Good Reads / Community Library Notes
The Ninth Hour
Alice McDermott
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Ninth Hour
Alice McDermott
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Ninth Hour, by Alice McDermott, begins with a young, depressed man committing suicide in his apartment while his pregnant young wife is out shopping. But the story is actually about the Catholic nuns in Brooklyn in early 1900s who take care of the poor, the sick, the lonely, and the dieing. An old nun, Sister St. Saviour, comforts the young wife and promises that her husband will be buried in the graveyard plot they had paid for, in spite of the prohibition of Catholic rites for suicides. Sister St. Saviour is a compassionate human who defies the church when she wishes.
Fairness is the question in Sister Jeanne’s mind as she sits with Annie in the convent by Annie’s husband’s casket. Sister Jeanne thinks she sees the dead man, Jim, standing in the hallway of the convent. Sister Lucy says the baby born to Annie is not a pet, not a “convent cat.” The nuns are omnipresent in this story, as is the weather, always raining, cold, dismal. The author sets the scenes dramatically. Annie recalls how she always prayed her husband would get out of bed, go to work, be happy for their good lives.
When Annie’s child is three, she meets Mr. Costello, the milk man who comes to the convent. He is not a young man, and his wife is an invalid, but he and Annie laugh together when they meet in the park. She invites him to her simple apartment. Sister Illuminata indulges baby Sally by allowing her to put on her own habit. Sally feels transformed, as if she’s meant to be a nun. All the Sisters try to predict Sally’s future. Sally follows Sister Lucy as she ministers to the bed-ridden, the sick, and the abused girls of the neighborhood. When Sally sets out for Chicago to become a nun there, she rides the train seated next to a rude, vulgar woman. Sally sees the worst behavior of mothers to children and is cheated out of her money by a woman in the dining car. Sally has a change of heart and returns home. There she finds her mother and Mr. Costello together.
What happens to Sally as she grows older? Does she stay close to the nuns? Author McDermott causes us to think about life and death, how no one knows what awaits them at the end.
McDermott is a professor at Johns Hopkins University. Find this excellent book on the new fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.
Fairness is the question in Sister Jeanne’s mind as she sits with Annie in the convent by Annie’s husband’s casket. Sister Jeanne thinks she sees the dead man, Jim, standing in the hallway of the convent. Sister Lucy says the baby born to Annie is not a pet, not a “convent cat.” The nuns are omnipresent in this story, as is the weather, always raining, cold, dismal. The author sets the scenes dramatically. Annie recalls how she always prayed her husband would get out of bed, go to work, be happy for their good lives.
When Annie’s child is three, she meets Mr. Costello, the milk man who comes to the convent. He is not a young man, and his wife is an invalid, but he and Annie laugh together when they meet in the park. She invites him to her simple apartment. Sister Illuminata indulges baby Sally by allowing her to put on her own habit. Sally feels transformed, as if she’s meant to be a nun. All the Sisters try to predict Sally’s future. Sally follows Sister Lucy as she ministers to the bed-ridden, the sick, and the abused girls of the neighborhood. When Sally sets out for Chicago to become a nun there, she rides the train seated next to a rude, vulgar woman. Sally sees the worst behavior of mothers to children and is cheated out of her money by a woman in the dining car. Sally has a change of heart and returns home. There she finds her mother and Mr. Costello together.
What happens to Sally as she grows older? Does she stay close to the nuns? Author McDermott causes us to think about life and death, how no one knows what awaits them at the end.
McDermott is a professor at Johns Hopkins University. Find this excellent book on the new fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.