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A review by sarahna
Das unglaubliche Leben des Wallace Price by TJ Klune
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I have mixed feelings about this book and I'm slightly disappointed that I do since I loved The house in the Cerlulean sea so much. It had a lot to live up to, I give it that but I just really couldn't warm up to the main character Wallace Price.
Spoiler review ahead!
The first chapter painted him as a heartless, selfish, apathetic, carreer oriented lawyer firing an employee and cancelling her daughter's scholarship. He belittles her and is just a caricature of a white cis man in power whilst in reality he's lonely and doesn't do anything but live for his job. He ends up dying from a sudden heart attack and has a hard time accepting that. He's a prick to Mei who's trying her best to get him to Hugo's teashop after his sparsely attended funeral and several tantrums.
Suddenly Wallace changes, becomes a better man and the insta love ensues. Hugo and Wallace's hit it off and whilst I did like some of the yearning and dialogue they've shared it wasn't believable or prominent enough to justify the HEA ending. Wasn't the whole point of the book to learn how to grief and let go once one has died? That it's okay to make mistakes and regret certain decisions but that in the end peace is at the other side of the whispering door? I honestly would've preferred Wallace crossing over with Nelson and Apollo and reading an Epilogue of Hugo and Wallace reuniting in the after life, that way we could've gotten a glimpse what's behind the whispering door as well.
That being said, I did like the found family aspect of it and how Wallace came to terms with being bisexual. I worried that he would've realized that he didn't love his ex-wife and was gay instead. While that is a valid experience and does happen, we need more bi rep and it was nice to see that here. The fact that they aren't teenagers or conventionally attractive was refreshing as well. It was an aspect that I loved in THITCS as well.
Sadly a big portion of the book felt repetitive (a lot of dialogue, barely any scenery changes) and didn't touch me as much as it should have. Still the novel is extremely original and it'd do better in movie form in my opinion. So much of it was visual, even some of the jokes!
Once the romance picked up, Wallace was less of a prick and the manager was confronted it got interesting again which is why I gave it 3 stars.
Spoiler review ahead!
The first chapter painted him as a heartless, selfish, apathetic, carreer oriented lawyer firing an employee and cancelling her daughter's scholarship. He belittles her and is just a caricature of a white cis man in power whilst in reality he's lonely and doesn't do anything but live for his job. He ends up dying from a sudden heart attack and has a hard time accepting that. He's a prick to Mei who's trying her best to get him to Hugo's teashop after his sparsely attended funeral and several tantrums.
Suddenly Wallace changes, becomes a better man and the insta love ensues. Hugo and Wallace's hit it off and whilst I did like some of the yearning and dialogue they've shared it wasn't believable or prominent enough to justify the HEA ending. Wasn't the whole point of the book to learn how to grief and let go once one has died? That it's okay to make mistakes and regret certain decisions but that in the end peace is at the other side of the whispering door? I honestly would've preferred Wallace crossing over with Nelson and Apollo and reading an Epilogue of Hugo and Wallace reuniting in the after life, that way we could've gotten a glimpse what's behind the whispering door as well.
That being said, I did like the found family aspect of it and how Wallace came to terms with being bisexual. I worried that he would've realized that he didn't love his ex-wife and was gay instead. While that is a valid experience and does happen, we need more bi rep and it was nice to see that here. The fact that they aren't teenagers or conventionally attractive was refreshing as well. It was an aspect that I loved in THITCS as well.
Sadly a big portion of the book felt repetitive (a lot of dialogue, barely any scenery changes) and didn't touch me as much as it should have. Still the novel is extremely original and it'd do better in movie form in my opinion. So much of it was visual, even some of the jokes!
Once the romance picked up, Wallace was less of a prick and the manager was confronted it got interesting again which is why I gave it 3 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment