A review I read "simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking" -- a perfect description. Andrew is a Council employee in a small British town. When anyone dies unattended in their town, Andrew is dispatched to discover if they have any relatives and deal with the funeral and burial if they do not. His office is filled with quirky characters, not the least of which is Andrew who, although he lives alone, has "accidentally" invented a wife and kids and house for himself. Try as he might, he can't seem to muster the courage to clear up the misconception and now there's a new woman on the crew and he finds her attractive. How is he going to tell her he's single and interested when everyone believes him to be happily married?

This is a wonderfully quintessentially British story -- filled with quirky characters, odd events, silly misunderstandings that are all dealt with in stereotypical British fashion -- stiff upper lip and a strong cuppa.

I was definitely reminded of books like Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, My Name is Lucy Barton, and Man Called Ove. Wonderfully endearing characters, a story that is very engaging, and a satisfying ending. There's no "high drama" or non-stop action, just a great story. I loved it.

I wanted to love this book, but as Eleanor Oliphant left me more depressed than hopeful, so did this one. I appreciated the writing style and would be willing to read other work by this author, but this one wasn’t the right fit for me. I’m an outlier though, so take my review for what it’s worth ❤️

This book was more depressing than I thought it would be and felt challenged by connecting with the main character. While I’m all for funerals and anything morbid, it wasn’t as enjoyable of a read

This book did not remind me of Eleanor Oliphant. I liked this book and did not like Eleanor. Even with its mix of grief and somberness mixed with humor. I'm glad I read it. It was a plot I normally would not venture into but I'm glad I did.

"How Not to Die Alone", by Richard Roper, was a totally unexpected pleasure to read. Although a very dark subject matter and some very questionable personalities within the workplace, I found the two main characters to be totally engaging. As the story continues, you see that things do brighten up a bit and it ends on the perfect note. This story is told in an unadorned way, for the most part, which really lets the characters and subject matter shine..

I am not sure if Richard Roper has written any other books, but you can be assured I will definitely find out and read anything else he may have written..

Seemed like a good premise - visiting a sad subject in a funny way, but I dont think the author was able to pull it off.

First off, I absolutely loved this book but I do not get the comparisons to "Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine" at all. I think it does a disservice to this story to be linked to that book (and I'm thinking that's why some of the Goodreads scores are low). Without that association, this book was heartbreaking at times but also filled with this quiet loveliness that I really enjoyed.

Set in the UK, "How Not to Die Alone" follows the life of Andrew whose job it is to find relatives of people who have passed away with no known connections. Andrew attends the funerals of these people, not because he has to, but rather because he wants to give dignity to the people that have passed. But Andrew is keeping a big secret from his co-workers - one that might derail a budding friendship he's made with a new hire at work. I don't want to give anything else away, so I'll stop there. But being along for Andrew's journey made me feel honored.

There's a dark humor and quiet wryness that I thought matched the tone of this story perfectly. I'd definitely be interested in seeing what Roper writes next.

I very much enjoyed this simple and entertaining plot. I quickly became invested in the main character and his relationship. I think the author did well with the platonic relationship between Andrew and Peggy.The end is a litter faster paced than the beginning. Just an all around very enjoyable story .

This is another story I struggled to get through and ultimately, I skimmed through it. The blurb was so promising, like a movie trailer that shows you all the good parts, but there is no real meat to the story.

I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

So, I really wanted to like this book. I enjoy things that fall under a bit more of a macabre genre. I thought the idea of someone who goes to people's funerals when they have no one else even though he doesn't know them is brilliant. It's something that I would have never considered, but it is sweet in its own sad way. That said, once I started reading, it just kept dragging. I thought the characters were fine and the plot was interesting, but the climax of the book just didn't hit me very hard. I was hoping for a lot more out of this book.

Andrew wants everyone to believe his life is normal, so much that his coworkers think he has the perfect wife and kids. But, like for most people, things are not what they seem. His lie is about to catch up with him, and then what will he do? This book was so funny, it had me laughing out loud at some points. It was also emotional and intriguing. I loved it!

I loved the idea of this book: taking a sad topic and tackling it in a humorous way, but in reality I wasn't able to get into it.

A quirky and uplifting story packed with colorful characters and a unique storyline. If you ejnoyed Eleanor you will also love getting to know Andrew.

Such a fun story. I enjoyed. It was cute and I'm glad i was able to read this. I recommend it, and I know many others who loved

DNF. I kept thinking I would come back to this one but never wanted to. It seemed like it would be ok enough but I didn’t find myself caring about the story or the character at all.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This book is the type that will make you laugh, but also make you feel a bit of dark sadness too! this book was so smart and clever to me and I really enjoyed it!

This is one of the most boring books I’ve ever read. I usually am able to find something positive to include in my book reviews. But, unfortunately, I can’t find anything that would allow me to recommend this book. I did a quick read just so I could get to the end and say I’ve read it and it was painful getting to that point. This was such a disappointment because I thought the book premise was promising and would end up being a delightful read.

Thank you to NetGalley and G. P. Putnam’s Sons for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

Andrew works for the Death Administration at a council in London and his job means that when someone dies alone, he has to go through their belongings to look for a relative, friend or someone who needs to be contacted. He also takes it upon himself to be at the funerals of those lonely souls.

While at his office Andrew’s co-workers think he has nothing in common with those lonely people because they think he has a loving wife and two children but that can’t be further from the truth. Andrew never meant to lie to his coworkers but a small lie became bigger and it’s hard to now tell the truth. What is he going to do with his boss iasking everyone to host dinners at their homes so they can meet their families and get to know one another more.

It’s going to be even harder to keep up with his lie because now he has a new coworker, Peggy, who is shadowing him as she learns about the job and she likes to talk a lot and Andrew likes to talk to Peggy too. It’s just that if he has to come clean about his past it means he has to face the tragedy he has tried to put out of his mind.

Andrew has one last solution. Maybe his only friends, the strangers from the model train forum he chats with regularly, will help him out of this mess.

Despite the title and Andrew’s work, this is really quirky and charming. I laughed a couple of times and was rooting for Andrew to break down the walls he put up around himself and learn to welcome friendship and love into his life.

<i>How Not to Die Alone</i> by Richard Roper tells the story of Andrew:

<i>All Andrew wants is to be normal. That's why his coworkers believe he has the perfect wife and two children waiting at home for him after a long day. But the truth is, his life isn't exactly as people think . . . and his little white lie is about to catch up with him. Because in all of Andrew's efforts to fit in, he's forgotten one important thing: how to really live. And maybe, it's finally time for him to start.</I>

<i>How Not to Die Alone</i> is a really good book. The writing is fluid and strong and the characters, seen through the eyes of our interesting but definitely odd narrator, are well constructed, if not heavily judged by said narrator. All that said, I had a really hard time latching onto this story. It's very very similar to <i>The Rosie Project</I>, in that it's really good, has a lot of potential, but is a painful read.

The main character himself is hard to latch onto, he sees the world his own way, and judges everyone else constantly. He's also a liar, a massive massive liar. That's not a spoiler, it's the very beginning structure of the book. I'm not a fan of normcore, it makes me so uncomfortable, this is a personal weakness, not an issue with the book itself. As a non-fan of normcore, it makes me cringe and wave my hands around and feel massively uncomfortable on a physical level when these completely avoidable but completely realistic messes happen. If you love that kind thing, you will love <i>How Not to Die Alone</I>.

In relating to <i> The Rosie Project</I>, I'm doing a bit of disservice, because this main character isn't as elitist as in <i>The Rosie Project</I>. Andrew genuinely can be a nice guy and he has empathy and compassion in him. He's just so used to pushing people away to protect himself that he doesn't seem to know how to let people in.

I received <i>How Not to Die Alone</I> as an e-arc from Penguine Group Putnum via NetGalley in exchange for a fair an honest review.

Review will be posted to CommuteReads on August 6th, 2020.