Review: Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune

 

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. Goodreads

Source: Hoopla - Audiobook

Review:  I adored The House in the Cerulean Sea by Klune (you can read my review here) and I described it as a warm hug. Under the Whispering Door is a warm hug with an edge to it. 

Wallace is a lawyer, and frankly, an asshole. He's good at his job but mostly by being cut throat and detached. The story opens with him callously firing a woman from his firm because of one mistake, despite her being his only defender and desperately in need of the job.

I'm not spoiling anything by saying Wallace dies and no one really cares all that much. The shocking thing is...he can see and hear all the "mourners", including his ex-wife, who are polite but don't have anything great to say about Wallace. He's screaming at them, but ultimately, into the void as they can't hear him - until he notices one person can see him. That "person" turns out to be his reaper, Mei, on her first assignment and a little late, as Wallace wasn't supposed to see his own funeral.

Mei escorts him to Charon's Crossing - an between sort of place with a topsy, turvy house, a tea shop where the living come to sip, and where people like Wallace - dead but not ready to leave - gather. Charon's Crossing is run by a man named Hugo who selects the perfect teas and helps guide the dead to closure so they pass on.

Wallace is adamant that he get back to his "life". He has trials to prepare for and he refuses to be trapped in Charon's Crossing and he's not going down without a fight. Yet, over time, he falls for the charms of Charon's Crossing, it's inhabitants, those passing through, and for Hugo. 

This is a very quiet, sad sort of story about death, love and acceptance. There is humor - Wallace trying to change out of the sweatpants and flip flops he died in lol for example but really it's about grief. Grief for a life not well lived, grief for those we lose, and grief for those we fail. 

I think this book just hit my at exactly the right time. I have major life things going on that are completely out of my control and it's frustrating - but reading about Wallace's journey was just what I needed. The themes of accepting things outside of your control, forgiveness (of self), the found family, the meaning of life and death hit me right in the heart and made me feel so much better. 

The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door do not seem to be related - despite the similar covers - and, I'll be honest, the story tends to meander, but the both have a gentleness and kindness to them and quirkiness that pull me in and make me want to stay with the characters long after the story ends. I highly recommend audio for both books.