I found this book to be very similar to “A Man Called Ove” by Fredrik Backman — with an old, cantankerous protagonist who has lost the desire to live, a new neighbour that brings in a ray of hope, a poignant back-story interspersed with the main narrative, a writing style that’s simple yet touching and a cat as well.
The book deals with the life of octogenarian Eudora Honeysett as she contemplates the final years of her life. Unlike her peers, she’s not scared about death and she would rather go early than approach it slowly and painfully. Her life then gets upended by the entry of Rose Trewidney, a loveable precocious child, and her family and a new friendship with Stanley Marcham, who’s only a few years younger than her. Her back-story incorporating her mother and her younger sister forms the concluding part of each chapter
The book is poignant in parts, and funny and hopeful in others — a bitter-sweet journey as Dora thinks about her past, explores her feelings about death and revels in her new relationships. It is also an emotional commentary about death. “We are living longer but not better”, as one of the characters in the book puts it, took me back to one of the best books that I’ve read recently, “Being Mortal” by Atul Gawande.
Overall, this is a very enjoyable book to read — it would have been even more enjoyable had I not read Backman’s book first!
Pros: Funny & poignant, easy-to-read
Cons: Very similar to "A Man Called Ove"
