Mai Nguyen's morbidly funny sophomore novel, Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead, explores the raw depths of grief as the title character flounders after her infant daughter's death. Devastated and on leave from her job as an actuary, Cleo takes a job at the funeral home that hosted her daughter Daisy's service. As she drags herself through each day, she encounters not only death, but life--in all its mundanity, frustration, and joy.
Nguyen (Sunshine Nails) writes in Cleo's sharp, wry voice, taking readers deep into her overwhelmed state. Cleo bites her tongue at people's well-meaning condolences, but occasionally, a snarky rejoinder (or a scream) slips out. After a failed attempt to return to her office early, Cleo drifts through the days in a fog, alternating between guilt, rage, and debilitating sadness. Desperate for some form of distraction, she begins working as the funeral director's assistant. Cleo immerses herself in the details of death (ashes, orders of service, endless paperwork), while she hopes to forget about her heartache, at least temporarily. Instead, she finds herself repeatedly faced with the reality of death--not only Daisy's but many other people's--and the variety of ways people grieve. Compounding her difficulty is the presence of her best friend and neighbor, Paloma, whose healthy baby was born on the same day as Daisy. Driven by both sadness and envy, Cleo begins sneaking into Paloma's house and spending time in her immaculate nursery when Paloma and her family are away.
Readers will follow Cleo's jagged journey with a mixture of tension, empathy, and amusement: Cleo is grieving, but she still has a quippy sense of humor, and her impressions of her funeral home colleagues and clients are peppered with sardonic observations. Her husband, Ethan, is mourning in his own way, and eventually--though it takes months--she is able to share her struggles with him. She also attends a friend's baby shower, where Nguyen juxtaposes Cleo's attempts to support her friends with the difficulty of celebrating alongside them. When new information about Cleo's coping mechanisms and her new workplace comes to light, she must decide once and for all how to move forward, even as she still carries her grief.
Touching and insightful, Nguyen's novel is a moving depiction of motherhood and an honest portrait of grief in its multilayered complexity. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams
Shelf Talker: Mai Nguyen's wry, moving sophomore novel follows a recently bereaved mother who begins working at a funeral home after her infant daughter's death.