The Household Guide to Dying

From the book cover

Delia is a popular household advice columnist with all the answers to life's most important problems. If you ask, she can tell you how to get the wine stain out of your linen, how to put the gleam in your bathroom, and the proper way to boil an egg. She will likely toss a few well-meant insults at you as well. You get just what you deserve for not knowing how to boil an egg.

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I have an unofficial rule. Whenever I go to the book store I always buy one book I didn't plan on buying. That book usually comes from the discount racks. This month's impulse purchase is Debra Adelaide's The Household Guide to Dying. The pick isn't an eenie meanie miney mo sort of thing, I usually read the book cover and check out what the literary world is saying about the book. In this case, I made my purchase because an author that I have a deep respect for called it a "tantalizing literary souffle." So on Wally Lamb's word, I decided to purchase The Household Guide to Dying.

I don't understand how Wally Lamb can write such masterpieces as She's Come Undone and I know This Much Is True, and then call this novel "a literary souffle." I'm not saying it's a terrible novel, it's just not that great. Sure it has short chapters, a smart protagonist and an interesting premise, but all that is not enough to disguise the fact that it's dull and predictable.

The story centres around Delia's attempts to tie up all of her loose ends, make life easier for her family when she passes away, and complete one final household guide. One of her loose ends involves returning to the small town in Northern Australia where she lived with her son, who died in a horrific car accident, to find the young woman who received his heart. Her attempts to make life easier for her husband and two daughters includes making frozen dinners that they can eat when she's gone (including sausages with her own blood), having them paint their personal touches on her coffin, and making countless lists to help them plan for things that will occur in the future.

My biggest problem with this novel is it wasn't convincing. Delia's reaction to the terrible turn her life is taking doesn't seem realistic. At times the narrative seemed choppy, as the story flashes back and forth between Delia present and the defining moments of her past. The most defining moment being the death of the son she had as an unwed teenager. The final pages of the novel made me second guess my opinion of this book, because they are so real and so touching.

3.5/5