Bud Stanley is an obituary writer. He admits he used to be good at it, but, as of late, has become cynical and sloppy in both his writing and his facts about the deceased. He has become unlikeable and just doesn’t seem to care. This all began after his wife left him for her old boss. Bud’s dark sense of humour, sarcasm and uncaring attitude is not a good look for the protagonist of a novel, but he has had a bad time of it.
The last straw occurs when he has a particularly bad blind date (not his fault this time) and goes home to drink away his sorrows. He begins to write his own obituary, putting in impossible feats and accomplishments just to make himself feel better. Unfortunately, he has done this with the wire service open and accidentally hits the send button….the point of no return. It is published immediately.
The next day, he is informed he will be fired, but they can’t fire a dead person, so they have to wait until the lawyers figure it out. In the meantime, he is suspended. While he waits, he meets Clara, a young woman who “crashes” peoples’ funerals and highly recommends he do the same. So he does.
He goes with his wheel-chair bound friend and landlord Tim. Each funeral teaches him something about living, relationships, friendships through the reactions of the mourners. He even begins to soften and to feel again. Tim’s friendship becomes very important and they have deep, meaningful, humour-filled conversations. He also begins to forge a relationship with Clara.
He has become a much more likeable character and now knows what his obituaries were missing when he was in his “funk.”
“…..you have to get to who they were. To do that, you have to go to the wake, the funeral. You have to watch and listen and see the grief and try to feel the pain. You have to get to know who they were and what they meant. Each Life.”
It is a story about redemption, love, loss, feelings and second chances. What could have been a very sad book with an unlikeable protagonist, becomes one that makes you think and love.
Highly recommended.
This book is available to borrow from the Caledon Public Library or if you’d prefer to own it, Booklore in Orangeville will give a 10% discount if you mention you saw this book review in JustSayinCaledon and ask for ‘Donna’s Discount.’
