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A review by kaylielongley
The News Where You Are by Catherine O'Flynn
4.0
The News Where You Are starts and ends with death. These events shape life, and the necessity of ending causes some to become bitter. Some long for the past while others cling to the present. O'Flynn delivers a surprisingly engrossing and tender novel about very real people as they explore these subjects. Themes like longing and lost span each page, but O'Flynn's grace in telling each character's story is remarkable.
After Frank's beloved friend and former predecessor Phil is mysteriously killed in a hit and run accident, Frank becomes obsessed with death. Both Phil and Frank are (were) small-town television anchors. 25+ years Frank's senior, Phil is liked by everyone, corny jokes and all. His existence is just below the surface, due to hair dye and face lifts. Yet Phil always feared the future, and his passing shocks many. As Frank continues to deliver increasingly depressing stories, he starts to explore the passing of the lesser folk: those who have died without any kin, those left to the wind after a 30-second spot on air. One particular case of Michael Church becomes a mystery after he's found dead at a park bench, cold and alone. Frank finds a connection between Michael and Phil, they are lifelong friends from their time serving in the war. Before Phil's passing, they lost contact. Such abandonment of friendship makes little sense, so Frank digs deeper into the past. On his quest, he meets a variety of individuals, including Phil's much-younger widowed wife, Michelle, who hosts an awful reality show. Through Michelle and Mikey's friends, we learn about the feelings of uselessness that can come with age.
Meanwhile, Frank struggles to understand his parents. Interlaced with the present-day chapters are Frank's recollections of his younger self, Francis. When he was a child, his father was an architect and rarely spent time with his family. While Frank is absorbed with the past, his father always looked to the future. His buildings represented a legacy, but after he dies, all but one of his buildings are destroyed, to make room for casinos and the hubris of the present. While Frank is filled with sentimentality, his mother's melancholia shows a different perspective. As a child, she had "orange days" with laughter and imagination and "purple days" with silence and nothingness. Her depression extends into adulthood. Placed in a backdrop of ever-changing Birmingham, England, these differences in character are sharp and reflect their city, but the changes in tense are sometimes unfocused.
Though this novel may seem to be simply about the comings and goings of a handful of people, it delves deep. O'Flynn truly respects each character, as well as the novel's landscape, so she takes time to develop the book. Some may find the pacing slow at times, but each character feels real. I'd read an entire book from the perspective of Frank's 8-year-old daughter, Mo. Mo is always eager to research, unintentionally crack a joke, and has so much fire. Overall, by exploring the everyday, The News Where You Are carefully mixes humor, retrospection, and despondency, and it reminds readers that both nostalgia and progressive-thinking pervade and distract from the present.
After Frank's beloved friend and former predecessor Phil is mysteriously killed in a hit and run accident, Frank becomes obsessed with death. Both Phil and Frank are (were) small-town television anchors. 25+ years Frank's senior, Phil is liked by everyone, corny jokes and all. His existence is just below the surface, due to hair dye and face lifts. Yet Phil always feared the future, and his passing shocks many. As Frank continues to deliver increasingly depressing stories, he starts to explore the passing of the lesser folk: those who have died without any kin, those left to the wind after a 30-second spot on air. One particular case of Michael Church becomes a mystery after he's found dead at a park bench, cold and alone. Frank finds a connection between Michael and Phil, they are lifelong friends from their time serving in the war. Before Phil's passing, they lost contact. Such abandonment of friendship makes little sense, so Frank digs deeper into the past. On his quest, he meets a variety of individuals, including Phil's much-younger widowed wife, Michelle, who hosts an awful reality show. Through Michelle and Mikey's friends, we learn about the feelings of uselessness that can come with age.
Meanwhile, Frank struggles to understand his parents. Interlaced with the present-day chapters are Frank's recollections of his younger self, Francis. When he was a child, his father was an architect and rarely spent time with his family. While Frank is absorbed with the past, his father always looked to the future. His buildings represented a legacy, but after he dies, all but one of his buildings are destroyed, to make room for casinos and the hubris of the present. While Frank is filled with sentimentality, his mother's melancholia shows a different perspective. As a child, she had "orange days" with laughter and imagination and "purple days" with silence and nothingness. Her depression extends into adulthood. Placed in a backdrop of ever-changing Birmingham, England, these differences in character are sharp and reflect their city, but the changes in tense are sometimes unfocused.
Though this novel may seem to be simply about the comings and goings of a handful of people, it delves deep. O'Flynn truly respects each character, as well as the novel's landscape, so she takes time to develop the book. Some may find the pacing slow at times, but each character feels real. I'd read an entire book from the perspective of Frank's 8-year-old daughter, Mo. Mo is always eager to research, unintentionally crack a joke, and has so much fire. Overall, by exploring the everyday, The News Where You Are carefully mixes humor, retrospection, and despondency, and it reminds readers that both nostalgia and progressive-thinking pervade and distract from the present.