Under the Whispering Door
By T.J Klune
5 stars
Last year I read The House in the Cerulean Sea and it became one of my favorite books of all time so I had a lot of expectations regarding this book. I knew what the author was capable of doing and even though Under the Whispering Door didn’t even come close to the masterpiece of the house in the cerulean sea I still gave this book 5 stars and T.J Klune is now one of my favorite authors.
In Under the Whispering Door we follow Wallace, and when a reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own funeral, Wallace begins to suspect he might be dead. And when Hugo, the owner of a peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace decides he’s definitely dead. But even in death he’s not ready to abandon the life he barely lived, so when Wallace is given one week to cross over, he sets about living a lifetime in seven days.
Like I said I gave this book 5 stars and nowadays in order for a book to get 5 stars from me it has to be a near masterpiece in my opinion. Under the Whispering Door is a heartwarming story about growing up and learning from our mistakes, it is a beautiful love story about discovering a family in an unexpected place. It is about our prejudices, about finding a home in the place we least expect it and least want to. As a typical Klune book the writing in this book is extraordinary, it is so simple yet the ability the author has to put words together is honestly a magical thing to read and experience.
It is no surprise that my favorite thing about this book were the characters. We first have Wallace a self-absorbed lawyer who is honestly a terrible person but ends up becoming one of the most sweet and trustworthy characters. We then have Hugo who for me feels like a warm hug, Hugo has been through so much you can´t not root for him to find what he wants and needs to be okay. By far my favorite characters from this book were Mei, Hugo´s grandfather and Apollo the dog, I could read thousands of books with these characters. They were sweet and extremely funny, I laughed out loud several times with these 3 characters. The secondary characters are great as well but for me what is important centers around these 5 characters.
My only minor complaint about this book would have to be the pacing, again, I gave this book 5 stars, I absolutely love it but the pacing kept it from being my new favorite book of all time. This book is slow, I mean really slow, there are some parts in the middle of the story where it feels a little repetitive and you wish for it to move it. However, the ending of this book was what convinced me on a 5 stars rating. WHAT AN ENDING that was! I honestly don’t think I had ever cried that much with the book, it took me almost an hour to compose myself and get on with my life. that ending absolutely destroyed me and filled my heart at the same time.
Overall, it is safe to say that T.J Klune is now one of my new favorite authors, everything about his books are absolutely perfection. The story, the characters, the humor, the representation it is all chefs kiss. Honestly I don’t know what else to say other than give T.J Klune a chance and you will see how his books will make you feel joy.
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