The Collected Regrets of Clover: A Novel

I did not expect to love this book as much as I did! Clover reminded me so much of myself, it was a very interesting read with an interesting concept!

I was pleasantly surprised at the depth of this book. As a pastor’s wife who has spent more time with the sick and dying than most, I found Clover’s interactions and observations accurate. I found the romance gave the book balance, between parts that were heavy and parts that were light and made me smile. I enjoyed seeing the growth in Clover, especially as it pertained to taking risks with relationships.

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.