Book 866: Under the Whispering Door – T.J. Klune

After loving everything I’ve read by Klune so far it was obvious I was going to read this. And then, when it appeared on NetGalley AND I was approved, I had to sit on it for SO. MANY. MONTHS.* It was 100% worth the wait.

Having not read any of Klune’s “adult” books, this one feels more mature than his superhero books (The Extraordinaries and Flash Fire) or The House in the Cerulean Sea. Most of this is directly because there are no young adult characters and this deals so much with the topics of death and grief. And it brings up so many philosophical ideas about life and death that I’m sure I still missed plenty.

Getting it out of the way, I was NOT a fan of the way the book started. Wallace was a dick. There’s no other way to say it and it was a struggle to get through that first chapter because I wasn’t sure how long I was going to have to put up with it. Thankfully, he dies pretty quick and the book really kicks off.

We’re here to make sure they see that life isn’t always about living. There are many parts to it, and that it continues on, even after death. It’s beautiful, even when it hurts. (Chapter 12)

The story isn’t just Wallace’s story. It’s also the story of Hugo, the ferryman a la Charon from Greek mythology who works at a cafe called Charon’s Crossing (on the nose much?! but so adorable), Mei, the reaper who goes looking for the assigned deceased to help them find their way to Charon’s Crossing, and Nelson and Apollo, Hugo’s grandfather and dog who have both died and stuck around to help Hugo manage his anxiety and the stress of constantly dealing with death.

I loved that this story wasn’t over the top or about too much fantasticalness. In a way it was very Austen-esque in that it’s got a super narrow geography with a family of characters and occasional guests. Even though it’s dealing with this grandiose and incomprehensible of death and life after death, the story is really about the minutiae of living and it was a beautiful story.

As Wallace realizes who he was when he lived, he realizes he doesn’t want to be that person any more. He’s realized that Hugo and Mei are doing what they do, helping the dead pass beyond, not because they expect to get anything from it, but because they can and it’s the right thing to do. And when Wallace realizes this, after he’s become friends with everyone and fallen in love with Hugo it takes the book to a whole different plane. It becomes tenser, more visceral and a billion times more beautiful because of the time limit forced on Wallace.

Everyone loses their way at some point, and it’s not just because of their mistakes or the decisions they make. It’s because they’re horribly, wonderfully human. And the one thing I’ve learned about being human is that we can’t do this alone. When we’re lost, we need help to try and find our way again. We have a chance here to do something important, something never done before. (Chapter 22)

The one character I haven’t talked about is the Manager and I’ve left them out for a reason. It’s hard to describe their role in this other than to manage the process of death. The scenes with him act as the catalyst of the above mentioned ramping up of the story, but also as the denouement and it’s very telling that they’re embodied by a small male child and a stag (oh hey Harry Potter and Zelda – I’m sure they all get it from the same mythology, I just don’t know what it is).

Both times the Manager appears in the story I was left emotionally wrung out. What was Wallace going to do with what little time he had left? And at the end just so overwhelmed with joy and relief (even though I knew it would happen, but prepared for it not to happen, that I could barely finish the last few pages.

The Manager also had the throwaway line after the big OMG YES moment, that left me with the MOST questions from the book:

What? Of course not. His name was Pablo. He lived in Spain in the fifteenth century. He was . . . well. It’s not important who he was. All that matters, is you know this is a gift, and one that can be taken away just as easily. (Chapter22)

WHO THE HELL IS PABLO!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?! And is Klune going to write his story next?! Was it Pablo de Santa María (Wikipedia link)? He was the only one who came up after a 2 second Google search 😀 But seriously though how do you drop a hint like that and not follow up on it?!

Recommendation: READ THIS BOOK. It’s an incredibly beautiful work that makes you think and grow as you read it. I struggled a bit at the start but it gets so much easier to read and grows in beauty and complexity. Klune has become a must-read author and I cannot wait for his next book, whatever it is!

*I received a copy of Under the Whispering Door from the publisher via NetGalley in return for my honest opinion. No goods or money were exchanged.

Opening Line: “Patricia was crying.”

Closing Line: “If they’d looked back one last time, they would’ve seen movement in the forest. At the tree line, there, in the dark, a great stag lowered its head toward the earth in veneration, flowers dangling from its antlers. Before long, it moved back amongst the trees, petals trailing in its wake.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)

Additional Quotes from Under the Whispering Door
“It took him time to admit to himself that he was bisexual, something he’d felt relief over at finally giving it a name. And when he’d told Naomi, a little nervous but firm, she hadn’t cared either way, telling him that he was allowed to be whoever he wanted.” (Chapter 10)

“Nothing was going to change that. It was ridiculous to think otherwise, or so that’s what Wallace told himself. Declarations were meaningless in the face of life and death.
Wallace had never been a fan of the what if.
The problem with that was Wallace was also a liar, because it was getting harder to think of anything but the what if.” (Chapter 16)

“He hoped wherever he was going that there’d still be the sun and the moon and the stars. He’d spent a majority of his life with his head turned down. It seemed only fair that eternity would allow him to raise his face toward the sky.” (Chapter 18)

“‘When I was a kid, this was where we’d talk about all the important things.’ He smiled ruefully. ‘This is where I got the sex talk. This is where I got grounded because I was failing algebra. This is where I told him I was queer. He told me if he’d known, the sex talk would have gone a hell of a lot different.'” (Chapter 20)