Under the Whispering Door

Title: Under the Whispering Door

Author: TJ Klune

Published: Tor Books, September 21, 2021

Pages: 390

Genre: LGBTQ Fantasy Romance

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.

Cassandra Khaw said this is, "A warm hug of a book about a Grinch of a man." That is a perfectly concise review of this book. Everything about it was a warm hug. The message, the audio production, the characters, the ghost dog. All of it was so cozy and lovely. 

Wallace Price sucks. He is a bitter, oblivious man. And then he has a heart attack and a total of 7 people attend his funeral. Including him. And his reaper. She shows up to take him to his next stop on his afterlife journey. Charon's Crossing, a quirky tea shop run by Hugo the Ferryman. Hugo thought he was being awfully clever when he named the tea shop, if a bit on the nose.

Wallace takes some time getting the hang of this being dead thing. You watch him go through all of the stages of grief for his lost life, and then you start to see some changes. They're really sneaky at first. 

This book covers the touchiest of subjects: Death. Death in almost all of its forms. The tragedy and the beauty. The pain and the rage. How the dead have to deal with it, but then so do the living. It's a really beautiful study of the next great adventure. And if you're in a place to appreciate that, I highly recommend it. And if you're not, be gently with yourself. 

Ratings

Stars: 5/5

Spice: 1/5