Weepers

This evasive third novel (following The Delivery) from noted book designer Mendelsund is a somewhat surreal, Cormac McCarthy–esque meditation on the culture of death in a world now populated by people too numb to observe it properly. Narrator Ed is a stalwart member of a card-carrying union of professional mourners, whose services can be called upon to fill pews and provide tears at any memorial service. A self-proclaimed cowboy poet, Ed discovered his gift for on-demand crying years ago, during drunken confessions at the horse stables. His colleagues include Chantal, the outfit’s resident femme fatale; Dill, everybody’s best friend; Johnnie, a war-haunted veteran; and Lemon Barbara, a gruff matron who can also play the sweet grandmother if the job calls for it. One day, a spindly young man of unknown origin who barely speaks shows up to an assignment, and Ed comes to believe that this man is a weeping legend in the making. But the newcomer’s presence leads to strange and unexplainable events at the services he attends, while the union’s near-familial bonds begin to fray.