Scan barcode
A review by marilynw
When All Is Said by Anne Griffin
4.0
***Trigger warning at end of post***
Eighty four year old Maurice Hannigan is ready to say goodbye. All his affairs are in order, property sold, dog given to new owners, money in various accounts for various people, things given away, boxes packed with names of who gets the contents, everything done and sorted so he can enter a nursing home the next day. At least that is where he tells those in the know, that he is going.
There are five people whose memories he want to toast first though. One of the most poignant is the toast to his late brother. The love between Maurice and his older brother Tony, was something most people could only hope to have. Five years older than Maurice, Tony let Maurice know he would always be there to protect Maurice. Maybe reading wasn't Maurice's thing but Tony knew that Maurice would win in life, doing other things just as big or bigger than reading. When people asked Maurice what he wanted to be when he grew up, Maurice said he wanted to be Tony...it was as simple as that, nothing was better than Tony.
The last person Maurice toasted to was his late wife, Sadie, who had died two years earlier. It's Sadie's death that has broken Maurice's heart and spirit and his depression is a bottomless pit. Maurice was always faithful to Sadie, never wanted another woman, but he knows he let her down in ways that he knew he was doing at the time. Stubbornness was always strong in Maurice, he was a stubborn man, set in his ways, always after money even after he had more than enough, despite the fact that Sadie didn't like that he was so intent on earning more money. So they didn't talk about money but at the same time, Sadie knew she could never order tea with her Sunday dinner because Maurice said they could have tea at home, instead. When Sadie rebelled, Maurice realized how much he'd hurt her at times and even then, he still couldn't just let her have her way. These types of things are on Maurice's mind as he makes his toast to her.
Intertwined in these toasts is another story, a mystery, that concerns a once rich family that was not only unkind but cruel to Maurice's family. A young Maurice does something that ends up hurting that family and also Maurice gets his revenge on that family as he slowly buys up all their properties when they hit hard times. His need for revenge is what drives Maurice to keep working for more money, more than they could possibly need, and this urge colors all parts of his life.
I suspected how the book would end and I was right. I felt sad during the entire book and certainly at the end. Depression can take your life while you are still alive and make you do things you might not do if you could see past that depression.
***This is a spoiler but I want to include this trigger warning (it does not take away from the important messages in this story but it can be upsetting).
Published January 24th 2019
Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC.
Eighty four year old Maurice Hannigan is ready to say goodbye. All his affairs are in order, property sold, dog given to new owners, money in various accounts for various people, things given away, boxes packed with names of who gets the contents, everything done and sorted so he can enter a nursing home the next day. At least that is where he tells those in the know, that he is going.
There are five people whose memories he want to toast first though. One of the most poignant is the toast to his late brother. The love between Maurice and his older brother Tony, was something most people could only hope to have. Five years older than Maurice, Tony let Maurice know he would always be there to protect Maurice. Maybe reading wasn't Maurice's thing but Tony knew that Maurice would win in life, doing other things just as big or bigger than reading. When people asked Maurice what he wanted to be when he grew up, Maurice said he wanted to be Tony...it was as simple as that, nothing was better than Tony.
The last person Maurice toasted to was his late wife, Sadie, who had died two years earlier. It's Sadie's death that has broken Maurice's heart and spirit and his depression is a bottomless pit. Maurice was always faithful to Sadie, never wanted another woman, but he knows he let her down in ways that he knew he was doing at the time. Stubbornness was always strong in Maurice, he was a stubborn man, set in his ways, always after money even after he had more than enough, despite the fact that Sadie didn't like that he was so intent on earning more money. So they didn't talk about money but at the same time, Sadie knew she could never order tea with her Sunday dinner because Maurice said they could have tea at home, instead. When Sadie rebelled, Maurice realized how much he'd hurt her at times and even then, he still couldn't just let her have her way. These types of things are on Maurice's mind as he makes his toast to her.
Intertwined in these toasts is another story, a mystery, that concerns a once rich family that was not only unkind but cruel to Maurice's family. A young Maurice does something that ends up hurting that family and also Maurice gets his revenge on that family as he slowly buys up all their properties when they hit hard times. His need for revenge is what drives Maurice to keep working for more money, more than they could possibly need, and this urge colors all parts of his life.
I suspected how the book would end and I was right. I felt sad during the entire book and certainly at the end. Depression can take your life while you are still alive and make you do things you might not do if you could see past that depression.
***This is a spoiler but I want to include this trigger warning (it does not take away from the important messages in this story but it can be upsetting).
Spoiler
main character suicidePublished January 24th 2019
Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC.