Under the Whispering Door - TJ Klune

 

Title: Under the Whispering Door

Author: TJ Klune

Publisher: Tor, 2021 (Hardcover)

Length: 373 pages

Genre: Adult; Fantasy

Started: October 17, 2021

Finished: October 24, 2021

Summary: 

From the inside cover:

Welcome to Charon's Crossing.

The tea is hot, the scones are fresh, and the dead are just passing through. 

When a Reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own funeral, Wallace begins to suspect he might be dead. 

And when Hugo, the owner of a peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace decides he's definitely dead. 

But even in death he's not ready to abandon the life he barely lived, so when Wallace is given one week to cross over, he sets about living a lifetime in seven days.

Hilarious, haunting, and kind, Under the Whispering Door is an uplifting story about a life spent at the office and a death spent building a home. 

Review:

When I read House in the Cerulean Sea earlier this summer, I knew I'd read anything this author wrote. When I found out his new book would be out at the end of September, I pre-ordered it. The House in the Cerulean Sea has a very different type of premise compared to Under the Whispering Door so although I personally enjoyed the former more, all the things I liked about it show up in the latter. 

Wallace Price is a very good lawyer, but he's not well-liked. He's not a great boss, romantic partner, or human being in general, he reminds me of a younger version of Scrooge from A Christmas Carol. When Wallace drops dead of a heart attack at age 40 and ends up witnessing his own sparsely attended funeral, a Reaper named Mei shows up and takes him to the next waypoint on his journey: a tea shop. Hugo, a ferryman, has the job of guiding lost souls the the next stage in the afterlife, and Wallace can only move on when he's ready. In addition to Mei and Hugo, the tea shop is also home to the spirits of Nelson, Hugo's grandfather, and Apollo, his dog. As Wallace grows closer to the inhabitants of Charon's Crossing, he realizes that he never really lived his life while he was alive, and seeks to rectify that in death. 

You can tell that Under the Whispering Door was a personal endeavour for the author, he says exactly that in the acknowledgements in the back. It gives the novel the authenticity that only someone who's suffered intense grief could contribute, and it works here. The author's writing style is engaging and pulls you in right from the beginning, and the characters are simply phenomenal; you can't help but love them, even Wallace. 

Hugo may as well be a saint (or maybe he was a social worker in another life) for how patient and kind he is to everyone he meets, and has the wisdom that people usually only learn about in therapy. Wallace is not  so unlikeable that he turns readers off, his sense of humour and ability to admit when he's wrong save him in that way. The addition of Mei, Nelson, and Apollo are welcome ones since the whole family functions so well together, and Nelson and Wallace have some amazingly funny conversations about how to be a ghost in the early chapters of the book (Mei is just hilarious in general and her energy is infectious). 

I find it amazing that a book so steeped in death is actually pretty light-hearted (for the most part, there are some real tearjerkers at the end). If I had any issues with this book, it would be that the ending feels a bit rushed and tacked on. 

Recommendation:

If you're a fan of the author in general or have read The House in the Cerulean Sea, you'll enjoy this newest novel. If you're interested in reading a story about a unique take on the afterlife that's not completely depressing, give this a shot. 

Thoughts on the cover:

I love the design of Charon's Crossing for the cover, it adds to the atmosphere of the overall story, plus the colour palette here is nicely pleasing.