The Collected Regrets of Clover: A Novel

There were a lot of things I liked about this book. I liked the reflections on death, grief, and different cultural and historical practices about those subjects. In some ways I could empathize with Clover, but sometimes I found her solitude strayed too far into rudeness and I had a harder time rooting for her. Mild spoilers:

More than half of the book is spent painting her as a lonely person who avoids people and risks, and reflecting on her memories of the past that are either bittersweet or just reminders of why she prefers not to engage with anyone. I wish more of the book had been showing her gradual emergence from her shell and embracing connections with people and the present. Instead, it felt like the book suffered from ending fatigue as it dealt with these changes briefly and sequentially in a montage-like way.
Heavy spoilers:

I was very glad she didn't end up with Sebastian, and that was refreshing. Hugo pops in suddenly being absolutely perfect, and that's fine, but I wish it hadn't been so sudden? A little too insta-lovey. I also like that the book didn't imply that getting with Hugo was the sole way to open up Clover's life, she had other things she wanted to do, and getting to know him was one of them.

This was really cute! Very much reminded me of the film Amelie, and how the protagonist spends so much of her time isolating herself from society yet performs little acts of kindness for those around her along the way. I found myself cheering the main character on and connecting a lot with her in regards to her upbringing and missing that comforting and warm female presence in her life. The supporting characters were great and I really enjoyed the journey that Clover went on. To be honest, I wish it was longer! Especially by the second half where the plot really kicks in. Death can be a very taboo topic for the western world and I'm really glad this novel unpacks some of those fears and insecurities revolving around grief and loss.

This book was such mixed feelings for me. The writing was overall gorgeous and the way that Clover’s personal relationship with death unraveled was nicely done throughout the book, not convenient or forced. However, what was convenient and forced was the book’s ending. Hugo’s intro and role in the book was in the last tenth of the book but we’re supposed to believe the ending based off of what amounts to little conversation. That’s not the Clover we know. The way things ended with Sebastian was very forced as well, very much not the way we have come to know him. I feel like it could have been easy to have a poetic paragraph about how this type of response is often a reaction to death and Clover had seen before but instead it felt limited and dry.

“The secret to a beautiful death is to live a beautiful life.” Mikki Brammer writes a compelling novel which challenges our Western tendency to relegate death to a untalked about corner. Brammer’s descriptions of what it means to be lonely will stick with me for a while. This is one to read and ponder and read again. Going on my shelf of books that have changed my thinking. Now to go forth and live.

I started off listening to this book but got the hard copy and really loved it so much more. Heartwarming revelations by a very shy main character with relatable anxieties. This was such a sweet story about living your life to the fullest.