How Not to Die Alone by Richard Roper

How Not to Die Alone by Richard Roper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When you are in the middle of a quarantine and the news everyday is talking about illness and death, it seems like a great time to pick up a book called "How Not to Die Alone" right? In all seriousness, the book summary compared it to Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and I thought if this was going to be a funny/quirky book like that, it was just what I needed for a change of pace.

The main character, Andrew, has the interesting job of working with the Death Administration in the U.K. where he is tasked with going to the home of recently deceased individuals who died alone and with know immediately known next of kin to try to uncover any clues that might either reveal finances to fund a burial and/or identify a next of kin who may be able to assist with the burial and also disposing of any remaining estate.

I have no idea if this is a real job. I did stop for a second before writing this review to google that but I was going down a rabbit hole, so I stopped and came back to Goodreads to continue writing.

It takes a special kind of person to do a job like this and Andrew is definitely a special kind of person. During his interview for the job, he was distracted by the interviewers teeth and also determining whether the correct term he was thinking of was a stalactite or a stalagmite (this is just a glimpse into the random mind of Andrew) when he inadvertantly answers "Yes" to a question. When the follow up question is "how many?" he quickly realizes he has just answered yes to the question of whether or not he has kids. Instead of admitting his mistake (and potentially screwing himself out of a much needed job by admitting that he was zoned out in the interview), he invents a wife and two kids.

Flash forward five years and he has built an entire spreadsheet and created an entire life with his family. Memories of first dates, family outings and more. But then he meets a woman who he not only becomes friends with but starts to develop deeper feelings for and suddenly he doesn't know how to get out of his lies.

Throughout the story you get to learn more about Andrew's pasts and some of his personal struggles that have created the strange man he is today. It's funny, it's vividly descriptive (not always great when describing the state of some of the homes they inspect) and it is heartwarming.

If you like a good quirky character and some good quirky humor, pick it up!

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