I have had a complicated relationship with Klune's work lately. I read a couple of his books at Dreamspinner, so I was very excited when he signed with Tor... but I haven't liked any of the books he's published with them, unfortunately.

This one felt interminable at times. There was so much talking, so much languishing, so much of absolutely nothing happening. I could feel Klune using this book as a kind of therapy, so there were some highly emotional moments that really worked, but the juxtaposition of those with the deeply sad and uncertain discussions of death didn't really work for me. It was going for a The Good Place vibe, but it never really got there because, well, I just don't feel Klune that funny (or at least as funny as he seems to find himself).

I liked the last 25% or so, but it was a chore getting there.

I absolutely loved this book. It managed to feel completely different to 'The House in the Cerulean Sea', and yet felt reminiscent. This book caused me to reflect about the way I interpreted and felt about death, and was a truly emotional and beautiful read. Klune has done it again, with a deceptively complex concept exposing simple truths about what it is to be human.

I was so excited to read this one and finished the book just slightly disappointed. I fell in love with TJ Klune’s writing style when I read House in the Cerulean Sea. It is quirky and witty with the perfect amount of humor sprinkled in. Under the Whispering Door definitely has all that but with a more dark, melancholy tone. The characters in this book were fabulous and the storyline for the book was so interesting but for me the book was just too long and drawn out. The story didn’t seem to go anywhere fast. The book ended perfect and it was readable, however some spots were just slow and repetitive.

Thank you so much Net Galley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for a copy of this book in return for my honest review.

Under the Whispering Door has a lot of technical value, but it didn't do it for me. I was bored after Wallace's death and the many slice of life sequences that took place after. This is a good one, just not for me.

Wallace's character changed pretty fast, and I was hoping for a little more tension since his character was really played out to be scum of the earth in life- but this shockingly didn't affect the story that much. His character softened too quickly for my taste.

The moments of calm in the story where everyone is just vibing just didn't have enough chemistry to really interest me platonically or otherwise, and I didn't get into the romance much.

Regardless, I believe this is sort of the Klune M.O and this is what people read his books for, and I think he does it well (sticky sweet/uncomplicated romance). I also loved the writing style.

I didn't read a synopsis of this book beforehand and I decided to go in completely blind.

I am not a huge fan of talking about death and the afterlife *cue anxiety* so I was caught by surprise when this book was centered around what happens after you die. The story follows the main character, Wallace, throughout his journey in the afterlife and the people he meets to help him cross over. Wallace definitely embodied qualities that Mr. Baker portrayed in The House in the Cerulean Sea, but that is where the similarities end.

This book was totally different from The House in the Cerulean Sea and dealt with a lot of deeper emotions and grief. To be honest, I wasn't sure how I felt about this book after I finished it. It took a lot of time to reflect on the message and sort out my emotions. What I've learned from this book was that family is whoever has your best interests at heart, loves you unconditionally and is there for you and it's never too late to be a better person. Ultimately, I think this book was important to read and very impactful.

On top of the afterlife and death discussions, there was a beautiful love story that developed throughout the book. I felt like it was important to read and everyone should definitely pick this book up.

TJ Klune: author of queer book hugs. That’s the only way I can explain the magic that was The House on the Cerulean Sea and that is Under the Whispering Door.

Though not related to the book that was Klune’s claim to fame, the world in Under the Whispering Door feels comforting and familiar after reading The House on the Cerulean Sea. Tough topics such as death, grief, murder, and suicide are tackled gently in this wondrous world featuring ferryperson Hugo, reaper Mei, grandfather Norman, and the protagonist Wallace.

Pick up this book for an endearing story about creating a life in death.

Thank you, @netgalley and @tjklunebooks for an advanced reader copy of Under the Whispering Door. Pick this up from your local bookstore on September 21!

In this story, we follow Wallace, a recently deceased lawyer as he finds his way to his next step. He is brought to a little teashop where the reaper Mei and ferryman Hugo help him understand life. I did enjoy the themes of redemption and reflecting on life.
I did not enjoy this book as much as House in the Cerulean Sea-- Wallace is a tough character to like, but I enjoyed the other characters around him in this novel.

I am opting not to review this book due to the authors past offenses of racism, which he has engrained into multiple of his books. From his glorification of the police, making inappropriate jokes about police brutality in The Extraordinaries, turning his only character of color in Cerulean Sea into a dog, and his modeling the housing in Cerulean Sea after Canadian residential schools which subjected an entire generation of Indigenous peoples to sexual, physical, and cultural abuse. Klune has a VERY telling past of racism and I do not want to support his work as an artist by reading or reviewing any of his books in the future.

Thank you Macmillan-Tor/Forge, and NetGalley for the ARC!

Wallace is a bastard. A cold hearted, malicious bastard, and he dies that way as well. This is all a surprise to him as he stands over his body at his funeral with only a handful of guests including a strange woman he's never seen before. Even more a surprise when this strange woman looks right at him and actually sees him. This woman is Mei and she is here to take him to the ferryman, a wayward place between death and the afterlife. This place happens to be a tea shop ran by Hugo, a lovely looking man with all the patience and kindness in the world. All the patience in the world doesn't help Wallace. He is mad and unnerved that this would happen to him and he's cruel to anyone who disagrees. However, the longer Wallace stays at this resting stop, the more he starts to unwind and discover layers of himself he never knew he had. Now, as Wallace is finally getting a glimpse at what his life could have been, the head of the afterlife declares that he has one week to cross over and this new life is gone.

I rather enjoyed this novel. I wasn't sure how people liked it because I felt like the only reviews they had was "It has and LGBTQ relationship!" While I have NOTHING against that, I felt that so many people were missing out on what an amazing and heartfelt novel this is. There is so many layers and depths to the story that the romance is just a dollop in it. I cried several times reading this, so be prepared for that, especially if you've lost a dog! I also enjoyed his concept of the afterlife and while I do believe in God myself (this book does not) it does follow through with my belief that we all essentially believe the same thing no matter what we call it. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like something a little different in concept and pace.



Rate: 4.5/5

Fiction

Author: T.J. Klune

I will never not recommend this book! I love Klune's style so much. I wouldn't accept such sweetness from just anyone. Under the Whispering Door is like a warm hug I didn't know I needed.

Wallace learning to live after he has already died makes the reader really think about how they are living now. What kind of legacy will they leave behind. What will tether you to the world? Wallace was awful. The worst. And yet, even he is capable of redemption. He was all along.

Characters were amazing. Story was great. I have no notes.

Wallace was a very cranky character. Beautiful written and pulled me in right from the beginning. The subject matter made you think and I was left pondering what life is really all about. Happy I read it.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc

Dnf’d at around 40%

There are many things I would want to say about this book.The story follows Wallace, a grumpy attorney who suddenly dies and is forced to reckon with a life that he has lived. Along the way he meets Hugo, the so-called ferryman of his passage to the other side. This follows a lot of questions about death and life and how we live life but I found this to be such a boring way to tell that story.Wallace is an asshole who I am mediately don’t find any interesting interest in. Usually I understand bad characters or morally gray characters but they need to have something that makes me interested. Wallace was just mean and kind of a caricature. I find a lot of the writing to be similar to Neil Gaimen‘s writing in fantasy but I think Gaiman manages to include an interesting twist on fantasy while a lot of the fantasy elements in this book were really predictable such as the ferryman, etc.

Also I think part of the reason why I found this book to be very hard to get through was that it read very similarly to a Christmas Carol. Both Wallace and Scrooge are grumpy people who threw some sort of death experience, learn to value life.

Overall I think that this book has a good idea but the writing was just not captivating enough for me to keep on going nor was the character of Wallace or Hugo’s that intriguing to me.

🌟Book Review🌟 Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune ~to be published 2021

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I absolutely loved this peak behind the curtain of what life might be like after death. It is everything you would expect from TJ Klune and more.

Page count: 384 pages
Publication date: September 21, 2021

My sincerest thanks to @torbooks, @netgalley, and @tjklunebooks for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Wallace Price is the archetypal big firm lawyer— unsympathetic, a workaholic, and utterly ruthless. One minute he is working, and the next he finds himself watching his own funeral (we learn soon after that he has had a heart attack). He is incensed when none of the four people in attendance (!) have anything nice to say about him, but then he notices a fifth person who he has never seen before. From there, the reader is transported into Klune’s beautiful fantasy of what the afterlife may be like. Can Wallace accomplish everything he realizes he needs to before it is too late?

I absolutely LOVED this one. For me, it is even stronger than Klune’s much-hyped The House in the Cerulean Sea. It is deeper and more complex, dealing with the granddaddy of all subjects, life and death. Grief is front and center in this book, but it also has all of the lighter elements that readers of Cerulean Sea will find familiar — a heartwarming redemption arc, a beautiful queer romance, thoughtful representation of diverse characters, and a satisfying (if predictable) ending. And the humor! OMG I was laughing out loud 👙 🤠. A couple of minor critiques: Wallace’s evolution from total jerk to incredibly decent guy was a little abrupt, and I was confused as to why everyone was so upset with the manager when he hadn’t really done anything wrong (what am I missing?). I do still feel that Klune’s work is pretty conventional and skews YA, but going into this novel with those expectations in place allowed me to accept it for what it is and completely fall in love with it. Highly recommend!

This review will be posted on Instagram and Goodreads — @sanfranliterarygal

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for the e-Arc.
This is my first TJ Klune book I wasn't sure what to expect but I loved it. The story was beautiful, heartwarming and heartbreaking all at the same time. I also read this book without reading the full description which is something I recommend you do if you want to cry at 3 a.m because you didn’t know something that was already in the blurb.

I picked this book up because the cover was so odd but when you actually read the book you start to understand why all these elements are there and I loved that.

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Under the Whispering Door follows Wallace Price, a selfish and ruthless lawyer who dies unexpectedly at 40. Whilst watching his own funeral, he meets a reaper who takes him to the one person who can help him move on, a ferryman named Hugo. This takes Wallace through a journey from denial to acceptance. TJ Klune's writing makes this reading experience feel almost personal and the way he introduces the other characters makes it so that you can't help but fall in love with the little teashop and its occupants.

At its heart, this is a book about dealing with grief and accepting your life for what it was. It was filled with characters overcoming trauma and learning empathy. But this book was also full of funny moments and dry humour that just fit perfectly even if in-between were some actual soul-crushing scenes that had me crying at 3 AM (Most of it was because of Apollo and Cameron).

Without spoiling anything, the ending of this book might not be for everyone (especially if you're cynical by nature). Or maybe I just spent so much time preparing for the book to end one way that I wasn't prepared for how it actually finished.

I’ve had a fantastic reading year so far in 2021. Unfortunately, that means I’ve had a lot of book hangovers. You know. You have a fantastic 5-star read and you want to stay in that world. You don’t want to move on to something else. I’m also one of those “highly sensitive humans.” The kind that escorts ants and flies out of the house. That means that books that really make me feel (my favorite genre— “All the Feelings”) give me the worst book hangovers of all. I am now currently nursing one of those bad ones courtesy of the charming new book from TJ Klune, the author of The House in the Cerulean Sea.

I never heard of TJ Klune until I took a leap out of the box (not really a fantasy fan here) on the wildly popular The House in the Cerulean Sea. Kudos to me for grabbing that one. I loved it enough to dive into fantasyland again with Under the Whispering Door. And again, I was rewarded. What a sweet, quirky, affecting read. It’s about death and the transition to one’s next life, but it’s not what I would call religious in nature. It touches more on how people react to death and even more so on the reapers and ferrymen who work out of waystations that help the ghosts along to their final destination. Themes include denial, anger, acceptance, cruelty, the power of discussion, love, families of fate, Ouija boards and other ghostly matters.

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.

If you are in the mood for a whimsical yet touching and very human story, pick this one up. I highly endorse it for everyone.

I received this book thanks to NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review. Thank you in advance for giving me the opportunity to read this book in anticipation of its release!
After seeing all of the hype surrounding "The House in the Cerulean Sea", I knew I needed to get my hands on TJ Klune's newest release! Just after reading the first page I was immediately hooked. Wallace was a super unlikeable main character, but his humor had me laughing from the beginning. This was obviously a very hard-hitting and heavy book, but I think the added mix of sarcasm and banter helped to alleviate some of the seriousness. I really loved the tea shop atmosphere; it had me wanting to move to the middle of nowhere to open a tea shop. I really appreciated the diverse cast of characters and the LGBTQ+/race representation that TJ Klune included. The only issue I had with this book was the lack of plot. Under the Whispering Door is definitely a character driven story without much of a plot, but it did not hinder my enjoyment of the book at all. Overall, this was a really amazing book focused on grief and death, but also love and friendship.

I was so excited to read this book after falling head over heels in love with "The House in the Cerulean Sea." And while "Under the Whispering Door" didn't surpass that love, it certainly lived up to expectations. This book is a meditation on death and grief unlike any I've read. It is honest and brutal at times while maintaining the signature quirky quality of Klune's writing.

Klune continued his expert use of character-driven stories by making me fall in love with the main residents of the tea shop. I will say, however, the first several chapters bored me and I almost put down the book. I was unable to get on board with Wallace's character, even though I knew where his character arc was headed. He was an unlikeable protagonist to the point that I didn't even want to see how he changed throughout the book.

On a related note, the book's structure feels a little bit recycled from House in the Cerulean Sea. 1. Grumpy man's life gets upturned by powers outside his control. 2. He meets a cast of characters whose personalities are in direct opposition to his own. 3. Due to spending time with them, he changes his worldview. 4. He falls in love with the leader of that group of people at the same time. Even though I didn't know exactly where each twist and turn led in this specific book, I probably could have correctly guessed at the major plot points.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and will be recommending it. However, I did not enjoy the predictable nature of the story, even though I loved individual elements of it.

Wallace is greeted by a reaper at his funeral and instead of going onto an afterlife he is hanging around an odd tea shop. A ferryman is running the tea shop helped by the reaper that collected him there is also the ghost of the ferryman’s grandfather and the ghost of his dog. Wallace was a self-absorbed jerk in life but bit by bit that changes as he deals with being dead. Something happens and I will not say what but now Wallace has a week left to his existence in the tea shop as he is learning to be a better person and go through the final door. This book left me crying in public more times than I like to think about. It is a sweet story that tugs on the heartstrings and some people may not want that if they are dealing with grief in their lives. Needless to say at some point this story will bring a tear to your eye and if you can forgive a book for doing that then this is a great read.


Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Netgalley

Echoing others, Klune's trademark cozy and mystical found family feelings are all present in "Under the Whispering Door." Klune tackles dark topics such as death, grieving, and self-harm from the warm confines of a tea shop, a feat that is not easy to do. While I immensely enjoyed the read, at times I felt this novel echoed "House in the Cerulean Sea" too closely. The stuck-in-a-rut protagonist-who-changes-their-ways-right-away and the warm-love-interest-here-to-offer-you-a-lovely-home-and-a-found-family rang slightly repetitive to me, though I really did enjoy this novel. After publication, I am curious to discuss with other readers whether a platonic rather than romantic relationship may have served the novel better? I also felt like some threads were left loose. I would have loved more information about the manager, husks, hooks, and the whole organized institution of dying.

There are two parts to this review- the first is more generic and if you just want an idea or feeling on this book then don't read past the first paragraph. the second is more personal but also important for those of you worried about the personal impact of the book.

1. This book is so different, yet incredibly similar, to House in the Cerulean Sea. Unlike HitCS, this book isn't a literary hug. Instead, it feels like Klune was pulling taffy with my soul. Once again Klune perfectly balances depth with coziness in a way that is frankly baffling. The character development was strong, the storyline solid, and the feelings were very very real. If you loved HitCS and the plot of this book interests you, give it a try. if you didn't like the style of HinCS but are interested in the plot-this might not be for you.

2. Mental health-wise this put me through the wringer. I don't usually read books like this but I was entranced by Klune's style and thought this would be great for me. Quite frankly it was not. I won't deny the book its well-deserved five stars- but this put me through the wringer. I cried the last quarter and left the book (which spoilers- ends happily) fighting my depression. This book sparked feelings and thoughts which frankly I try to avoid. If you suffer from depression or dark thoughts- Please don't read this book.