Plot: 2 Writing: 3 Characters: 3
This is a new entry into the recent spate of novels which begin with a cranky, bitter, oldster and end with a heartwarming celebration of life.
Eudora Honeycutt is 85 and is planning to end her life with the aid of a Swiss clinic. In alternating chapters we witness her life’s transformation into one worth living and the historical events that brought her to the situation: alone and calmly planning to end her life.
The best character in the present story is the irrepressible 10-year old girl who moves in next door and befriends Eudora. That character draws the reader in and makes the book worth reading. The other characters are friendly and pleasant but not (for me) very believable. I had more trouble with the historical sections — it’s a long, sad story that is told without nuance so that it is too easy to think of obvious alternative choices Eudora should have made.
It’s a feel-good book with a strong pro-people, pro-friends, pro-life message full of caring neighbors and social workers. For me it crossed the border into saccharine and cliche but it was an easy, light, read with some funny and poignant bits.
Thank you to Harper Collins Publishers and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on Sept. 8th, 2020.
Books to look forward to ... 
A Man Called Ove might be worth a look.
A Man Called Ove might be of interest.
Hi Monica — Ove was the first of the spate …