Faced with a total lack of grief from the handful of people who actually appeared at his funeral and with an angry outburst from his ex-wife over his casket, Wallace begins to realize he wasn’t a particularly nice person.

It’s not Christmas, but rather March or thenabouts, but the influence of A Christmas Carol is undeniable. The main character, Wallace Price, is a stiff, overbearing, miserly and insensitive… curmudgeon, let’s call him nicely, on the verge of becoming even stiffer he dies, you see, and that’s the beginning of his journey. Under the Whispering Door is a fantasy conglomerate of different tropes and themes and inspirations, from Dickens to studio Ghibli, from the found family trope to the treasure trove of New Age afterlife imagery. Alas, I think I owe an explanation for this somewhat dismal rating. And I’m a bit tempted to do just that, because I don’t have a beef with this book no uncontrollable growing and gnashing teeth while reading, no torn out hair – my reactions tended toward bafflement and growing dissatisfaction. I could probably finish my review here then, words like “infantile” and “cloyingly sweet” wouldn’t have to be written. I’m sure there are people who’ll enjoy this – not just more than I did, which is no big feat, but generally, in absolute terms, as a feel-good, “wholesome” novel.

Alas, while the writing was smooth enough and well-meaning enough, Under the Whispering Door turned out to be a book not for me.

Klune’s books when I saw this one on NG, I jumped at the opportunity to finally get acquainted with his writing. I’ve heard a lot of good things about T.J.

Through the whispering door