The Pallbearers Club- A Novel by Paul Tremblay
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Web ID: 17689030Thrills! Vampires! The music of Husker Du!
The Pallbearers Club stayed with me days after reading. I kept hearing the conversation between the main characters. Their dialogue and interaction were so much fun. And heavy. And real. This book took me by surprise in all the right ways.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
novel of an unusual relationship, pseudo-vampire
The Pallbearers Club by Paul Tremblay is a so-so novel of an unusual relationship and a pseudo-vampire. Art Barbara started a club for volunteer pallbearers while a senior in high school and it was through this club he met Mercy Brown. She brought her Polaroid camera with her to take pictures of the corpses. This begins the manuscript/memoir of Art, which is what you are reading. Between Art's memories are comments written by Mercy, after the fact, discussing what is in Art's memoir and clarifying various points in it. I enjoyed the opening of the narrative and then things went off the rail and into a different supernatural direction. I gamely kept with it and found things to appreciate in the changed narrative, but as it progressed, it was increasingly difficult to keep an interest in the plot. This is a wildly unique novel with plenty of strengths and weaknesses. It didn't really work for me, but I could see potential for more appreciation by other readers. Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins via Edelweiss.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Mind-Bending and Witty
Should memoirs be categorized as nonfiction or fiction? Does the recollection of events reflect the interpretation of each person who has experienced it? The Pallbearer’s Club by Paul Tremblay examines this notion by having contradictory reports and assessments by its two main characters. The author of a “memoir,” Art Barbara (a purposeful nom de plume), decides to begin his recollections beginning when he was an awkward teen. Trying to raise his status in school and bolster his college applications, Art decides to launch a new community service club. His choice of activity is a bit unique. The members of this club will help a local funeral director with services for the homeless or solitary individuals who have no one to mourn for them. Predictably, his club’s flyers fail to enlist droves of volunteers. One local young woman enthusiastically joins the small group but stipulates that she be granted permission to photograph the deceased. As the other members bow out, the club dwindles to two members. Thus begins a close, but dysfunctional, friendship that is the primary focus of Art Barbara’s confessional work. Mercy, the fellow club member remaining adds her comments and disputations throughout. Her edits provide a second interpretation and adds subtext to Art’s writings. Paul Tremblay is well known for his ability to foster a sense of confusion and mounting dread with plenty of added wit to break the tension. The Pallbearer’s Club is a fun read that will provoke debate about what “reality” means for individuals and what is unique to its witnesses.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com