The concept of being comfortable with death and grief but not letting it stop you from living is a valuable one. And there were a number of good nuggets here. But the delivery of it fell a little flat for me. The book itself was very slow, which is understandable given the content, but was just still a little too slow for me at times. More so, I felt Clover’s character was inconsistent and not believable. 

She was taught by her grandfather to be an observer and her job as a death doula makes her even more so. But she consistently acts in her personal life like she spent her life off the grid and has just be reintroduced to civilization, not understanding people or human interaction at all, and constantly running from every person or potential relationship, completely emotionally stunted and naive. The kiss scene was a bizarre example of it - she’s watched numerous romance movies but didn’t know how a kiss goes, what he’s doing or how to hug him back? 

It also never seems to occur to her to be self aware and make an effort to grow, if at 36, she’s still doing the same thing - unhappy about how she feels but declaring this is the way she is or the way others are. She is essentially acting like a recluse without any friends or relationships unless she’s working. Except she’s not a recluse which again made her unbelievable and contradictory. Probably just a pet peeve for me but it just frustrated me about her in addition to her character not lining up for me.