Reviews of the Book How Not to Die Alone
Fiction
Turning a Bad Day at the Part Into Cubicle Comedy
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HOW NOT TO Die Lone
By Richard Roper
In add-on to writing novels, I have a longtime corporate career. Recently, I flew with a colleague to Denver. When we landed, he wanted to visit a marijuana dispensary. "Google 'legal cannabis,'" he said, pointing to my phone. "Google it yourself," I told him. "If H.R. asks why I'm looking for weed using a company device — on company time — I'll take to say I cancer. Who needs that headache?"
That "headache" — the consequences of telling your employer a baldfaced lie — is the primary complication in "How Not to Dice Alone," Richard Roper's winning debut novel. A showcase for Roper's mordant humour (it's ready in the U.K.), the volume kicks off with a cold open: Andrew Smith is the sole mourner at a "pauper's funeral" for a man who "had died on the toilet while reading a book about buzzards." Andrew isn't required to attend, but shows up anyway, hoping his presence volition dignify the dead man'due south lonely stop. Roper introduces Andrew every bit a tenderhearted, thoughtful person. This is a smart choice, one that inspires our empathy and helps to assuage whatsoever discomfort we may feel when we discover, only a few pages afterwards, that Andrew is too a big, fat liar.
For the by five years, Andrew, single, childless and forlorn, has convinced his co-workers that he'southward happily married with ii children. This untruth, a miscommunication he failed to right, was built-in of wistful, wishful desire rather than malicious intent. So, when Andrew's dominate obliges each employee to host dinner at his/her home, nosotros know exactly what'south coming.
Like many funny novels, "How Not to Dice Alone" is influenced by the adage that sense of humor equals tragedy plus time. We root for Andrew to come clean and connect, as much for his benefit every bit our amusement. He will, of course — the volume's championship tells united states of america equally much. But Roper aspires to more than a yuk-yuk sitcom resolution. He wants to evidence that Andrew can't alive authentically until he reaches back and confronts the heartbreak that derailed him in the first place. It'southward a risky proffer for whatever novelist, particularly a rookie, just when Roper makes it work, the payoff is tremendous.
Andrew'south workplace, the Death Administration, occupies middle phase. He'south required to visit the homes of people who died alone, look for adjacent of kin and suit their funerals. The chore provides a story motherlode that Roper mines to tragicomic result, but he's far more interested in workers than work. He skims over questions of professional ethics and plausibility, focusing instead on Andrew'south human relationship with his colleagues, his family and — virtually successfully — his psyche. Roper illuminates Andrew'southward interior life to reveal not what an odd duck he is, but what odd ducks nosotros all are — lonely, dislocated, misguided, bumbling and, as nosotros learn in the volume's powerhouse ending, greatly bereft.
[ Read "Take This Job and Write It," Jennifer Schuessler's essay on workplace novels. ]
Roper's unbridled compassion for his characters is the book'due south greatest force. He doesn't judge or patronize, even when they human activity foolishly. Information technology's this generosity of spirit that immune me to forgive, if non ignore, the novel's shortcomings. Structurally, "How Non to Dice Alone" is uneven; we tin can encounter the book'due south seams. We motility forth quickly, then get sidetracked by dense, digressive scenes. A potential romance generates no heat and clutters the narrative. People shudder likewise often.
And however, I loved this novel with my whole heart. Why hire a technical guy who's competent only flat when you can accept the other guy — the i with the off-kilter insights and glorious humor, the one who makes your pulse race as yous clock in each morning.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/28/books/review/richard-roper-how-not-to-die-alone.html
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