The Grief Nurse - Angie Spoto - ★★★

AUTHOR: Angie Spoto

GENRE: Historical Fantasy

RATING: 3 stars.

In a Nutshell: A compelling premise but needed somewhat better implementation. The ending was nice, but the proceedings were slow. Might work better for literary fiction lovers because of its pace and style. (Of course, you must enjoy fantasy also.)

Story Synopsis:

Lynx works for the wealthy Aster family as a grief nurse. Her role is to take away their negative emotions and keep them ‘Bright’.

When the eldest Aster son dies, guests come to the Aster’s private island for the wake. It is Lynx’s job to ensure that the guests and the hosts are kept in best spirits during the visit. But soon, there’s another death, and then another. Is anyone out to get the family? How can Lynx perform her job without endangering her own life?

The story is written in a limited third person perspective.

Where the book worked for me:

✔ Lynx’s role as the grief nurse is well written. It offers a lot of introspective points. The idea of ‘how much is too much’ comes up time and again through her work of eliminating grief.

✔ The modus operandi of ‘grief removal’ creates some amazing atmospheric moments. I loved how the author wove the picture of grief and the interconnected memories vividly. Also memorable was the idea of grief tokens.

✔ Grief is one of the unsung characters of the book. The author makes grief sound almost personified. I adored every aspect of grief explored in this work, right from how it behaves to how it affects. It even takes things to a somewhat bizarre level by including some masochistic ideas connected to grief.

✔ For a book that gets quite dark (not surprisingly as grief is the central motif), the ending is surprisingly hopeful. I liked how the author chose to wind things up without making the finale too neat.

✔ Great Queer rep.

Where the book could have worked better for me:

❌ Though the characters are adults, their portrayal, especially that of Lynx, is quite YA in style. There are a lot of inner monologues and from Lynx’s point of view, plenty of talk of physical attraction. This kind of writing never works for me.

❌ Despite the novelty of the story, the characters, especially the moneyed ones with their highhanded behaviour towards the grief nurses and servants, are somewhat clichéd.

❌ The character motivations are a bit weird at times. While I am okay with characters not being likeable, their behaviour should progress naturally from the plot and shouldn’t seem ad hoc. I couldn’t connect with many of the characters because of their capricious behaviour.

❌ Aside from the grief nurse, there is one more kind of person mentioned in the book: a Fader. I read the whole book and I still don’t exactly know what a Fader is. But there are plenty of them in the story and the plot partly depends on them too. So something was definitely missing here.

❌ There are many flashbacks in the writing that are somewhat random and unindicated. These break the smooth flow of the current timeline.

❌ The book has shades of various genres: low fantasy, suspense-mystery, literary fiction, crime, family drama, historical fiction, and gothic fiction. All of these don’t work well in sync because of the writing style.

❌ The book is a character-oriented slowburner. It will need to be read in the right mood, else the languid pace interferes with the enjoyment.

All in all, this story had great potential. But the mishmash of genres worked somewhat against the writing as there is no cohesion across the styles. This debut writer certainly has an astounding imagination. I am sure that with more years of experience, she will be able to overcome the minor hiccups and produce an entertainer.

Recommended to those who are looking for a combination of light fantasy cum mystery written in a slow and simplistic style. If you do go for this, please try actual reading as the audio might be too confusing with the recurring unmarked flashbacks.

My thanks to Sandstone Press and NetGalley for the DRC of “The Grief Nurse”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.