Book Review for “Death & Other Inconveniences” by Lesley Crewe.
Summary: “Well, Dick’s dead. Now what? Margo, his widow, is trying to dodge the tsunami of paperwork coming her way. She doesn’t want to deal with the details ― why do you think she was married in the first place? Dick always handled the drudgery. Monty, Margo’s ex-husband (the first one, not the dead one), is trying to support Margo ― who seems to be finally entering adulthood at the tender age of sixty-two. Their daughter Julia knows Margo needs her, but between work complications, house complications, and genius-yet-useless son complications, Julia’s gasping for air already. Dead Dick’s ex-wife Carole and their daughter Velma consider a Margo a maneater thanks to a few long-ago indiscretions, so the funeral is a nightmare. Life in New Brunswick lately is a tornado of siblings, children, pets, marriages, health issues, and endless bureaucracies. And at the centre of it all is Margo, living alone for the very first time, trying to endure everyone else’s judgements about the woman she is when she doesn’t even know herself. Maybe a cat will help. (The cat doesn’t help.) How old do you have to be to come of age? ….and has anyone seen Dick’s will?”
Age: Adult; Genres: Literary Fiction; Settings: Era/s: Contemporary; Location/s: Canada – various places in New Brunswick; Other Categories: Novel, Humor, Families, Relationships, Women of a “Certain Age,” Coming-of-Age.
Seems I’m kind of into widows these days, what with the TJR book I just reviewed, and now this one. Mind you, this one was supposed to be a humorous novel, and that’s why I decided to pick it up. You see, lately I’ve found that I’m in desperate need of more things that make me feel good, and I’ve been actively trying to avoid things that make me feel bad or sad. Sure, I can always use a good tear-jerker, but sometimes you just want to smile while you read, instead of have your heart race when something goes wrong. It seems, though, that there are far fewer historical fiction books that have much in the way of comedic offerings, and contemporary fiction novels that are supposed to be funny sometimes feel on the vapid side for me, or are too romancey for my taste.
Admittedly, the beginning of this novel was a bit amusing, at times. However, would I call it humorous? Sorry, but I can’t truly say that it was. In fact, after the amusing parts started to fade, somewhere before the middle of the story, there were several bits that were actually pretty sad, to be honest. That said, I have to say that it wasn’t all a downer, and the last third of the book took a more optimistic turn, which continued to the end. Now, the classic definition of comedy vs. tragedy is that the latter ends with people not having a happy ending, while the former had everyone living as happily ever after as is possible. In that sense, this certainly is a comedic novel, but that’s as far as it goes.
Obviously, I didn’t hate this novel, since I did finish it, so I’m sorry if the above sounds a bit harsh. In fact, as the story went on, I really got to like our protagonist Margot, and was well into warming up to all the nutty characters in her oddly extended family (such as her gay ex-husband, Monty). Here’s a woman who is suddenly widowed, and finds herself about to become homeless. Now, I know this happens a lot in the US, but I didn’t know it happens in Canada as well, which appalled me. (Where I live, EVERY mortgage must have a life insurance policy, whereby if one of the purchasers dies, the beneficiary of the policy is the bank, and the mortgage is immediately wiped clean, giving full, free, and clear ownership to the other buyer, or their legal heirs.) However, this is essential for the story, since without her impending lack of shelter, combined with no job (or pension, so it seems), she wouldn’t have needed to depend on her two children, her two siblings, or her ex-husband and his partner.
This also sets up the whole coming-of-age part of the story for Margot, which includes her bad relationship with her dead husband’s ex-wife and their daughter. All these relationships, together with the rest of Margot’s problems, are the “other inconveniences” that Crewe used in the title of this novel. So, although this isn’t a hilariously funny novel, it does have a couple places that will make you smile, but it is more of a sweet story about an older woman trying to discover where she fits into her new reality. For all of this, I have to say that although I was hoping for more humor, I can recommend this novel and I think it deserves four out of five stars.
The Vagrant Books release date in the US for “Death & Other Inconveniences” by Leslie Crewe is September 17, 2024 (it was released in Canada in June, but I’m not sure when it will be released in the UK). This book is available (via the following affiliate links) from Amazon, Blackwell’s (prices include international shipping), Waterstones, WHSmith, Kobo US (eBooks and audiobooks), Booksamillion.com, Barnes & Noble, iTunes (iBooks and audiobooks), new or used from Alibris, or Better World Books (promoting libraries and world literary), as well as from Bookshop.org and UK.Bookshop (to support independent bookshops, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic). I would like to thank the publishers for sending me an ARC of this novel via Edelweiss.
This novel qualifies for the following reading challenges: New Release Challenge (#39).
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