I really struggled to get into this title. The *idea* was awesome, but I just didn't connect with the execution. Unfortunately, I ended up not finishing it due to lack of interest in the characters.

No less an examination of what it means to be human, told through the lens of the Harbinger of Death's travelogue. The novel doesn't quite sing, but is compelling and readable.

Unfortunately, I DNFed this book in the first 15%. It just didn't grab my attention.

I received a free electronic copy of this novel from Netgalley, Claire North, and Hatchette Book Group, Inc. in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all, for sharing your hard work, with me.

I was really excited to receive this book for review. Our protagonist is just an ordinary guy who is hired by the Horsemen of the Apocalypse as the Harbinger of Death. What a job! But I was really intimidated after opening the file - over 8,000 words, and 110 chapters! What a read!

And a wonderful read it is. Charlie is a really likable guy, humane and empathetic and basically perfect for this job. As he carefully explains to those he visits, his presence could be one of many things - as a courtesy or as a warning of impending death - that of an individual or an idea or of an accepted social attitude or something irreplaceable in the human chain of existence. He visits, for example, Old Mother Sakinai, the last of her people who spoke a language that no one else knew. He visits a member of the KKK, who works tirelessly to promote racial inequality. He works alone, for the most part, though he does spend time an older American, a Floridian who loses everything through redundancy and wants to travel to New York City to his brother, who leases tools for a living. That will always be needed, good tools to work with by handy individuals when an occasional job requires them. Or will it? And he has a growing relationship with his girl, Emmi.

Charlie is a Londoner but travels all over the world for this job, travels just as we do, by plane, train and automobile. He is received in any number of ways - with disbelief or joy or resignation but mostly with acceptance, and occasionally with relief. Charlie loves to travel, enjoys meeting new people, appreciates varied social mores and fits in well with most folks. There is a down-side to this job - there are people who want to control the Horsemen of the Apocalypse and think they can, though the Harbingers. And there are people who fear the Harbingers, the knowledge they acquire from those they visit. Charlie has to face some of that, as well.

All told, this is an exciting tale, told very well. I will want to keep this book, to read again soon. It is extraordinary.

Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Stars

North drives this book with a really interesting concept: before Death, comes his Harbinger, sometimes as a warning or sometimes as a courtesy. For a novel that, at its core, looks at the end of life and reason, The End of the Day is pulled off with a sense of humour and thoughtfulness that makes it a pleasure to read.

What sold the writing for me was North's ability to fuel her story and the darker things it explores with humour; not laugh-out-loud laughter or uncontrollable giggling, but a gentle amusement that lifts a story that is, essentially, about one man dealing with seeing worlds collapsing and ending. The pinnacle of this humour being Death him/herself. While I could talk about the character of Death for a long time, he was great in both concept and character; changing for all who see him, but patient and understanding, and willing to let human nature makes its own choices. In fact, all of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse were clever and engaging, as were their Harbingers. All this time there are people reacting with anger and fear and sadness to Charlie's appearance, but North makes it clear to the audience that this is life, and it's the way it has to be, even if it is at times unfair. That perspective is needed to understand the directions the narrative is driven in.
And you can't have a story about Death unless you highlight what life is, and North does this both through her characters and the cultures Charlie visits. Admittedly, the worst parts of some cultures (this book will make you never want to go to America), but beautiful little details within them as well. North must have done plenty of research while writing because you do feel transported to these places while you're reading, even if it's the grittier side of some of them.

This book feels a lot like a collection of narrative meditations on life and culture and how it all ends. It's all held together as a story by the lovely protagonist, Charlie, who goes through various experiences of honouring and warning those who lie in Death's path. It took me a while to get used to the not-quite-episodic structuring of this book, but once you get into the flow of it really being about Charlie and how he deals with it, it starts to make a lot more sense.
Towards the end, we go into a more traditional sort of narrative climax that I wasn't the biggest fan of because it felt so... dramatic next to what had been such a quiet and gentle story. It was by no means badly chosen or executed but felt somewhat out of the blue; we're starting to see the job take its toll on Charlie, but suddenly we have a big dangerous opposition to round it off instead of a quieter conclusion. Regardless, I enjoyed the more thoughtful outlook on something that could very easily have become a depressing nostalgic plot line about the hopelessness of mankind. We see glimpses of this, but it's a book about a lot more than what people are scared of most.

Charlie was a refreshing choice for someone in his position. You'd expect the Harbinger of Death to be hardened by it all, and hiding emotions under it, but Charlie is an honest nice guy who tries to be polite, and it thoughtful to his core. Which means that meeting those Death is coming for takes its toll - which is what makes this book interesting. I didn't realise at first quite what the point of the story was until I started noticing the little ways in which Charlie was changing, and realised that this isn't a story about Death and its path, but the Harbinger himself.
In order to make it this more detailed look at the bigger picture, North has a selection of smaller, recurring characters throughout Charlie's story. His girlfriend, Emmi; Patrick the business man; the previous Harbinger of Death; the humorous Harbinger of War. It's important when looking at such a big subject to find ways of making it quiet and personal, and North does this by creating this little world around Charlie while he travels the wider one.

The End of the Day is a clever and thoughtful book that is anything but depressing, even when it looks into the darker sides of Death and what it means. Really, it is about Charlie, and it'll get you thinking just as much as he does, about what the end of things really means.

The book was not eventful, it didn't lead to something and it seemed without purpose at times. Perhaps a bit too long, with inserted parts that I didn't understand from the book as it was (advanced reader copy). It was a book telling how the four horsemen of the Apocalypse are human beings, doing things just like humans do. The main parts of the story were constructed on character development and descriptions of different situations; the real world was presented in an unusual manner. The book deals with many things that are current, such as feminism, war, migration, cultural differentiation, making them central to the story.

Reading it made me uncomfortable, because it shows the inhumanity of humans. The Harbinger of Death, which is the main character here, sees all that, but he understands people, he knows why they behave so bad most of the time. He's supposed to value life and humanity, unconditionally. There were ideas I couldn't agree with, things that wouldn't make sense and a crass lack of justice in some ways. It did make me think about life and death, and it helped me explore all kinds of thoughts I had about being alive in general, so it wasn't a waste of my time. However, the length and the pace were not really suitable for a book with so little action or development.

I really liked this book at the beginning as the concept got the book is really interesting. The book is about Charlie who travels around the world telling people they they're going to die and trying to help some of them escape death. He does this because he works for Death as the harbinger of death. The opening couple of parts of this book were interesting as this premise was being set up and we got to see Charlie visiting people in Greenland as part of his job. The author also did some interesting things with structure and the inclusion of 'random' thoughts from people around the world was something unexpected and well done. It seemed like a contemporary, slow-paced fantasy/adventure story at this point and I quite enjoyed it. However, as the story continued, my enjoyment decreased and I wasn't sure why. I should have really liked this book as it has so many of the ingredients needed for me to enjoy something. But I just didn't. The problem with this book (for me) is the characters. Whilst Charlie should be a really intriguing character, he just felt a bit empty and bland. He didn't feel like a fully-formed and fleshed out human being. I need characters to be realistic (not necessarily likeable) for me to enjoy a story. Or I just don't care. That was the problem with the book. I just didn't care.

Hay reseñas que son difíciles de hacer. Algunas por que el libro te ha gustado tantísimo que no sabes bien como expresarlo de forma coherente. Otras, por todo el contrario. Y hay reseñas aún más complicadas de escribir, cuando aquel libro que tanto has detestado es de una de tus escritoras preferidas. Y sí, hoy os hablo de este caso. Un libro escrito por Claire North que no solo me ha dejado fría, sino que me ha decepcionado bastante.

El trabajo de Charlie es ser el Heraldo de la muerte. Viajar por todo el mundo y entregar regalos a todos aquellos a los que la muerte quiere conceder una visita especial. Como siempre dice Charlie, el acude a estas personas por dos motivos: bien como cortesía, bien como aviso. Pero da igual que no quieras ver a Charlie, da igual que te resistas: la muerte llega para todos.

De nuevo volvemos a encontrarnos con un personaje que es especial y diferente al resto. Sin embargo, en esta ocasión no se le ha sido concedida una maldición/don especial como pasa con el resto de personajes de las novelas de North que he leído, sino que él mismo ha aceptado el trabajo y él puede dejarlo cuando quiera. Un trabajo que además le gusta: viajar por el mundo, llegar a rincones inóspitos y conocer a gente, aunque ésta esté al borde de la muerte. Y escuchar. A Charlie le gusta mucho escuchar a los demás, escuchar sus historias. Cuando muere una persona muere un mundo, pero muchas veces Charlie ha estado ahí antes para conocer ese mundo.

La premisa de la que parte la novela es original e interesante y si North hubiera seguido un poco el esquema que sigue en el resto de sus novelas, podría haber sido un buen libro: ¿Hasta qué punto se puede explotar la idea de que alguien sea el Heraldo de la muerte? ¿Cómo explotar el resto de Heraldos, que van apareciendo en el texto demasiado brevemente? Sin embargo, en esta ocasión North se queda en la superficie y lejos de explorar eso, se dedica a contar historias, casi a modo de relatos autoconclusivos, en los que Charlie va vagando por el mundo mientras conoce a gente a punto de morir. Vagando es la palabra clave, ya que es la sensación que da toda la novela: que divaga sin centrarse en un punto en concreto. La falta de un hilo conductor en la trama es uno de los mayores handicaps de la historia y llega un punto en el que, como lector, ya no sabes hacia dónde te conduce. Ni te importa. Por supuesto, el intento de cambiar de registro no es malo, todo lo contrario, es interesante que North se desvincule un poco de sus anteriores libros quiera escribir algo totalmente diferente, pero en este caso no funciona. De hecho, creo que habría funcionado mejor si fuera una antología. Algo así como hizo George R.R.Martin en Los viajes de Tuf.

El otro gran handicap del libro es la tecera persona. Quizá por qué estoy acostumbrada a que North escriba en primera persona y nos meta dentro de los personajes principales, nos adentre en su psicología, pero al tratar a Charlie desde una tercera persona, esa intensidad se pierde y con ello acabamos desconectándonos de lo que le pasa. La evolución del personaje es lenta y al centrarse constantemente en personajes secundarios y sus historias, no llega a interesarnos mucho. Tampoco ayudan los continuos flashbacks, que en otros libros se hacen necesarios y se utilizan de forma muy inteligente, pero que en este no logran diferenciarse del presente y, por tanto, no aportan dinamismo al libro.

No todo es negativo en el libro y aunque las fallas pesan más que los aciertos, North sí hace cosas bien. El estilo en el que está escrito el libro sigue siendo tan poético y original como en sus anteriores libros. La premisa del libro es original y muy interesante y en las primeras páginas muy disfrutable. No es hasta que llegas a la página 100 o así que descubres que ni la autora sabe bien hacia dónde llevar a Charlie, que es cuando empieza a decaer el libro. Además, algunas de las críticas sociales que hace North (como el cambio climático, el precio de los pisos o los refugiados) son también muy interesantes. Pero al contrario que pasa con otros libros como Hope o Touch, North quiere abarcar demasiados temas y, junto con la trama difusa, no quedan del todo claros.

Me ha costado mucho escribir esta reseña. Es duro escribir un texto así sobre una autora que te encanta, como me pasa a mi con Claire North y más ahora, que han decidido publicar este mismo libro en español. Estoy segura de que parte de esta decepción viene asociada a las expectativas que tengo con la autora. Quizá a vosotros os guste y si le dais una oportunidad, disfrutáis de los viajes de Charlie. Pero para mi no funciona. Aún así, un mal libro no hace una mala escritora y os seguiré hablando de ella todo lo que pueda, a la espera que su próximo libro esté más acertado.

A brilliant and intriguing read. Beautifully written.

great read and easy to follow story line. always enjoy claire's books. look forward to reading more from this author.

"A world has ended, and only tomorrow remains.”
I cannot decide if this was the perfect book at the perfect time or the worst possible book at the worst possible time. And I don't know if it really matters. All I know is that as I watch the world I thought I knew fall apart, The End of the Day was a difficult and emotional but also an oddly cathartic read. It is an anguished, strident call to see the value of humanity, to see all people, even those who devalue others, as people. And if there's one thing we all need to remember right now, I think it is the maybe broken, maybe imperfect, but ultimately precious humanity that we all share.

The End of the Day is one of those books I think of as "stealth literature." Like basically all of the books written under the Claire North nom de plume, the story takes place in the real world, but with one fantastical element added: the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and their Harbingers, are acknowledged and visible figures within the world. Death has an office in Milton Keynes from which he hires Charlie to be his Harbinger of Death. Superficially, the premise sounds like a cross between Mort and Good Omens, but the whimsical setup allows North to examine death and change and above all, what it means to be human. Charlie's job is to travel around the world, to talk to those chosen by Death, to bring them a gift, and to honour life:
"When you’re the Harbinger of Death, the thing that matters more than anything else, is seeing people. Not corpses, not killers or victims or soldiers or criminals or presidents or anything like that. You have to see…people. People who are afraid. People who have lived their lives, in their ways. You are the bridge. Death stands behind you, but you look forward, always forward, and humanity looks straight back at you."
I admit I was underwhelmed at first. I miss the lighthearted absurd fanciful creativity of the Matthew Swift series, but this crept up on me, slowly, gradually, ponderously, until I found myself with tears in my eyes. The story is episodic, almost picaresque, a meandering tune that slowly builds into a powerful crescendo.

I read this book with a lump in my throat as the news broke about America's decision to bomb Syria while refusing to take its refugees, as the US deported its first DREAMer, as America's climate change policy began to be dismantled, as budget slashes to arts and culture and history and science were declared, as the US dropped the "mother of all bombs" on Afghanistan, as Trump and Kim Jong-un posture and threaten their way towards possible annihilation. I read this book as I feared the end of democracy in my country, as I wondered if perhaps the idea of democracy had merely been a shared delusion, now shattered. As I read about war in Syria and warmongering in America and racism and hatred and genocide and death, death, death, about the ending of one world after another, I felt, as one character puts it:
"I look and all I hear is the beating of the drums and all I see is a world in which not to be one of us is to be something else. The scientist was right, reason is dead; the dream is dead; humanity has changed into something new and it is brutal."

But that hopelessness, that depression, that dehumanization, brought on as it is by compassion fatigue or news fatigue or bitterness with a world that deviates from our expectations-- that is not the point of the book. Despite all the death and misery, despite the failed battles and broken people, I think, at its core, this story is about seeing the humanity in each of us, even in those of us who do not see the humanity in others. Sure, there are a few missteps, a few tone-deaf moments. But at its core, the book is a celebration of a humanity, a desperate cry to all of us to see the humanity in one another and to build a more compassionate future.
"This is my city, my country, my home, this is my life, my battle, my war. This is my struggle to be seen as a person, to be human, this is my human body, this is my human life, this is my everything, this is my all, this is … [...] One day we will build Jerusalem."

Who would I recommend this book to? I'm honestly not sure. Don't go into it looking for an adrenaline rush, an amusing romp, or a tidy plot. But I found it poignant and cathartic and deeply meaningful. I don't know what it will be for you, but for me, it was a reminder of all the worlds that end, for good and ill, and that while I feel powerless, I am part of endings and beginnings,
big and small, and have the power to change them, if only the smallest bit.
"The world … no … a world is ending, and I was called to witness, yes? I was called to witness because I am part of the ending. My actions … I am the change. I am the future, and it is fitting, I think, that I should see the past too, yes?"
So for me, this book was about remembering the past, remembering the humanity in all of us, remembering to see people as people, not as something other. I don't know what it will mean for you, but there's only one way to find out.

Charlie has recently taken a new job – as the harbinger of Death. He is the one who comes before Death, sometimes as a courtesy (to honour those who are dying and make a record of their story), and sometimes as a warning (a last chance to change one’s ways and potentially avoid death). While the premise of this novel at first seemed silly and absurd, it is actually quite dark and filled with deep philosophical musings, although it took a while before it all came together for me.

At a job interview after college, Charlie was chosen as the harbinger, partly for his love of music and his lust for life. He is often surprised by the mundane travel methods of a harbinger, such as economy class airplane tickets, organized by the bureaucratic office in Milton Keynes. At first, Charlie is amazed by his new experiences as he travels the world, but it is not long before the responsibilities of a harbinger wear him down. The ordinariness of Charlie’s work life is often humorous, especially in contrast to the dark realities that he sees on his journeys – from the rapidly melting ice of Greenland, to war in Syria, and the lingering racism of the southern United States.

Charlie’s job is to warn people that death is coming, but another important aspect of his work is to bear witness – not only for dying people, but also for whole ways of life that are slowly becoming extinct. He sees the darkest aspects of humanity, such as racism, homophobia and war, and yet he also sees the potential for hope and joy that can come out of our most terrible moments, as people change and adapt. Meanwhile, the other three horsemen of the apocalypse are running wild, creating all kinds of havoc in the human world.

I can’t say much about the plot because there is really not that much to it – this is an unconventional novel that focuses on the human condition rather than specific characters. Each chapter opens with seemingly random pieces of dialogue that seem like nonsense, but in fact these are the voices of humanity, and when woven together they create an intriguing picture of Charlie’s world. Most of all, this is a novel of ideas – Charlie is in fact the harbinger for all of us and our way of life, in which change is always inevitable: “We all die. We don’t have to live our lives fearing it.” (Loc. 3555)

Like North’s other novels, the concepts here are clever and unexpected. Charlie is such a relatable character, which makes this implausible story feel completely believable. In his world, the apocalypse is not sudden but incremental – humanity is destroying itself piece by piece, through prejudice and ignorance. Charlie feels empathy for all kinds of people, even those that are ruled by anger and hate, but he doesn’t let it bring him down. Instead, he believes that he is witnessing “not the death of a world, not the old falling off, but the new being born.” (Loc. 5862) It is only by recognizing the past that we can create a better future for all of us.

I received this book from Redhook Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later. Let me just start by saying I adored the last two novels I read by Claire North, which is how I know firsthand her reputation for writing unique and fascinating stories. I never know what to expect when I pick up a book by her—only that it will be innovative with a good chance of being a bit weird. Well, it seems my luck with those experimental qualities finally ran out. The End of the Day didn’t work nearly as well for me as The Sudden Appearance of Hope or Touch did, and I believe there were several reasons for that.

But first, I’m going to attempt to brief summary of the novel, which is harder than it sounds. The End of the Day did not have a story per se, and if it had a plot, it was disjointed and muddled. There was a another review I stumbled across recently that likened the book to sitting on a park bench people-watching or something to that effect, which is actually a pretty accurate description. Literally, there are pages just filled with nothing but snippets of quotes from conversations featuring random people talking about current issues. In between, what we get is more of a character study rather than a true story.

Our main character is Charlie, and he has a very interesting job from a very interesting employer. His official title is the Harbinger of Death. He’s the guy everyone meets once, before his boss comes a-knocking. Charlie’s visits are sometimes a warning but more often a courtesy, and he usually comes bearing gifts to the people he’s scheduled to visit. From a small village in South America to Greenland to New York City, he also never knows where he’ll be or who he’ll see next. Wherever Death arranges to send him, he just goes, whether or not his employer ultimately decides to “follow up”. Not surprisingly, Charlie has seen and learned a great many things from his experiences traveling around the world and meeting people from all walks of life. Eventually, he starts to question his own existence and the role he performs, gaining a new perspective on death and the meaning of life.

The premise of the book is interesting, I’ll give it that. The execution, however, left much to be desired. I think one of the reasons I loved Touch and The Sudden Appearance of Hope was because, in a way, those could be considered thrillers, with both books featuring the same inventiveness and ingenuity that is pure Claire North, yet they were still fast-paced and exciting reads. In contrast, The End of the Day is more of a slow-burner, and did not contain any overarching conflicts or high stakes.

Instead, what we get a lot of is food for thought. One thing I can say about North’s books is that they’re always discussion-worthy, and indeed, there’s a wealth of clever themes and ideas in this one, not to mention plenty of social issues to explore. And yet, none of this really makes a good story, especially since we spend so much time with Charlie and in the end I still feel like I know so little about him. While I sympathized with many of his points, his character often came across as somewhat shallow and uninformed about a lot of the topics that come up in the novel, given the number of generalizations and strawmen arguments littered across the narrative.

Still, in spite of my disappointment, this is not the end for me and Claire North. The End of the Day might have fizzled for me, but I’ll keep reading her books because when all is said and done, North is an incredible writer and I can always count on her imagination to come up with plenty more fresh and creative ideas for stories. One of my favorite books is Touch, which I highly recommend to anyone who wants a taste of what the author is capable of. On the other hand, The End of the Day might not work so well for pleasure reading; it is heavier on commentary and lighter on story and character development, and coming from a couple of the author’s more plot-driven stories, I simply cannot say I liked the style and tone of this one as much.

I could not get into this story. The concept was interesting, but the rambling, monologue narration was distracting and annoying and I could not get connected to the plot and characters.

So this book is coming to Spain on April 2017:

La última novela de Claire North, El final del día, supuso un parón en la pila para adentrarme en otro texto de la carismática autora inglesa. El "efecto novedad" además de que desde la editorial inglesa me enviaron un ejemplar para reseñar, pues me tiré de cabeza. De Claire North he leído Las primeras quince vidas de Harry August, novela a la que le dedicamos un The Spoiler Club (y que quizá algún día acabe mis notas y publique la reseña por aquí), además de las tres novelitas cortas tituladas The Serpent, The Thief y The Master. Además el año pasado ganó el Premio Ignotus 2016. El caso es que con estos precedentes yo tenía suficiente confianza en la autora como para ni siquiera dudar de si la novela iba a gustarme o no. Estaba seguro de que sí.

El final del día nos presenta a Charlie, el cual se encarga de ser el heraldo de la Muerte. Tiene que viajar por todo el mundo visitando a diferentes personas para llevarles mensajes concretos por orden de la Muerte, y que precisamente Charlie te venga a ver suele ser un presagio funesto. O no. La novela se estructura en fragmentos muy cortos que representan situaciones, viajes o experiencias que vive Charlie, y que funciona a modo de un fix-up de relatos cortos que forman una novela de extensión considerable.

Claire North tiende a jugar con los capítulos cortos, textos breves pero muy impactantes y que dejan un cliffhanger (mayor o menor) para enganchar con el siguiente. Tengo la impresión de que la autora ha querido llevar esto más allá adaptando una trama que le permita seguir esta estructura. Así como en Las quince vidas de Harry August "casi" cada capítulo era una vida, o una historia cerrada, en El final del día tenemos que cada capítulo es un viaje o una situación concreta dentro de cada viaje. A título personal me parece una idea original, pero creo que es una estructura muy delicada. Claire North tiende a divagar en sus novelas. Introduce temas concretos y reflexiona sobre ellos para luego dejarlos a un lado sin más. Por lo tanto que esta novela tenga capítulos enteros de temas que ni van ni vienen a la trama me destroza por completo el ritmo y no me permite disfrutar de la historia. Me saca del texto. Que el ritmo narrativo se rompa para reflexionar sobre algo concreto del cambio climático, del Bréxit, o incluso de fútbol (¡del fúbtol!) es algo que no he sido capaz de asimilar.

La novela tiene muchos puntos positivos, sin ir más lejos, el propio estilo de la autora es espectacular, y es que Claire North escribe terriblemente bien. La trama es interesante cuando se centra en, bueno, en la trama, y que aparezcan más jinetes del Apocalipsis es bastante emocionante. Tengo la sensación de que Claire North tiene unas ideas brillantes, pero que nunca acaba de conseguir sacarle todo el potencial a las mismas, que se quedan a medio camino como "excusas" para leerte un texto con sus reflexiones. Y es una lástima, porque como ya os digo, creo que North tiene un potencial espectacular para contar historias. Por último mencionar que la editorial Hidra va a publicar esta novela en castellano, lo cual me parece una noticia para celebrar. A pesar de mis palabras, creo que merece la pena leerse esta novela para conocer a North, para adentrarse en su estilo y para celebrar que autoras tan originales y tan poco "comunes" se publiquen en castellano.

Charlie is the Harbinger of Death, he comes before - sometimes as a warning, sometimes as a courtesy.
This was one of the hardest of Claire North's books, it is beautiful and beyond definition - but there's so much to think about, it's taken me much longer to read than I expected. But I did enjoy it and I think I'll be thinking about it for a long time to come.

A good premise that has not come to fruition. The story lacks of a plot that connects all the experiences of Charlie.
English review: http://dreamsofelvex.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-end-of-day-claire-north-english.html
Reseña en castellano: http://dreamsofelvex.blogspot.com/2017/04/el-final-del-dia-claire-north.html

I finished this hours ago and I'm still digesting it. I knew before I finished this would be a five star read for me, but I do understand why some reviewers rated it low. It's a weird book, and it won't speak to every one. But it spoke to me. It confused me, scared me, made me teary, made me laugh, and made me think. I loved it. It's very depressing at times, but others it's uplifting and inspiring.

The Harbinger of Death has a name. It's Charlie. He's just a normal man, who applied for the job and got it. He travels the world to visit strangers. Some die while he's there, some soon after. Some don't die for a long time. Sometimes he's a warning, and sometimes he's a courtesy. He simply goes where he's told and doesn't really know more than that. He's immensely likeable as a person, but of course some people are not happy to see him. Some demand answers he simply doesn't have. He likes to think what he does in honoring the living, but not every one agrees. He finds himself in heartbreaking and sometimes perilous situations. This book isn't action packed, but it's extremely absorbing and fascinating.

I received a copy of this book from Net Galley and Redhook books, thank you! My opinion is honest and unbiased.

Me he llevado una tremenda decepción con este libro. Creo que he leído y comentado gran parte de la obra de Claire North, incluso escribí un artículo en Supersonic sobre ella y tenía muchas esperanzas puestas en The End of the Day, pero me he encontrado con un libro cansino y que vaga sin rumbo.

Para empezar, la sinopsis del libro es engañosa. Dice que el protagonista, Charie, conoce a todo el mundo, pero solo una vez. Pues va a ser que no, porque anda que no se los vuelve a encontrar. Esto es una menudencia, pero es un granito de arena más en el zapato.

El problema del libro es la falta total y absoluta de trama. No voy a exigir mucho, me basta con un tenue hilo conductor como usó Polansky en A City Dreaming. Pero es que en este caso solo vemos una sucesión de anécdotas y situaciones con intención moralizante, pero muy deslavazada. Durante toda la lectura no sabía adónde quería llegar la autora y lo que es más grave, parece que ella tampoco.

Ante esta tesitura, me quedaba disfrutar de esas imágenes y escenas, algo que tampoco he conseguido. North utiliza muy a menudo la repetición como herramienta de escritura, pero en este caso ha caído en su propia trampa. Para afianzar una idea se pueden utilizar otros métodos, como exponerla desde distintos puntos de vista. En The End of the Day no funciona así, se machaca una y otra vez, como un martillo pilón que siempre golpea en el mismo punto, siendo en este caso este punto la paciencia del lector. Algunas veces llegaba a ser exasperante volver a oir que el personaje llegaba "as a courtesy, as a warning".

No solo se repiten expresiones, también hay algunas situaciones en las que Charlie se ve envuelto varias veces. No me hubiera extrañado nada verle decir, "¿por qué seré yo tan secuestrable?".

Reconozco que no todo son puntos negativos en el libro. Al principio, antes de caer en un bucle infinito, el estilo de North tiene un punto poético. Y es cierto también que algunas de las denuncias que hace, principalmente de tipo social, son encomiables. Me gusta especialmente el golpe en plena línea de flotación de la homeopatía por ser un tema candente, pero cuando se trata de repartir estopa no queda títere con cabeza. El Ku Klux Klan, el racismo, la inmigración, el cambio climático... aquí no se libra nadie. Es una auténtica lástima que el envoltorio de estas ideas quede tan pobre.

The first Claire North book I read was the dazzling “The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August” which wowed me with its sheer inventiveness, the thought that she had put into it and how cleverly she pulled it off.

The End of the Day is centered on an equally thought provoking premise. It’s about Charlie who has a job is as a Harbinger of Death – the warning that Death is on his way to you (although not necessarily imminent). It’s an interesting job involving lots of travel and meeting lots of people although sometimes it’s dangerous. Charlie’s role may be to warn people or it may be to honour something about their lives. He might be witnessing the end of an era, for instance the last person to speak a dying language. He might not know why he’s there.

It’s a great idea, but the problem is that it becomes very episodic. We keep meeting interesting characters or being thrust into terrible situations, but then it’s onto the next. And Charlie himself is a bit of a non-character. Initially I loved this book but as I read on I started feeling a bit fed up. Having said that, it kept me thinking after I’d finished it. I remain in awe of Claire North’s imagination and I look forward to seeing what she comes up with next.

I received an advance reading copy via Net Galley.