Review: Under the Whispering Door
Gaby Meares
Wallace Price is a pretty nasty piece of work. He’s a workaholic lawyer who has no problem with making his staff cry. His work is his life. He has no concept of the meaning of empathy. And then he dies. And a reaper collects him from his own funeral (where no-one is mourning his demise) and takes him to Charon’s Crossing Tea and Treats tearoom to meet the ferryman, Hugo Freeman, who will ‘explain everything before you cross, any of those pesky, lingering questions’.
Under the Whispering Door follows one man’s journey to discover what living a good life is really all about. It’s whimsical and funny and sweet. Wallace needs to learn to be honest with himself about the life he has lived and honesty can be a weapon. ‘It could be used to stab and tear and spill blood upon the earth. Wallace knew that; he had his fair share of blood on his hands. But it was different now. He was using it upon himself, and he was flayed open because of it.’
The novel doesn’t say anything particularly new - if you’ve read any [a:Mitch Albom|2331|Mitch Albom|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1368640552p2/2331.jpg] or [b:The Midnight Library|52578297|The Midnight Library|Matt Haig|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1602190253l/52578297.SY75.jpg|74043794] you’ve heard it all before. However, TJ Klune has a special touch and his exploration of grief and all its permutations is honest and raw. As he says in his Author’s Note: ‘This story explores life and love as well as loss and grief. There are discussions of death in different forms - quiet, unexpected, and death by suicide. Please read with care.’
I didn’t love this book as much as I did [b:The House in the Cerulean Sea|45047384|The House in the Cerulean Sea|T.J. Klune|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1569514209l/45047384.SY75.jpg|62945242] which I just adored. But I still loved it!