The Professional Mourner - Neil Randall - ★★★.¾
AUTHOR: Neil Randall
GENRE: Literary Fiction.
PUBLICATION DATE: May 2, 2025
RATING: 3.75 stars.
In a Nutshell: A literary drama about a young girl with an extraordinary ability and some humans with a limited moral compass. An original storyline, character-driven, whimsical and thought-provoking. Offers the fine balance between comedy and tragedy. Recommended if you are looking for something unusual and introspective.
Plot Preview:
Right from the moment Milica Stankovic was born, she wouldn’t stop crying. No matter what her parents tried, Milica kept yelling her lungs out, much to the annoyance of the neighbours and other townspeople. Her parents are loving and supportive, and never stop doing their best for their only daughter, whose sobs dwindle but never cease as the years go by. When circumstances go beyond their control, Milica’s father gets coerced into using her as a ‘professional mourner’, ensuring that her wails help other attendees at funerals release their grief. So successful is this endeavour that Milica’s fame soon reaches the higher echelons of government. But not for the right reasons.
The story comes to us via an unidentified omniscient narrator.
Isn't it great when books surprise you? Even when reading the synopsis of this story, I felt that this was a highly original story. The actual content went further beyond my expectations, both in terms of plot as well as characters. Had it not been for the slightly weaker second half, this book might have earned all the stars.
Bookish Yays:
๐ The unusual concept. A child who doesn’t stop crying grows to be a mourner. Amazing!
๐ The tragicomedy feels. Erma Bombeck once said, “There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humour and hurt.” This book lies on that thin line, especially in the first half when situations lead to contrary feelings, with both laughter and shock popping up at once.
๐ Milica, the main character, who seems to live life on her own terms even when she is subservient to others’ wishes. She stays an enigma throughout.
๐ Dragan and Nevena Stankovic – Milica’s parents. I would have expected the plot to portray them a certain way: perhaps angry, frustrated, maybe even physically or verbally abusive. But they defied all my guesses. It was interesting to see their parenting style, though it wasn’t always a salutary one.
๐ The greyness of all the characters except Milica. Almost every character has enough shadiness in them, even though only a few are outright abhorrent. To readers who enjoy challenging character portrayals, this novel offers a smorgasbord of human behaviour and emotions to analyse.
๐ Thanks to the above, I often found myself wondering what I would have done if I were in a character’s situation. The book offered many such thought-provoking moments.
๐ Quite a few quotable quotes and observations on human behaviour.
๐ Many characters and events come with a religious undertone, even though the story is not religious in the true sense. A good portrayal of how people use organised religion to justify their (mis)endeavours.
Bookish Mixed Bags:
๐ค The omniscient narration. I liked most of it, as it cleverly offered a holistic picture of all the characters and the events even beyond current time. The writing style is very raconteurial without breaking the fourth wall, almost like someone narrating a story to a live audience. However, at times, the foreshadowing goes a bit too far, and the telling overpowers the showing.
๐ค The pacing is mostly steady throughout, but the plot gets a bit repetitive in between. The tempo helped me continue without hurdles, but I did get a lot of dรฉjร vu feels during some scenes. The final quarter felt a bit dragged, but the ending saved my overall rating from dipping.
Bookish Nays:
๐The vague time and place setting. Except for the mention of the place (Velika Plana, which, according to Google, is a small town in Serbia), there’s no description about the location, nor is there any atmosphere except for the clearly socialist vibe (which gets too heavyhanded at times.) Further, even the timeframe isn’t clear, with the story having a mix of modern screens as well as steamboats. The passage of time also doesn’t come out clearly every time, making Milica’s exact age unclear. Though these are minor content gaps, they still would have added to my experience.
All in all, I can honestly say that I haven’t read a story like this ever before. It walks the fine line between comedy and tragedy, with characters you wouldn't know whether to forgive or fume at. The final quarter could have worked better for me, but I still enjoyed the overall reading experience as I was an active participant in the story thanks to the narrative choice and the moral ambiguity of the characters.
Definitely recommended, but not to all. This small-press work would be a great option for readers who enjoy character-driven stories with questionable human behaviour. Not for those who prefer likeable characters.
My thanks to Hygge Book Tours, DarkWinter Press, and author Neil Randall for a complimentary digital ARC of 'The Professional Mourner', and for allowing me to be a part of this blog tour. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
The digital version of this book is currently available on Kindle Unlimited.
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Blurb:
When Milica Stankovic is born, she won’t stop crying. The neighbours complain, her father is demoted at work, and the family is treated like pariahs. Regardless, her parents see something special in their daughter, how she seems possessed of a rare to feel other people’s pain and suffering as if it’s her own.
When her father becomes friendly with a wily confidence trickster, they dream up a plot to hire out Milica’s services as a professional mourner. At the many funerals she attends, Milica expresses such raw emotion that it reduces the other mourners to fits of sobs, enabling them to finally release all their bottled-up grief, even for those who might not deserve it.
When word of Milica’s abilities reaches a high-ranking government official, Duลกan Srna, he desperately wants to obtain her services. Their ailing leader is not only gravely ill, but his popularity has never been lower. If the Party can organise an emotionally-charged state funeral, Srna might just be able to uplift the nation’s spirits---but are his motives honorable?
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Author Neil Randall:
Neil Randall is the author of the novels The Belgrade School Shootings, The Professional Mourner, Three Days with Adrianna, Bestial Burdens, The Girl in the Empty Room, Isolation, The Holy Drinker, The Butterfly and the Wheel, Trust No One and A Quiet Place to Die, and of the short story collections, Tales of Ordinary Sadness and The Nine Lives of Jacob Fallada. His poetry and shorter fiction have been published in the UK, US, India, Canada and Australia.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neilrandall4869/
X/Twitter: https://x.com/NARandall1
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This has been a stop on the #TheProfessionalMourner blog tour conducted by Hygge Book Tours. (@hyggebooktours on Insta.) Thanks for stopping by!
What an amazing post thank you!!!- hygge book tours
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! ♥
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