REVIEW:

The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett is a lovely addition to what I like to call the “cozy coot canon,” which is the trending genre of fiction centered around an aging main character who’s had it with life until something (or more often, someone) shows there’s still beauty left in the world. A broader newish term for it is Up Lit - life-affirming stories that can kick you in the feels while also tickling your funny bone.

Welcoming Eudora into the club are characters like Britt-Marie, Arthur Pepper, Harold Fry, and of course King of the Coots - Ove.

We pick up with her at the age of 85 just as she's decided she doesn’t need to see 86. She’s putting a plan in motion to end her life in a manner of her choosing rather than waiting to die naturally and potentially painfully. Meanwhile, a family moves in nearby bringing unique and colorful 10-year-old Rose to the neighborhood. Rose is a breath of fresh air who causes Eudora to both get out of the house more and reflect back on her life starting in WWII when her father went off to war.

True to the genre, Eudora’s life has been quite sad. So sad, in fact, that her suffering has been almost Job-like. She never can catch a break, and tragedy abounds. While I was reading I kept thinking of all the people I WOULDN’T recommend this book to. If you’re sensitive to themes of suicidal thoughts, abuse, or encroaching spinsterhood, this probably isn’t one you’ll want to read. But if you enjoy books with quirky characters and quests for silver linings, The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett would do quite well.*

3.5 stars.

*The UK title of this novel is Eudora Honeysett is Quite Well, Thank You.

PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:

It's never too late to start living.

Infused with the emotional power of Me Before You and the irresistible charm of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and Be Frank with Me, a moving and joyous novel about an elderly woman ready to embrace death and the little girl who reminds her what it means to live.

Eudora Honeysett is done with this noisy, moronic world—all of it. She has witnessed the indignities and suffering of old age and has lived a full life. At eighty-five, she isn’t going to leave things to chance. Her end will be on her terms. With one call to a clinic in Switzerland, a plan is set in motion.

Then she meets ten-year-old Rose Trewidney, a whirling, pint-sized rainbow of color and sparkling cheer. All Eudora wants is to be left alone to set her affairs in order. Instead, she finds herself embarking on a series of adventures with the irrepressible Rose and their affable neighbor, the recently widowed Stanley—afternoon tea, shopping sprees, trips to the beach, birthday celebrations, pizza parties.

While the trio of unlikely BFFs grow closer and anxiously await the arrival of Rose’s new baby sister, Eudora is reminded of her own childhood—of losing her father during World War II and the devastating impact it had on her entire family. In reflecting on her past, Eudora realizes she must come to terms with what lies ahead.

But now that her joy for life has been rekindled, how can she possibly say goodbye?