Mrs Death Misses Death

By: Salena Godden

Narrated by: Salena Godden

Length: 5 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Mrs Death has had enough. She is exhausted from spending eternity doing her job, and now she seeks someone to unburden her conscience to. Wolf Willeford, a troubled young writer, is well acquainted with death but until now hadn't met Death in person - a Black, working-class woman who shape-shifts and does her work unseen.

Enthralled by her stories, Wolf becomes Mrs Death's scribe and begins to write her memoirs. Using their desk as a vessel and conduit, Wolf travels across time and place with Mrs Death to witness deaths of past and present and discuss what the future holds for humanity. As the two reflect on the losses they have experienced - or, in the case of Mrs Death, facilitated - their friendship grows into a surprising affirmation of hope, resilience and love. All the while, despite her world-weariness, Death must continue to hold humans' fates in her hands, appearing in our lives when we least expect her....

©2021 Salena Godden (P)2021 Canongate Books Ltd

so much more than you think from the title

loveloveloved this book.
Selena Godden writes about all the things I want to talk about.

I will miss Mrs Death

I absolutely loved this book. As a hospice Chaplain I think about and interact with death on a continual basis. Through the reading Salena brought Mrs Death alive in my mind. This book has also been a comfort as I have struggled with depression. Thank you Salena Godden for sharing your storytelling/ writing gifts with the world.

Unique!

In author Salena Godden’s version, death is a black woman who can shape-shift to accomplish her duties. I like her premise, that death is a female, usually an older woman who is generally unseen. And Mrs. Death is a bit sassy in Godden’s hands.

Godden brings her poetic skills in writing this amusing story, of Mrs. Death unburdening her story to Woof Willeford, a struggling author who buys a magic desk. Through the desk, Mrs. Death takes Woof with her while she explains her story. I listened to the audio narrated by the author herself. She tells her story in a stream-of-conscious format which works well with her poetic skills.

Mrs. Death tells of her work, so we see death through a different lens. She’s not always crazy about the tragedy of death, the horror of death, the details of death. Godden writes of the tragedy and comedy of death. It’s a rumination on death.

This is an interesting audio. The rhythm of Godden’s voice adds to the story. I enjoyed this strange and interesting story.

Very Interesting

This was a very interesting book I enjoyed the writing style. I liked how some parts were very poetic. This book was as deep as it was dark. I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone currently battling with any mental health issues. This is something you want to read with a clear head.

Mrs Death! (A rave review from a Death Midwife)

This exquisite novel feels like you’re on an adventure with the author, and it was hard not to gobble up all at once! It is delicious and often hard to hear l, it is soothing and confrontational. The delight of being a tourist with Death, in her mundane traverse, is that it is the mystery trip we all want to explore, without the pain, with out the fear. I LOVE this book, the hard copy is like a big hug, I LOVED hearing SG reading it, like a story around the campfire! Xo Moon

Lots of bad language

I couldn’t get past all the uncalled for nasty language. I think the story could have been interesting but the language kept getting worse and worse.

beautiful writing however...

Beautiful writing and great concept however is much more tell than show, a bit too indulgent in it's cafe poetry tangents for my taste.

The repeat of the same words

I didn’t like the repeat of sentence and words. It got to the point where it was annoying.