Emily, Alone

Starred review from December 13, 2010
O'Nan checks back in with the Maxwell family from Wish You Were Here in this bracingly unsentimental, ruefully humorous, and unsparingly candid novel about the emotional and physical travails of old age. At 80, widow Emily Maxwell has become dependent on her equally aged sister-in-law, Arlene, to chauffeur them to the rounds of Pittsburgh's country club dinners, flower shows, museums, and increasingly frequent funerals. After Arlene has a stroke, Emily is forced into reclaiming her independence, but she remains clear-eyed about her diminishing future and what she can expect of her two adult children and four grandchildren, giving O'Nan the opportunity and space to expertly play out the misunderstandings, disagreements, and resentments among parents and their grown children. Emily fears saying the wrong things (yet often does) and frets about her grandchildren, who are uninterested in family traditions and lax with thank-you notes. The unhurried plot follows Emily from a lonely Thanksgiving with Arlene to a Christmas visit from her daughter and two grandchildren, Easter with her son and his children, and the eve of her summer departure to Chautauqua. During this time, friends and acquaintances die, Emily observes the deterioration of the neighborhoods she's known for decades, and she continues to converse with her old dog, Rufus. Efficient, practical, stubborn, frugal, and a lover of crosswords, church services, and baroque music, the closely observed Emily is a sort of contemporary Mrs. Bridge, and O'Nan's depiction of her attempts to sustain optimism and energy during the late stage of her life achieves a rare
resonance.

Emily Maxwell, widowed for almost a decade and nearing 80, has her routine down to a science: Tuesday breakfast with her sister-in-law; early service on Sunday; and long days with her dog, the radio, and library books. Narrator Andrea Gallo flawlessly complements author O'Nan's outstanding character study as she portrays all of Emily's facets--from the critical Emily who assesses post-funeral-service meals to the no-nonsense Emily who puts her affairs in order and the private Emily who coos to her dog. Gallo's unaffected style accentuates the emotional complexities of a vibrant older woman who honors family traditions and reflects on her youth yet boldly holds fast to a future-oriented outlook and the possibility of new experiences. This is a refreshing and surprisingly uplifting look at aging middle-class women in America. C.B.L. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine