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It’s just that things have been so hard lately,” she said, as if he hadn’t spoken at all. “I’ve tried to keep it bottled in, but I should have known you’d see right through it.” There’s beauty in the chaos, if you know where to look for it. But you would know about that, wouldn’t you? You see it too.”
The next thing he knows, he’s watching his funeral. And then a reaper comes to collect him for his journey onward. Wallace is angry about being dead. He demands that things be fixed because his firm has work to do. Under the Whispering Door is about an unpleasant and selfish man, Wallace Price, who dies and becomes a ghost. He meets Hugo, the ferryman whose job is to help him move on to the afterlife. However, Wallace develops feelings for Hugo and struggles to cross over. TJ Klune is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling, Lambda Literary Award-winning author of The House in the Cerulean Sea , The Extraordinaries, and more. Being queer himself, Klune believes it’s important—now more than ever—to have accurate, positive queer representation in stories. The Guardian Tenderness, wit, and skillful worldbuilding elevate this delightful tale. Fans of queer fantasy won ’ t want to miss this just call me the the grinch because i swear my heart grew a size with every chapter. this is honestly one of the most wholesome books i have read in a very long time.That’s not to say the story is a tragic one. It’s still uplifting, but it hurts at times, the very definition of bittersweet. Those coming to the story expecting something similar to his last adult novel, The House in the Cerulean Sea, will find something different here. Where Cerulean Sea is like a friend giving you a warm fuzzy hug, Under the Whispering Door is a friend hugging you while you’re in the middle of a cathartic cry. He thought she’d been taking inventory and the dust had affected her allergies. “I think we need to refocus—” Kyle was laid off two months ago,” she said, and it took him longer than he cared to admit to place who she was talking about. Kyle was her husband. Wallace had met him at a firm function. Kyle had been intoxicated, obviously enjoying the champagne Moore, Price, Hernandez & Worthington had provided after yet another successful year. Face flushed, Kyle had regaled the party with a detailed story Wallace couldn’t bring himself to care about, especially since Kyle apparently believed volume and embellishment were a necessity in storytelling. That said, “Whispering Door” does have philosophical underpinnings that will connect with many readers (as will the emotions, even if I find them overemphasized). Klune posits that death – although sad – is a transition, not the end. He does this through hopeful insistence, as if trying to convince himself that he will see his own loved one again in heaven after his mortal life concludes.
Yet even in death, he refuses to abandon his life – even though Wallace spent all of it working, correcting colleagues and hectoring employees. He’d had no time for frivolities like fun and friends. But as Wallace drinks tea with Hugo and talks to his customers, he wonders if he was missing something.
Detailed Plot Summary
Sweet, comforting, and kind, this book is very close to perfect. The House in the Cerulean Sea is a work of classic children's literature written for adults and children alike, with the perspective and delicacy of the modern day. I cannot recommend it highly enough.” —Seanan McGuire, New York Times bestselling author of Every Heart a Doorway When a reaper comes to collect Wallace Price from his own funeral, Wallace suspects he really might be dead. I also hated the ending. You could see it coming a mile away because TJ Klune does not have the capacity to let his characters suffer beyond temporary hiccups. The rules change to accommodate the main character because that’s the kind of stories he writes. Where love is the most powerful thing in the world, strong enough to literally conquer death, and this single relationship is at the center of it. I just don’t find these kinds stories sweet or reassuring, because there’s no way to carry that over into your life. If your partner dies then you have to find a way to live with that, because no magical Boss Baby is going to appear and revive them for you. I guess I just wish the author hadn’t let them ride into the sunset this time.
Meanwhile, Wallace process his thoughts here at the tea shop, but he cannot leave or else he will begin to disintegrate. He’s also tethered to Hugo via a cable that attaches to each of them and keeps Wallace from floating away. The ghosts of Hugo’s grandfather, Nelson, and dog, Apollo, reside at the tea shop as well.Cassandra Khaw A whimsical, warm-hearted fantasy that suggests it is never too late to make a positive change in life – or afterwards Those who’ve read Klune’s other works know that his stories are full of heart. His latest work, Under the Whispering Door, also has heart, but differs from his previous works; it’s a story about grief, a tale suffused with love but also tinged with sadness. The writing is simple but endearing. I could read Mr. Klune’s writing for hours and hours. There is whimsy, wit, and poignancy. More importantly, there is originality. The book is not predictable at all and has a moving epilogue that made me cry. How do Nelson and Apollo transform the characters? What role do they play in helping us realize the presence of new pathways for finding our purpose?
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