The Good Remains: A Novel

by Nani Power

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year, Nani Power's The Good Remains is an enchanting tribute to Dickens's A Christmas Carol that follows a beguiling cast of characters in a small Virginia town heavy with history. Dr. C. R. Ash is a neonatologist and chronic bachelor, the last in line to an old Southern family name. During a snowy prelude to a much-anticipated hospital Christmas party, C.R. crosses paths with a world of local characters, living and dead: from Betty, his fire-fearing secretary; to C.R's lascivious best friend, who mends the hearts of babies; to Kirsten, a candy striper who teeters between the worlds of childhood and child rearing; to a clutch of death-obsessed teenagers; to two amateur caterers striving to create a Dickensian world of magic for the overworked and bedraggled hospital staff. In a town adrift with housing developments, strip malls, and Civil War history, this motley assemblage are all impelled by their search to solve the ancient human riddles of love, loss, and desolation.

Genres: Fiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published September 9, 2002

About the author

Nani Power is the author of the novels Crawling at Night, The Good Remains, and The Sea of Tears, the first two of which were selected as New York Times Notable Books of the Year.

She lives in The Plains, Virginia.

Reviews

[Dianne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ooh ick. Written in oh-so-impressively modern style. Normal sentence structure is gone, and in its place is an arrogant author’s attempt to ‘wow’ the reader. Yawn. I missed the story entirely, trying to figure out what on earth she was saying.

[Juliana Bjornsdottir · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a trip. Like a flashlight party for the living and the dead. Where there is life there is death and vice versa. Theme of returning to the fathers infused with a bloody battle in the Civil War.

An unlikeable protagonist with a Demi-god complex, dead fathers, wild youth from the past and to the present, death and the longing for death, life and the wasted time, broken hearts bleeding in the snow, human dignity on the verge of a cliff, and yet the good remains.

The sudden changes in the tone and language from one narrator to the next reads like slices of meat each seasoned in their own fashion. Yet they share the same roots. In Lamb and god, the language masterfully drips of the tongue in prosaic from the lips of a stoned teenage poet slamming in a smoky cloud. He is the character that momentarily drags the reader into the story with all its heaviness and its dark.

It’s a masterpiece. Raw and ravenous writing that surprises. Over and over. A postmodern modern mass of life in the muds.

[José · Rating 2 out of 5]

Is it a story or is it just a moment in the lives of all kind of people who are connected with eachother because of the hospital for premature babies? That I was wondering about reading this book. What I really didn't like was the 'funny' name of Mr. C.R.Ash. Why choose crash? What I liked: peoples thoughts are followed and sometimes I can relate to that. What I really didn't like: the end of the book... did you have no fantasy anymore Nani Power? And why is there no information about what is really happening in the lives of these people? But I read it and it is Okay.

[Debbie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was by far the WORST book I have ever read...but I plugged away at it as I kept hoping it would get better...the premise of it seemed so good! Glad it only took me a few days to make it thru the book, but definitely NOT one I would recommend to anyone.

The book bounces around so much (much like a Dicken's Christmas Carol) but very hard to keep track of the characters and what their connections are to each other.

(I left this book in our hotel in Cinque Terra, Italy...traded it for another novel left there by someone else...The Missing by Chris Mooney)

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

In this novel, some characters are well-developed and others are cliches. And oddly enough in a novel written by a woman, the women are consistently cliched--a cat obsessed spinster secretary, a spacy candy-striper, a concerned but clueless mother. Set in a hospital for premature babies and on a Civil War battleground, the story is well-written, funny and touching in parts, with some playful parallels with a Christmas Carol. BUT I was put off by the lack of even one interesting woman character and also by one very unlikely event which made the ending seem manipulated.

[Erica · Rating 1 out of 5]

The premise was so good. Too bad the weird stuttering in the writing style was so utterly distracting (and not just a character trait exhibited by one of the characters...nope, all of them.) I struggled to get through this one but for whatever reason, I just can't give up on a book until it's done. Stupid when there are so many great books out there waiting to be read.

[Larsend6 · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. I just waited and waited for something to form and had so much faith in the New York notable nod. it was just so awkwardly written. The whole scene at the end was so stupid I actually took it and threw it in the garbage, not even the recycle bin.

[Laura V]

I am having trouble getting through it.
The comparison to a Christmas Carol so far eludes me.

[Cristi · Rating 1 out of 5]

HORRIBLE!! Cannot believe it made it on the New York Times Bestseller list for awhile. DO NOT READ IT!!!