A decade and a half after her last novel (1997's Tending to Virginia), Jill McCorkle is back with Life After Life, set in the Pine Haven Retirement Community of Fulton, N.C., described as the "land of lard, Jesus, sugared-up tea and enough meshuggeners to fill Fenway Park."
McCorkle gives voice to Pine Haven residents, staff, volunteers, relatives--anyone with a piece of a story to tell. The central storyteller is Joanna, a volunteer who stays with people when they are breathing their last. She befriends C.J., the young tattooed and pierced cosmetician who does hair and nails for the residents. C.J. has a son, whose father is unknown to anyone except C.J. (and the father), which will lead to a surprising twist at the end of the novel.
A feckless magician named Ben lives nearby with his shrewish wife, Kendra, and their largely neglected daughter. Abby, nearly 13, spends far too much time at Pine Haven, feeling more at home with its residents than with kids her age. Her special friend there is Sadie, a former teacher who creates picture collages of residents visiting exotic places--making them feel as if they are there.
Appearance and disappearance are significant themes throughout Life After Life. The residents appear in faraway places thanks to Sadie's collages; Ben is making a "disappearing" chamber for a trick at Abby's birthday party. Another character, Stanley, has here-again, gone-again dementia. And, of course, part of life in a retirement community is that residents disappear--permanently.
It's a treat to have a new Jill McCorkle novel to enjoy. Her characters and setting, the humor and poignancy with which she writes, have been absent far too long. --Valerie Ryan, Cannon Beach Book Company, Ore.