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4.17 AVERAGE
4.17 AVERAGE
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
At first I thought maybe the universe is sending me a message with both The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, The Last Love Note, and now The Collected Regrets of Clover having featured in my recent Read list. Except for one book (Death Cleaning), the others were all unplanned reads with Last Love Note being a bookclub book and Clover being included in a book exchange with a friend.
Yes, its true I have dealing with grief after the loss of my mother to dementia just over two years ago. While I didn't live with her, when her house was sold a lot of her 'stuff' has come to me, the 'family historian'. It was probably my inspiration for reading Death Cleaning. But as I think Clover said (or was it someone else) grief starts to slowly soften.
I found The Collect Regrets of Clover beautiful, the author regularly interspersed almost 'lessons on life' style quotes through the book, collected by Clover in the notebooks she keeps, recording the Advice, Confessions, and Regrets given to her by those she has sat with as they ease from this life to whatever comes next. In the first part of the book we see Clover alone, almost friendless, living in an apartment she shared with her now deceased grandfather, surrounded by his 'stuff'. The author gives the sense that the apartment is quite dark and cluttered, perhaps an allegory for her own grief over the fact she was not there when he died and she thought she should have been. As the story progresses we see friends and more light emerge into her life. I thought the ending was more than beautiful as it heralded promise for our heroine. It's become one of those "what comes next" endings for me where the author doesn't completely type "...and they lived happily ever after", but you can hope they do and dream of the life afterwards of the main characters.
If there is a theme to this book, its there is life for the living after death, and we should let ourselves live.
Yes, its true I have dealing with grief after the loss of my mother to dementia just over two years ago. While I didn't live with her, when her house was sold a lot of her 'stuff' has come to me, the 'family historian'. It was probably my inspiration for reading Death Cleaning. But as I think Clover said (or was it someone else) grief starts to slowly soften.
I found The Collect Regrets of Clover beautiful, the author regularly interspersed almost 'lessons on life' style quotes through the book, collected by Clover in the notebooks she keeps, recording the Advice, Confessions, and Regrets given to her by those she has sat with as they ease from this life to whatever comes next. In the first part of the book we see Clover alone, almost friendless, living in an apartment she shared with her now deceased grandfather, surrounded by his 'stuff'. The author gives the sense that the apartment is quite dark and cluttered, perhaps an allegory for her own grief over the fact she was not there when he died and she thought she should have been. As the story progresses we see friends and more light emerge into her life. I thought the ending was more than beautiful as it heralded promise for our heroine. It's become one of those "what comes next" endings for me where the author doesn't completely type "...and they lived happily ever after", but you can hope they do and dream of the life afterwards of the main characters.
If there is a theme to this book, its there is life for the living after death, and we should let ourselves live.
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really enjoyed the first few chapters and last few chapters but the middle part really began to frustrate me. Clover didn't really seems like a believable character and she seemed pretty judgemental and naive for being in her mid 30's. I really wish there was more focus on other people's dying confessions and advice rather than just one person. My book club will be hearing about this.
I loved this book so much. I was kind of hesitant about starting a book that seemed to be about such a heavy topic, but the author did such a remarkably great job of balancing the different elements of the story (death, grief, family, relationships, trauma, love, belonging, etc). The storytelling was beautiful, the characters were interesting, and her gentle but blunt approach to talking about death and grief were moving. Highly recommend!
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No