Book Review: "Under the Whispering Door" by T.J Klune

Teaching people about the process of death and the afterlife is difficult enough without someone trying to shove a trope-based story down your throat as well. But this isn't like that at all. Instead, just like death-based novels like "Interview with the Vampire" and others, this book seems to deal with the process of death and then the afterlife in a very mature way with these constant touches of darkness and beautiful writing. You know how I get about beautiful writing don't you? I love a book that is beautifully written. You know that this book reminds me of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens in the sense that someone is given a second chance (almost) and everything is a lesson in life and how to really live properly. Between this we get the dark comedy of the writer who seeks to make fun of the droning corporate culture of the constant worker and 'career man' who seeks to simply work himself until he dies.

“I’m dead,” he said. “There’s no going back from that. A river only moves in one direction.”

The fact that our main character, Wallace, has died after being a corporate shill all his life, he becomes angry and very irritated when he dies before experiencing anything. It is a very 'how could this happen to me?' way of being annoyed. I enjoyed this because I imagine this is how a lot of people feel when they die before getting to enjoy their retirement or die before their time. Rather than being in pain, or sorrowful, they're just inconvenienced as if their train is late and there is nothing they can do about it.

One thing I enjoyed was the character of Wallace and how he was constructed basically for the point of change. Wallace is a character like Scrooge from "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. He's a horrible person in theory, he cares about money and business and that is all. He is forty years' old and he has never really done anything except work, work and work all his life for a law firm and eventually, at the age of 40, he simply drops dead. The moment of change is coming and the whole point is to send Wallace on this journey that forces him to confront the life he previously lived and see what he can do about it.

Another thing I enjoyed was the almost Disney-esque quality of Mei and Hugo - the people who exist solely to help dead people cross over to the next world. This is done from a house in the forest called: Charon's Crossing Tea and Treats. This is where they serve people muffins, cakes and afternoon tea etc. and it is all very whimsical. I like how this book takes something so serious and doesn't exactly make fun of it, but instead breaks it down into sizeable chunks in a story-like way and reasons them, trying to bring light to each and every stage.

This is a magical and yet dark tale filled with humour and sadness about a man who is taught how to live through dying. It can be seen as an extended metaphor for letting go of corporate culture and making the best of things that are worth more than money - I definitely felt like it was speaking to me in that sense. But the point is, this is a wonderfully written book and I can say nothing except that even if you don't like books written like young adult novels, I can guarantee that you will love this novel. It is a masterpiece of where darkness meets light.