A review by extraextrareadallaboutit
How Not to Die Alone by Richard Roper
3.0
This was a nice book. It kinda had the same feel as The Rosie Project to me. Although it had some moments that made me laugh out loud and characters like Peggy who were super endearing, it didn't quite get where I was hoping it would as a whole.
Roper did explore and approach loneliness in thoughtful ways. When he highlighted the council's growth in the sector assigned to locating next of kin and arranging funerals for lone deaths, it served to illustrate the changing nature of our society.
It sparks light on the debate as to whether technology has in fact brought anyone closer together or just allowed us to end our days completely cloistered and companionless when it matters most. Like, when your body needs finding or your funeral needs planning.
Given Andrew's only friends in the book are online though, maybe Roper wasn't trying to do that at all. Maybe he was just highlighting how as people we often sweat the small stuff, we lose touch, our priorities are out of whack. Perhaps this was his appeal for us to remember what matters most which is how we choose to show up for one another, especially when it counts.
Roper did explore and approach loneliness in thoughtful ways. When he highlighted the council's growth in the sector assigned to locating next of kin and arranging funerals for lone deaths, it served to illustrate the changing nature of our society.
It sparks light on the debate as to whether technology has in fact brought anyone closer together or just allowed us to end our days completely cloistered and companionless when it matters most. Like, when your body needs finding or your funeral needs planning.
Given Andrew's only friends in the book are online though, maybe Roper wasn't trying to do that at all. Maybe he was just highlighting how as people we often sweat the small stuff, we lose touch, our priorities are out of whack. Perhaps this was his appeal for us to remember what matters most which is how we choose to show up for one another, especially when it counts.