BOOKS & SCRIPTS

     Reed Cowan's third memoir, Obitchuary, tells the story of his upbringing as the grandson of two grandmothers who were very different from each other in life, and in death. One grandmother, Fernie, was known by her family to be the long-suffering saint of the family, the glue of her family and the pride of all who knew and loved her. Reed's other grandmother, Sarah, was notorious for mean, awful and hateful. Both women lived only minutes apart. Both women died only minutes apart. Fernie died surrounded by a loving family who grieved her death. Sarah died a lonely death, with a small group of family members gathered at her coffin, one commenting, "she put the bitch in obituary." Years after Sarah's death, and having experienced his own tragedy, Reed went on a search to try to understand whether Sarah really was the mean witch he and others believed her to be. What he uncovered shed light on the damage of patriarchy in a rural Mormon town, and the perpetuation of family narratives that write some women off as "just mean and without morals." This book is not only Reed's love letter to both grandmothers, but to all women who are victims of domestic violence, and religious communities who fail to see and fight for women.