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4.13 AVERAGE
4.13 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The concept of an obituary writer writing and publishing his own obituary leading to his termination from his job and ultimately a renewed zest for life is a concept that I must say is original in this world of copies. I thoroughly enjoyed the peaks into these vivid characters and the thesis that life is ultimately worth living and people are worth befriending.
I sometimes found the tone a bit preachy, but it was undercut with sarcasm and humor which made this a very enjoyable read all things considered.
I sometimes found the tone a bit preachy, but it was undercut with sarcasm and humor which made this a very enjoyable read all things considered.
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-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
I went into this thinking it was a comedy, it is not. It was light-hearted, while addressing the uncomfortable topic of death, but there was no laughing out loud. There was humor, but it was subtle. With that being said, I did enjoy it overall. It explores the idea of living the one life we have and what it means to be alive.
If you, like me, thought between the comedy of errors style set up and tongue-in-cheek title that you'd get a funny light-hearted book about a "dead-end job" you'd be WRONG. While certainly contains elements of all those things, this is a gorgeous, gut-wrenching, thoughtful book about what we make of death and how we make a life.
emotional
funny
inspiring
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:
No
tears. so many tears. this was a read of a library book, but now i want a shelf trophy i can come back to again and again
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
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:
Yes
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
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:
No
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I just finished listening to this book, and while the premise had a lot of potential, I don’t think it lived up to it. The main character, Bud, seems like he should be compelling, he’s sarcastic and funny, the kind of guy who drifts through life with a certain way and dry detachment. But that drift never really changes. Even when he makes a drunken mistake that gets him mistakenly declared dead by his office computer, the emotional fallout is muted. There’s almost no tension, humor, or crisis around many things and events in his life.
Bud’s relationships feel similarly underdeveloped. His friendship with Tim is meant to be a foundational part of his life, his “ride or die” kind of friend but that dynamic also feels oddly flat. Even though Tim is clearly trying to be a lifeline. And then there’s the love interest, who initially seems like she might be a classic manic pixie dream girl, but ends up not really being much of anything she, too, feels a little hollow.
Thematically, the book flirts with some big ideas. You’ve got death from multiple angles: Bud writes obituaries, he regularly attends funerals, and he’s dealing with personal losses both past and present. There’s clearly a thread about the meaning of life and what it means to be truly alive, but it never quite crystallizes. I kept expecting a Walter Mitty-style moment of revelation or emotional breakthrough, but Bud remains largely an observer of his own life rather than a participant. If there was growth, I couldn’t really feel it.
The humor, which is what originally drew me in, felt like it belonged to a different kind of book, one that never quite materialized. The book starts off dry and amusing, but the story shifts into something more reflective and somber, unrelentingly so.
That said, I think listening to the audiobook helped. The narrator, Sean Patrick Hopkins, did a really solid job. I’ve heard him in ensemble casts before, but I think this is the first time I’ve heard him carry an entire book on his own. His voice is pleasant, and he brought out the emotional and sarcastic nuances that might have been harder to pick up from the page. In fact, I suspect I enjoyed it more because of his performance than I would have reading it in print.
Bud’s relationships feel similarly underdeveloped. His friendship with Tim is meant to be a foundational part of his life, his “ride or die” kind of friend but that dynamic also feels oddly flat. Even though Tim is clearly trying to be a lifeline. And then there’s the love interest, who initially seems like she might be a classic manic pixie dream girl, but ends up not really being much of anything she, too, feels a little hollow.
Thematically, the book flirts with some big ideas. You’ve got death from multiple angles: Bud writes obituaries, he regularly attends funerals, and he’s dealing with personal losses both past and present. There’s clearly a thread about the meaning of life and what it means to be truly alive, but it never quite crystallizes. I kept expecting a Walter Mitty-style moment of revelation or emotional breakthrough, but Bud remains largely an observer of his own life rather than a participant. If there was growth, I couldn’t really feel it.
The humor, which is what originally drew me in, felt like it belonged to a different kind of book, one that never quite materialized. The book starts off dry and amusing, but the story shifts into something more reflective and somber, unrelentingly so.
That said, I think listening to the audiobook helped. The narrator, Sean Patrick Hopkins, did a really solid job. I’ve heard him in ensemble casts before, but I think this is the first time I’ve heard him carry an entire book on his own. His voice is pleasant, and he brought out the emotional and sarcastic nuances that might have been harder to pick up from the page. In fact, I suspect I enjoyed it more because of his performance than I would have reading it in print.