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Eulogy

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The controlled and calm life of William Oaks is shattered when his parents die suddenly in a car accident. A reclusive paper conservator at a renowned Toronto museum, William must face the obsessions and denials that have formed delusional family history, religious fundamentalism, and get-rich-quick schemes. Memory and facts collide, threatening to derail his life and career as William feverishly prepares for an important exhibition on the Egyptian Book of the Dead.

289 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2015

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Ken Murray

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5 stars
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16 (29%)
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
Profile Image for ReadAlongWithSue recovering from a stroke★⋆. ࿐࿔.
2,889 reviews433 followers
March 16, 2016
I have had this paperback in my possession for a while now having had the author post it to me.

I am not so sure why I hadn't read it until now, maybe it was the cover, although it ties in with the story of the book it doesn't 'throw' itself at me.

This is primarily a story of a little boy growing up in a family where his parents really, really didn't get along, he had to suffer a lot of shouting, arguing and his Dad vanishing for days on end.

Can you imagine the impact that has on a child.

In the help to change, his parents get themselves involved in religion and attend church, finding God.
Now that is where I had a lot of problems with it. I have nothing against people's religion whose faith is important to them, but at times this just took on a spiritual reading book with biblical texts and such.

When William grows and has a girlfriend we see that although his age is what it is, his emotional state comes across a lot younger.

I began to realize that this is not a novel as such, more like a literally piece of work.

William Oakes is the one telling the story, of the past, of his family, his parents and his heritage. Mental health is played a lot within these pages.

I have to say this is quite a depressing book with not much happiness within it. I struggled finding my way upwards out of the pages once I had finished it. I felt quite down in the dumps.

This is a unique book, it has so many avenues leading off of it I just don't know where to start.

For me, the book needed more simplicity for us readers and a little more captions of joy.

3 stars from me for a debut novel.


My thanks to the author who posted me this in paperback
Profile Image for Lorilin.
761 reviews233 followers
December 1, 2015
William Oaks is living life in a haze. To the outside world, he is a grown man with an interesting job and a caring girlfriend. But on the inside, he is a wounded boy still suffering from the traumas of his childhood. When his parents die suddenly in a car accident, William is forced to confront the reality of who his parents were and the pain that living in their house caused him.

Like William, I also grew up in a very conservative, evangelical Christian home, so I was interested to read about his experience. There is no denying that Eulogy is an incredibly dark and deeply sad book, but, unfortunately, it is also a fairly accurate representation of what life is like in extremely religious households. (In fact, I actually read the whole book mistakenly thinking it was a memoir, not a novel.)

The dynamic in William’s family is familiar to me: the family is isolated and untrusting of “outsiders.” William is encouraged to evangelize to people his age, but not befriend them. His parents are insecure and horribly critical of just about everyone and everything. They aren’t nice to him or each other, but since William has no other social contacts, his parents are his lifeline, and their approval means everything.

Before his parents die, William is trying hard to create some distance. He tells his parents (or tries to tell them, anyway) that he doesn’t share their beliefs anymore. But the conversation, as usual, ends bitterly and with William storming off like a disgruntled toddler. It isn’t until after his parents die, that William finally gains the courage to really dig in to his relationship with them. He investigates the family stories–the stories repeated to him over and over again by both his mom and his dad–researches the facts to see if those stories are actually true. (No surprise, they aren’t). He dissects memories from his childhood in order to make sense of them and somehow move on. He rethinks his relationships with members of his old church. In other words, he ruminates. A lot. And this is what most of the book is: William pondering the past, trying to come to terms with his pain.

While I did feel drawn to William (despite his overwhelmingly depressing story), there are two parts of the book that irked me. First, there is some weird sex stuff between William and his parents that is briefly mentioned but never fully addressed. (William’s mom holds him tightly at least once a day and whispers to him, “You’re my snake. You’re my big writhing snake.”) If this had been a memoir, I would have let the randomness of this vignette slide, but, as a novel, I thought Murray should have either talked about it more or removed this small section entirely. As is, it feels like an afterthought.

Second, I really don’t like how Eulogy ends. More specifically, I don’t like how William chooses to frame his parent’s car accident as a final act of “orgiastic glee.” Again, if this had been a memoir…okay, whatever. It’s weird, but fine. But for a novel? Ugh, I get what you’re trying to say, but come on, Murray.

Ultimately, Eulogy was an intriguing read for me. I thought Murray did a pretty good job, overall, creating this character in his strange and dysfunctional world. But this book definitely took something out of me. I finished it and felt like I had run a marathon. It is just so. Emotionally. Taxing. If you want insight into the lives of super religious, dysfunctional people, this is your book. But just prepare yourself. It makes for some heavy reading.
125 reviews
October 30, 2015
2.5 stars rounded up to 3!

This book was quite different from my usual reads. A bit moving, slow ans sometimes depressing.

THE PLOT: The book is about William Oaks and his troubled childhood which shapes his future. His parents are not happy with their marriage and William spents his days listening to his parents' arguments and with his dad disappearing for some days and coming back again with promises of change. After some time, his parents devote their lives to church and Christ and try to involve him them.

MY VIEWS : The book is not bad. Not bad at all. But it is a bit depressing at times. There were also many references to religion which I didn't quite understand. But I guess it is just me. If I had know more about Christ and Christianity, I would have enjoyed it better.

I would recommend this book only to readers who read and like this kind of genre.

*I got the book in EBook format from Netgalley.*
Profile Image for Joan.
400 reviews8 followers
October 16, 2015
The tale of a truly dysfunctional family

Although this story is well written, it is depressing. It is the story of a very dysfunctional family, told by the surviving son and every family member is a loser. Both the mother and father are depressing characters, who are naïve, but marry and immediately find they are not compatible. The father wishes he is more than he is and he has become a creature of habit who each day records what he should and will do. He makes up stories about his relatives and thereby causes problems for his son when his son seeks to find out the family history. The mother wishes she is more than she is and she finds a nutritious drink to sell called Slender Nation, which is a pyramid scheme and she cannot find anyone interested in selling it. The son has a fairly normal life until he is about eleven. From then on, his parents isolate him from other children so that he won’t become a sinner.

At that time his father becomes very religious and looks forward to the rapture. He and his wife argue continuously and he leaves home for awhile. She goes to this Pentecostal Church and becomes totally immersed in Jesus, sin and salvation. When her husband returns home, he goes to the same church, but he is waiting for the rapture. Any time anything is wrong, the two of them harp for hours at their son. As a result, the son then goes to his room and self-mutilates himself. Finally he is able to leave home and go to college, but any time his parents feel he is not immersed in Jesus, they show up. As a result, he has no friends, has never had a girlfriend until he is almost thirty and she likewise performs self-mutilation.

Eventually his parents are killed in a car wreck, with his father driving, and in the church which they had attended, he has to give a eulogy of their lives. At this time he is living alone and works by himself as a chemist determining the chemical make-up of old manuscripts.

Thus the story is about this man and his struggle to find a healthy balance in his life. It will be informative for readers who wish to know about the struggles of people in this category.

I was given a complimentary e-book copy for an honest review.
Profile Image for Book.
305 reviews14 followers
January 18, 2016
‘Eulogy’, a debut literary work of Ken Murray, a Canadian creative writing teacher, is not a novel for every reader. Though well-written in literary sense, because of its subject and events that are portrayed on its pages, Murray wrote really sad piece, or even depressing for the reader.

Yet, his vivid story of one truly miserable and dysfunctional family managed to show deep insight into the lives of its protagonists what is the main quality of this work.

Born in unhappy family of two people who soon became aware how incompatible they are together, the main character grew up into the unhappy kid who before his teenage years still tried to lead normal life. But soon his parents will decide to move him away from other kids, in same time devoting their lives to church and faith.

The son cannot escape from the consequences of such isolate life and before leaving for college he is going to start doing bad things to himself, in the solitude of own room. Yet, the fate decided to step in, his parents are going to be killed in car accident, and though finally alone and free of their religious torture, it seems it is too late for any change for our main character…

Ken Murray with his novel delivered unusually sad journey, therefore there are moments where more emotional readers will struggle to continue reading. Still, if reader succeeds to keep motivation and strength to go to the very end, what ultimately awaits is novel that surprises with its dark and sad, yet truly authentic story that stays in reader’s memory.

Therefore ‘Eulogy’ will have special appeal to people who are struggling in same way during their life as main character did, showing how difficult life can be, however that on this journey we should not give up. Overall, this novel can be characterized as somewhat different and in moments not pleasant reading experience, but certainly rewarding in the end when and if you reach it, what I certainly recommend.

I was given a copy of this book by the author for the purpose of unbiased review, while all the presented information is based on my impressions.
Profile Image for Jonathan Lin.
113 reviews10 followers
September 21, 2015
The most depressing thing I've ever read.

Depression and desperation in small town Ontario over decades of time. Enduring and never-ending pain.
Profile Image for Andrew.
Author 2 books3 followers
February 19, 2020
Ken Murray’s Eulogy is a novel set in contemporary Canada. Its characters at first appear to be ordinary, unremarkable people, but they’re not. The story it tells at first appears to be a straightforward account of the circumstances surrounding a fatal car accident, but it’s not. Eulogy presents a plain face, and then peels away the surface camouflage to reveal the compulsive passions and slow violence beneath.
Part One is a stark account of the Spartan life of William Oaks, Paper Conservator at the Royal Ontario Museum. It outlines the fact of his virtual estrangement from his parents, Keith and Janet, and hints at its source. It tells of their death in a car accident, and how he travels to his hometown of Otterton to wind up their affairs and deliver a eulogy at the church he rejected years before.
Like the Book of the Dead artefacts William works with at the Museum, this Part is a glimpse into a complex history of which only fragments are visible. The eulogy he gives is a collage of half-truths, wishes, retold fictions and guessed-at thoughts; it serves to exhibit in the best light possible the fact of two wretched lives, papering over the ugliness and desperation of their marriage, their obsessions and their weakness. Part One is deliberately curt. Its terseness might leave one feeling a bit injured at being excluded from the author’s confidence, a bit cheated, perhaps, wanting to know more.
Part Two, Notes on a Eulogy, then takes elements from the eulogy and sketches what really happened. This Part starts to fill in the gaps between many of the fragments laid out in Part One. The connections don’t all come at once, and neither do the principal characters of William, Keith and Janet. They seep up out of the pages of this book slowly. So does the sense of place: Otterton, Blue Rock Falls and Biscotasing in particular take a while to be visible, just place names, white backing paper, until they materialise in time to take their parts in the narrative.
Part Two slakes the thirst developed in Part One. It really showcases Murray’s deftness with language, his ability to conserve tension and his superb handling of pace. His characters are uncomfortably real, consolidated in the unfolding of their lives as the inevitable products of their circumstances. It’s sometimes bleak reading, but always compelling.
I enjoyed Eulogy immensely. It’s smart, occasionally funny, and very human. The attractiveness of Murray’s prose features more and more as the narrative develops, giving an ever more intimate experience of the unfolding characters’ predicaments. His voice is steady and confident throughout as he explores themes of family, ancestry, birthright, and familial love from many angles, each one sharp, poignant and astute. He offers us a privileged view of personal appetites and passions we might not otherwise see: a view from which we might also understand. He offers each of us the hope that, however imperfect we are, there might still be some kind words to be said when we’re gone.
Verdict: There are so many reasons to read this book: pick one and take the plunge.
472 reviews4 followers
December 26, 2019
To the outside world, William Oaks is a normal person with a good job and nice girlfriend. Internally, he is wrestling with emotional and psychological damage from his parent's misguided love. In search of inner peace, William joined an evangelical church. His parents, Keith and Jan, battled every time about everything and never tired of repeating the same argument. In total frustration, his father disappeared for a few months while his mother found solace - as well as a boyfriend - in William's new church. For money, she started selling powdered chalky nutritional drinks which her family substituted for meals, eschewing all foods. Research led William to the truths about his humbling family origins - contradicting his father's claims of grandeur - as well as more questions to his mother's well-being as a child. His parents unhappiness with the marriage and with themselves made them critical and wary of others. As a child, William learned it was easier to withdraw than face people and their family's lifestyle which greatly differed from his own. As an adult, able to focus well when alone, his meticulous job at the museum guaranteed success. As a person, he was still the same boy with the same angst in an adult body.
Unfolding slowly, the novel flipped back and forth to tell William's life story in his point of view. Missing a climax, it still kept me glued as I was eager to find out how both his parents became emotional wrecks. It was never clearly spelled out. Eulogy is a deep, dark novel of a family steeped in religion and somewhat led by misinterpretations of the bible. I cannot think of anyone who would enjoy this so not recommended.
Profile Image for Ele Pawelski.
Author 2 books18 followers
Read
December 14, 2024
This is a well-written novel with great turns of phrase, albeit a very sad one that ends much like The Grapes of Wrath. No one wins here. Liked that the main character worked in a really cool job at the Royal Ontario Museum.
Profile Image for JoAnne Waters.
393 reviews3 followers
October 22, 2017
"...what greater call was there for a man than the improvement of the life of a woman?" Page 188
Profile Image for Patty.
1,210 reviews49 followers
January 20, 2016
In my continuing efforts to read books outside of my usual genres I give you Eulogy – a slightly skewed family drama. William Oaks is the narrator of this story and he comes from a less than happy home. His mother is from a tiny town in Canada and his father’s ancestors are both fiction and reality. Mental health issues play a big role in the book throughout William’s paternal line.

William grows up in a house where his mother becomes obsessed with selling a weight loss product called Slender Nation. It’s all she will eat – well drink as it is a shake – and all she will allow the family to consume. Around the same time they find God at a church who thinks the Rapture is right around the corner. The combination is enough to ruin William’s childhood and he bides his time until he can escape but it has long lasting effects on his mental well being.

Eulogy is not an easy book to read since it deals with difficult issues but it is well written and very thought provoking. The characters are well defined and while you might not like them you find parts that are sympathetic. The ending truly caught me by surprise and I do love that in a book. It was a soft, subtle end and while unexpected it was totally appropriate once I really thought about it. This is definitely one of those books that would improve on a second reading.

4.5
2 reviews
July 9, 2015
Eulogy was hard to put down once I started. I loved the characers; they were strong and believable. Through them we got to know how twisted their lives were -- yet the plot remained poignant, not bitter. William, the protaganist's, insight into his parent's lives was startling and heartbreaking, as was his journey to get there.
The language was strong and clean; not one word was wasted. The strength of the language gave the story a strong, steady drum beat of words that was a pleasure to read.
Their was some great belly-laugh humour too; a couple of scenes were especially memorable.
Every thread of the story was created, introduced, dropped, picked up, woven and re-woven; the whole felt seamless and cohesive.
I was never sure if "Slender Nation", "Otterville", or "Biscotasing" were real or not; but they became real to the reader. The novel felt as if it was a photograph of real life, but the further read, the more slightly off-centre it felt, in a wonderful and exciting way.
The novel is imaginative, stirring and creative. So creative.
Eulogy is a wonderful nover. I loved every page.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews

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