Goodreads Librarians Group discussion
Books mentioned in this topic
A Prayer for the Dying (other topics)A Prayer for the Dying (other topics)
A Prayer for the Dying (other topics)
A Prayer for the Dying (other topics)
A Prayer for the Dying (other topics)
1. All Editions: https://www.goodreads.com/work/editio...
- The original publication date is incomplete. It should be April 12, 1999.
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2. First Edition Hardcover: A Prayer for the Dying (ISBN 9780805061475)
- The description is incorrect. It should read as follows, transcribed from the book jacket:
Dark, poetic, and chilling, A Prayer for the Dying asks if it’s possible to be a good man in a time of madness.
Set in leafy Friendship, Wisconsin, just after the Civil War, A Prayer for the Dying opens harmlessly on a languid summer day; only slowly do events reveal themselves as sinister, bloom gently into a shared nightmare, as one neighbor after another succumbs to a creeping, always fatal disease. Our sole witness to this epidemic is Jacob Hansen, Friendship’s sheriff, undertaker, and pastor, a man with a large heart and conscience. As the disease engulfs his town, breeding hysteria, Jacob must find a humane way to save those he loves, short of calling a full quarantine and boarding up the sick in their houses. And what of the tramps slipping nightly through the tinder-dry woods, and the spiritualists from the city camped on the edge of town with their charismatic leader, Chase? Who will bury the dead properly, if not Jacob?
A Prayer for the Dying is a rare and scary book, Stewart O’Nan’s most astounding achievement yet, a sunlit Gothic painted in shimmering prose that darkens and disturbs your complacency the further you go into it, until – as in the best Poe and Flannery O’Connor – there is no turning back.
Here is confirmation of what some readers have known all along: Stewart O’Nan is not merely one of the best young novelists in America, but one of the finest novelists of our time.
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3. First Paperback Edition: A Prayer for the Dying (ISBN 9780312255015)
- The description is incorrect. It should read as follows, transcribed from the back of the book:
Set in Friendship, Wisconsin, just after the Civil War, A Prayer for the Dying tells of a horrible epidemic that has gripped the town in a vise of fear and death. Jacob Hansen, Friendship’s sheriff, undertaker, and pastor, is soon overwhelmed, though he continues to do what he can. But Jacob cannot control the plague’s rapid spread, the panic that takes over Friendship, or his own feelings of despair. Dark, poetic, and chilling, A Prayer for the Dying makes us consider if it’s possible to be a good man in a time of madness.
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4. Kindle Edition: A Prayer for the Dying (ASIN B00F1R9FQ2)
- The praise quotes need to be removed from the description, and the following paragraph should be inserted at the very beginning:
A deadly epidemic threatens the lives and sanity of a Civil War veteran and his family in this “new masterpiece of American literature” (Dennis Lehane).
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5. Large Print Edition: A Prayer for the Dying (ISBN 9781568958415)
- The publisher is incorrect. It should be Wheeler Publishing, Inc.
- The publication date is incorrect. The copyright page says 1999.
- The description is incorrect. It should read as follows:
Set in leafy Friendship, Wisconsin, just after the Civil War, A Prayer for the Dying opens harmlessly on a languid summer day. Only slowly do events reveal themselves as sinister and bloom gently into a shared nightmare, as one neighbor after another succumbs to a creeping, always fatal disease. Jacob Hansen is Friendship’s sheriff, undertaker, and pastor, a man with a large heart and conscience. As the disease engulfs his town, breeding hysteria, Jacob must find a humane way to save those he loves, short of calling a full quarantine and boarding up the sick in their houses. And what of the tramps slipping nightly through the tinder-dry woods, and the spiritualists from the city camped on the edge of town with their charismatic leader, Chase?
A Prayer for the Dying is a rare and scary book, Stewart O’Nan’s most astounding achievement yet, a sunlit Gothic painted in shimmering prose.
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6. Current Paperback Edition: A Prayer for the Dying (ISBN 9780312428914)
- “First, First Edition” needs to be removed from the Editions field.
- All of the praise quotes need to be removed from the description.