Under The Whispering Door by T.J. Klune
(Format used for this read: Audiobook)
Welcome to Charon’s Crossing.
The tea is hot, the scones are fresh, and the dead are just passing through.
When a reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own funeral, Wallace begins to suspect he might be dead.
And when Hugo, the owner of a peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace decides he’s definitely dead.
But even in death he’s not ready to abandon the life he barely lived, so when Wallace is given one week to cross over, he sets about living a lifetime in seven days.
Hilarious, haunting, and kind, Under the Whispering Door is an uplifting story about a life spent at the office and a death spent building a home.
I fell in literary love with author TJ Klune when I read his book “The House on the Cerulean Sea”.
Yall that is probably one of my top 3 favorite audiobooks of ALL FRIGGIN TIME.
It was hilarious yet sentimental, light yet deep, and the narration was multilayered and PERFECT.
And I can say the EXACT SAME THINGS about this book.
This book is a little emotionally heavier and deals with a little darker subject matter than the other….but the overarching themes and feelings are similar.
You giggle as much as you tear up. You think about big life questions as much as you are swept away into a ficitonal fantasy world.
One of the trademarks of a good author to me is one who can seamlessly blend multiple opposing and conflicting emotions and themes together in one broad story.
To be able to write fantasy fiction that has plenty of real life relevant questions and issues is quite the feat.
T.J. Klune has found a way to do so SPECTACULARLY.
I feel he is also very thoughtful and respectful when handling more delicate and possibly triggering issues as well.
I appreciated SO MUCH the trigger warning he had in the very beginning of this book, before the story even began.
This book DOES talk about death…I feel like it’s a main character, a setting and a plot all mixed in one.
I will say if you have lost a child, or lost a loved one to suicide (or attempted it yourself) this may be an EXTREMELY triggering read for you so proceed with caution.
On the other hand though, you may find it to be incredibly healing and helpful with grief processing too. Just take care of yourself either way.
For me, I cried plenty in certain parts…but I definitely feel like it was not out of a place of trauma, but of emotional release.
This story was about grief….grieving others when they are gone but also grieving ourselves as well.
Which sounds super weird…but you’ll understand when you read it. (and yall know I be liking weird stuff anyways LOL)
This story paints a picture of what exactly does happen after our life here on Earth is done….what lies beyond, what possibilities there are.
As an ex-Christian now self proclaimed agnostic, I personally feel like as human beings we aren’t really supposed to know the answers to those questions…I feel like it’s something bigger and broader than our brains can even comprehend.
OR
I feel like it could be extremely simple. We are here and then we are gone. Period.
Either way, I do feel like our time breathing should be spent being kind to others and being kind to our planet, caring for all people and all things equally.
This book doesn’t take a particular religious perspective…..I feel like he wrote a fairly good mixture of several theories/belief systems…but I think the author and I agree on that statement I just typed quite strongly.
I just thought this book was so so so so good, yall. Heartwarming and heart wrenching and all the things that lie in between….
Which is kind of like the journey with grief, isn’t it?
Yall should definitely check this one out…..again, just be mindful of the state your heart and your mind are in before you proceed.