After Visiting Friends reeled me in: Michael Hainey was six when his uncle arrives at his door one morning to break the news that his father was found dead on the street. Believing for years that his father had died of a heart attack on his way home from work, Hainey only begins to question this years later when he reads in his father’s obituary that he died “after visiting friends.” Who were these friends? Having grown up to be a journalist like his father, Hainey sets out to learn the truth. What really happened the night his father died?
The premise was enough to spark my curiosity, and once I got my hands on the book, I was hooked. Hainey deftly weaves his memories of growing up on the north side of Chicago with descriptions of the twentieth-century newsprint culture, all while making frequent stops to events happening in the book’s present (it took him nearly a decade to research and write it). On his quest, Hainey encounters one roadblock after another – records were discarded, key people have since passed away, and he’s stonewalled by his father’s friends and colleagues. But with his journalist’s sensibilities to guide him, Hainey eventually uncovers the truth.
The story is a quick read, but also rich and gratifying. Hainey doesn’t mince words – his sentences are short and evocative, placing the reader squarely into his shoes as he continues on this very personal journey. The broad themes may be what you’d expect – the relationship between fathers and sons, the quest for truth, the past’s hold over the present, the fallout from uncovering family secrets, etc. – and the truth of what happened the night Bob Hainey died might not come as a huge shock. It’s the getting there that makes After Visiting Friends a truly satisfying read.
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