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Mrs Death Misses Death

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Mrs Death Misses Death

By: Salena Godden
Narrated by: Salena Godden
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About this listen

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 Fiction Genre Fiction Metaphysical & Visionary

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All stars
Most relevant  
Without a doubt, the most exquisite book I have ever read/listened to. Sublime and perfect.

Absolutely exquisite

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Deeply moving. Cathartic. Funny. Exquisite. Joyful. Despairing. Let's live and kick against the darkness. More more more please Salena.

All the stars

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Agree with others re monotone delivery - why? Was it to express
the numbness of Wolf’s condition? It certainly made me feel numb by the end ….
But I did want to finish it because of the personification of Death…

Provokes discussion - if u can make it to the end

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completely fantastic, Salena Godden has such a way with words and their performance is absolutely breathtaking too.

thought-provoking and fabulous

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I was mesmerised by this book, beautifully read by the author herself. Her voices carried me, challenged me, tickled me, and awed me. This is a brilliant book for anyone who is asking themselves about what life, love, death and fury are all for.

Transformative And Loving

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I enjoyed every minute of this book. It made me feel alive! I'd highly recommend it

Wonderful book, wonderfully read

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I'm actually blown away by this novel. It's never occurred to me that Death could be a woman and yet it makes perfect sense that death would be a woman. A woman gives us life so why can't they also take it away? Yes, I know this book is fiction but if Death exists I bet she's a woman.

I love how this book is written. It just flows so smoothly through the chapters. I couldn't put it down. It raises a lot of interesting questions about life and death which I won't go into due to spoilers. I'd recommend consuming this book via audiobook as it adds an extra dimension to it and the author is a brilliant narrator for audiobooks.

Loved it.

Ms Death Misses Death

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The relationship the characters have with each other are complex and unique. The poetry was sublime. The performance made you feel like you were being killed I to Death’s web. Loved it!!

Characters & poetry are top notch!

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This book seems perfectly suited to listen to, with long descriptions of thoughts, and clever use of words with two meanings.
I really liked the gender neutrality of this book. Wolf's gender is not known and its good that way. I realised part way in that I didn't have a sense of the gender of Wolf and only later in the book is this referenced.
Mrs Death and Life as women is a great way to explore sexism and gender norms too.
It is a book about how women have been abused and mistreated and overlooked for centuries.
Yet this is a book about life as much as it is about death, it is a book with humour and love permeates the whole narrative as much as despair does.
I tend not to like books about writing books, it usually seems lazy and self indulgent, but this book uses it somehow in an integrated way. I enjoyed imagining the author researching strange deaths of the past, whereas usually if I imagine the author it is because the story is boring me. But not this time.
I'm looking forward to hearing what book club folk think about this.

never read a book quite like this before

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I managed to listen to the whole thing. There were moments when I thought this was excellent: erudite and beautifully worded. But then I found myself losing concentration and having no idea what was going on. It felt too clever for itself at times.

I loved the synopsis, hence choosing it. The start was so unusual: Death as a Black Woman. Though I have to say: I really dislike the title, the forced wordplay there.

But upon finishing, I couldn't actually tell you what had happened. I would normally stop reading/listening to a book that had this effect on me, but I persevered because I had so liked the sound of this. Yet it kept happening.

Other reviewers give this a very Marmite rating. Lots of people raving, lots very cool indeed, little in between.

I liked the voice of Mrs Death, the author's own voice. But the style of this is going to be 'love it or hate it', and for me, the audio version didn't do justice to the writer's efforts, it was too hard to follow. I wanted to savour the parts I was really enjoying and was not able to.

Maybe one to attempt again on paper.

With thanks to Nudge Books for providing a sample Audible copy.

Not for me, sadly

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