Eudora Honeysett is 85 years old and she is done. She is still of sound mind and, while she may have slowed down a bit, she still swims her daily laps at the community pool and she can still care for herself, by herself, thank you very much. She has seen how death can be an ugly, drawn-out affair, having witnessed her own mother’s experience- and that is not for her. So Eudora makes arrangements for her own plan of action. And she will not let anything deter her, not even her brand new and surprising friends, such as they are – the boisterous young neighbor called Rose, and the awkwardly emotional gentleman, Stanley.
This delightful novel is very much A Man Called Ove meets Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. Eudora is a woman who’s had it tough, who has sacrificed much for others over the years, and at her older age of 85 is finally, if awkwardly, speaking up for herself. Much of her straightforwardness is cringeworthy, but, at the same time, it is so refreshingly stunning and true. And while one might expect her to repel others with her manner of speaking, she actually manages to endear them to her. (Could it be that our world is seeking this more genuine form of communication? That we are all just looking for honesty and kindness, rather than flattery or banality?)
The author has created utterly beautiful characters. Rose, Eudora’s 10-year old neighbor and adopted “BFF,” illuminates the pages of this novel. Her outrageously clashing fashion statements are clearly imprinted in the reader’s mind, and we cannot help laughing along as Rose enriches Eudora’s wardrobe (as well as her life) with color. As they are both unique in their own ways, they can appreciate each other for this – and accept each other as they are. And the relationship between them is tender and lovely and loving.
And, again, we meet another death doula! (I had never heard of this career path before the Picoult novel, and now here is the second novel with a death doula.) Once again, there is frank discussion about death and that one can choose to die with dignity and love and honesty instead of with machines and tubes and disconnection. So often, we are reluctant to face our mortality and so we do not plan for it. We deny the possibility, so we avoid discussing what we want. We do not complete the forms, we do not discuss our wishes. And then when it comes down to it, we end up where we may not want to be. The death doula can be the escort through this process of confronting those difficult conversations, those difficult moments, and to ease that time, for whenever it might arrive. For it will, of course, at some point, for us all.
This is a wonderful novel – on so many levels. Give yourself this gift – you will not be sorry!
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