but hymns, prayers, and even eulogies were missing. There was more focus on preserving the dead than on “dust to dust” or any concept of souls going to paradise. This is not to say that there are no ghosts in the book, however. The world of Always seemed less Christian and more ruled by modern equivalents of the Greek gods - malevolent forces that ruin lives, including venture capitalist conmen and their ruthless henchmen.
I would have loved to give this book 4 stars but the editing was tragically flawed, with apostrophes missing and typos. For example, a living room was furnished with a suit, while knuckles wrapped. The structure, plotting, characterization, pace, and style were all exemplary. My rating of 3 out of 4 stars is solely based on the frequency of the errors.
While ruling out a perfect rating, the errors did not prevent me from thoroughly enjoying this book. In the tradition of tragedies, it inspires pity and fear. Every plot development added layers of meaning to the title. However, I was impressed by how the author avoided bad puns about the town’s name. When Horace is asked if he ever lived anywhere else, he says, “Just Always.” The meaning of that in relation to the themes, including fate, imprisonment, and preservation is left to gel in the reader’s mind.
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A Sibling in Always
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