This is a bitter sweet novel about death and grief as well as life and living. Richard, Rich to his friends, a young husband and father, is diagnosed with an untreatable brain tumour and told he doesn’t have long to live. He is a cheerful, joyous man who loves life, parties, his family and friends. Over the weeks following his diagnosis and then his death we see how his dying impacts on his wife Ruth, his autistic son Ollie, his wife’s mother and sister and his own mother and father who is in the process of losing himself in dementia.

Ruth is thrown into a deep depression by Richard’s death and can’t cope with Ollie’s obsessive rituals. Rich was always the one who could deal with his meltdowns and get him to laugh. Ollie is having trouble understanding what it means to die. Before Richard died he carefully chose a present to send each of the family to remember him by and got Ollie to help him post them. Ollie likes to do puzzles and thinks the meaning of the gifts forms part of a puzzle his father left him to solve to help him understand the secret of life.

Although, the book is achingly sad, there are also lighter moments and moments of joy. The characters are beautifully drawn, each with their own flaws and misunderstandings of each other. Ollie’s character is particularly sweet as he tries to understand the world around him and get people absorbed in their own grief to listen to his questions. Rich’s death will force them all to become more forgiving of each other and accept that love can come in many forms.

I’d like to thank Random House UK, Transworld Publishers and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘This Shining Life’ by Harriet Kline in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Rich enriches the lives of everyone he meets with his bubbling effervescence and love of life, but Rich has a brain tumour. When he leaves this life he leaves behind a loving wife Ruth and young son Ollie who’s in the autism spectrum. As Ollie’s searching for an answer to the puzzle his father has left him, what it means to be alive, his mother Ruth is struggling with depression which makes life difficult for Ollie who needs structure and order in his life.

This may sound a sad and depressing story but it’s anything but. ‘This Shining Life’ is about life and death, and how a family copes with the grief when an integral part of the family is no longer there. But humour is also present in the story, in particular when Rich decides to post a present to each member of his family unfortunately sticking the labels on the wrong boxes. It’s a lovely story that’s kept me involved from page one until I reached the touching conclusion. It’s a moving and beautifully written novel which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed.

What an extraordinary novel. One of the best books to be published in 2021.

Rich is too young to die from a brain tumour. His young son Ollie needs special love and care. His wife, Ruth, is fragile and very much under her mother, Angran’s thumb. Nessa, Ruth’s sister and one of his oldest friends might be brave and feisty on the outside, but she’s going to miss his constant presence in her life. His father Gerald is at the onset of dementia and his mother Marjorie is struggling to keep the peace between Gerald and Ollie because he’s “different” and loves doing sudokus and naming all the players in the football league. Rich wants to buy each family member a present to cherish after his passing. He spends hours choosing the presents but leaves the packing to Ollie and unfortunately, Ollie gets things muddled.

We follow Rich, Ruth, Ollie, Nessa, Marjorie, Gerald and Angran as they come to terms, first with the diagnosis and then in the weeks after Rich’s death. Their desperate despair and being so alone. Angran’s insistence that she’s the only person who can help Ruth. The slow decline of Gerald. But most of all, Ollie trying to make sense of the world.

I don’t want to spoil the experience of reading this novel by giving any more details. What I want to is say that Harriet Kline has captured her characters in perfect detail. Ollie will help so many other parents or people not knowing anything about the autism spectrum understand about these incredibly unique beings who come into our lives with thought processors operating on a different wavelength the what’s considered “normal”.

Harriet also blew me away with how she captures Gerald slow decline into dementia. I think having read this book I can say that I now have a far better understanding of what it must be like living with the disease. How each day another tiny little thing might be too difficult to remember, yet on other days, lucidity might be almost normal.

This is a storyline that captures ordinary people dealing with situations that are anything but normal. Harriet Kline, Bravo! You’ve opened my eyes with your beautiful pictures painted in words and I will forever be in your debt. I thought I understood both dementia and autism, I didn’t until seeing them through your writing.

Rony

Elite Reviewing Group received a copy of the book to review.

This book shines a light on the process of dying and bereavement. Young Dad Rich has terminal cancer and he is preparing for his death by picking out specially selected presents for his loved ones., saying that each one will show what it means to be alive. His son, Ollie, is helping him with the wrapping ready for postage but Richard becomes tired and the parcels get mixed up

In the aftermath of his death Sudoku/puzzle fan Ollie thinks that if he solves the clues the other people will be able to tell him what it means to be alive, because they have had their present.

The chapters are told in the 3rd person from the viewpoints of the adult characters. Wife, Ruth, is floored by grief and rendered incapable of getting up and function on a daily basis. Her sister, Nessa (a good friend to Rich before he met Ruth) is trying to shore up her sister and Ollie in the aftermath of Rich’s death whilst grieving for her beloved friend.

In the next generation there is Rich’s mother Marjorie who can still recall her son as a young boy. She is also having to cope with her husband Gerald who has a stiff upper lip outlook on life and strong views (for example that Ollie’s behaviour is unacceptable rather than being accepting of his autism) However his health is declining as he is showing signs of dementia and she has to take the difficult decision to put in a home.
In contrast the other grandmother Angela, who is known as Angran, wants to take direct action (knocking down walls etc) Her name is supposed to be an amalgamation of Angela and Gran but of course has connotations of angry. She leads a more Bohemian lifestyle, but her daughters both harbour resentment to how she ignored/neglected them to go off to The Ravages- a Dartmoor waterfall- when she was suffering from depression in the past, when they were young. She is well meaning but not always sensitive to others.

The only 1st person narrator is Ollie who has autism. He needs structure and order in his life (he especially needs his socks to be in a certain condition) He repeats the phrase my Dad died as he tries to make sense of a world turned upside down and in turmoil. Nobody wants to help him solve the puzzle about life as the parcels all went to the wrong people.
Ultimately events move towards understanding and something new emerges out of the depths of grief

This is an insightful; book about grief and how it divides people and how everyone reacts differently depending on their personality, past and relationship with the dead person. The terrible pain of grief is lightened by some moments of humour and moments of love. There is one moment when Marjorie crawls under the table with Gerald and they lie looking at each other and their bond of love is still there.
It's a wise and moving exploration of loss and love.

A beautiful book exploring a challenging subject matter - how a young child deals with the death of his father. It is obviously not a happy read in the traditional sense, due to the upsetting content around which it is based, but This Shining Life somehow ends up being a really beautiful, moving, and ultimately surprisingly uplifting exploration of how to move on after your life has been changed forever. I also want to note its incredibly empathetic portrayal of autism - Ollie, our main character, has autism. However unlike many other characters in books who have this condition, he is in no way a cliche or stereotype, instead being an incredibly well created character who is entirely unique. So 10/10 on that front!

3.5 stars rounded down to 3.

Disclaimer - I was fortunate enough to be provided with an advance reading copy of this book by NetGalley. This has not affected my review in any way, and all opinions are my own.

This is a sensitively written book, primarily about death and grief however mental health is also an enduring topic throughout. Told from the viewpoints of terminally ill Rich, his wife, his son, his sister-in-law, his mother-in-law and his parents we see how his diagnosis and death affects them all. Although there are many viewpoints it’s not difficult to follow and it’s good how, for example, Rich’s fathers dementia is well described without needed to mention his health as his chapters are so well. I did enjoy this overall however the tone is very negative which did make it harder, yes it’s about death but it would have perhaps benefitted from a few lighter moments.

Rich has a brain tumour and when he passes his family begin to change as they move forward in their grief. This is a book of love, loss and family. It is sensitively written and sad. It’s well written but not an easy read. I struggled to get into it.

This is a beautifully written story about a family dealing with the prognosis and then death of Richard. Rich is the husband, father, son, son in law and friend to people who love him dearly.
The book is full of empathy and understanding not just of grief and bereavement, but also the confusing world of autism and dementia.

Really moved by this touching tale of a realistically flawed, dysfunctional family as they navigate the mayhem & misunderstanding of death & grief, trying to help ND son Ollie solve the puzzle of what it means to be alive. Humour, honesty & heartbreak, each character sang! Excellent debut novel, I will eagerly await more by this author.

This is a beautiful, heartbreaking little story of a father dying of a brain tumour, and his family around him. How they all react and cope/don’t cope, with what life has thrown them.

I think Rich (the dad) had a beautiful outlook on life, and death. I found his mother’s parts the saddest to read. She made me cry. And his Dad too. At times I found them all a bit frustrating- I wanted them to all be quiet and sit down and talk and actually listen to each other - particularly Ollie, but I guess that would not have been a very interesting book.

Harriet Kline writes grief exceptionally well.

Oh and how beautiful is this cover?

A timely, ultimately hopeful book that starts with devastation and weaves its way optimism. A range of characters are given authentic voices to illustrate the huge impact that perspective plays on our perceptions of others. the difficult subjects of death and loss are treated with the sadness and gravity they deserve, but it is not a miserable book. I'd recommend to people who enjoyed "The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes" by Anna McPartlin. Others may find it a little too 'neat'.

A very well written book although sad in places I found it sensitively written, I thoroughly enjoyed it and can recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

This is a beautifully written, heartbreaking story of a dysfunctional family right before and right after the death of a central figure in their lives. Rich was the axis of their world. His death works like a catalyst: it starts subtle changes in his grieving family members.They learn to lay the ghosts of the past and take a leaf from Rich and embrace life. This shining life.

Sad story of a family dealing with the death of the man who holds them all together. Rich is the life and soul of every party and is the driving force who keeps his autistic son Ollie calm and the family feuding to a minimum. When he’s diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour things start to fall apart and Ollie is totally focused on the presents Rich is buying each member of the family because he mistakenly believes they will solve the puzzle of the meaning of life which he’d heard Rich allude to. This is an engaging, book but while I really liked some of the characters such as Rich’s mum Marjorie, I found others especially his wife Ruth very difficult to empathise with. I also thought the range of social issues within the family was too great in a short novel.

Well, I knew it was going to be about death, and therefore grief, but I had hoped that the hopefulness would come a bit ealier in the book to be honest. I think some readers will really enjoy the ongoing angst, the confusion over the gifts, the misunderstandings amongst family members, and the painful vision of grief in all its forms. But for me, reading this during Lockdown 3 was not the best idea!

I struggled with some of the characters; Ruth annoyed me in particular. Doubly so because she shares my name! I just didn't believe in her. I don't think I saw why Rich had married her, and she didn't seem like a parent, and I found myself wanting to skip ahead whenever it was one of her chapters.

My favourite characters ended up being Marjorie & Gerald, and I think actually it was their story I found myself most involved in and emotional about through the book, especially with Gerald. After I finished the book I still found myself wondering what happened next for them...

With thanks to netgalley for an early copy in return for an honest opinion.
First time reading this author and a very pleasant read for most of the book.

As I have a very close friend who has just lost her husband this book was very moving for me. The way the author tells the story of loss is very well done. I really liked the way the book deals with grief in a very sensitive way. If you have a loved and lost this book is definitely for you.

Ollie's Dad died. Richard had an incurable brain tumour, and before he passed away, he sent everyone a special present. He also told Ollie that "being alive was like a puzzle and it was all falling into place." Ollie is autistic. He thinks his father left him a puzzle to solve. Could it involve the gifts? Why won't anyone help him solve the puzzle?

This Shining Life by Harriet Kline is a heartbreaking tale about a family coming to terms with death. Told from several people's point of view, Kline explores different portrayals of grief. Ollie's mum wants to stay in bed; his aunt wants life to carry on; his maternal grandmother tries to exert control; his paternal grandmother wishes she could understand her grandson; and his grandfather has no idea what is going on. No one has time for Ollie and his obsession with his puzzle.

Before Richard's death, Ollie dominated family life. Ollie had a strict routine, always had a few spare pairs of socks with him because he hated dirty ones, and had meltdowns if his parents used the "wrong" tone of voice. Without his familiar habits, Ollie's life was a mass of confusion - an apt metaphor for the grief the rest of the family experienced.

With a contemporary novel such as This Shining Life, there is no "happy ever after". People do not come back from the dead. There is no answer to the meaning of life. Grief is a long process and different for everyone. It causes depression, anger and confusion, but hidden under all these negative feelings is love.

Harriet Kline takes death and grief seriously but adds a touch of humour to the narrative for the reader's benefit. It is not a light read, nor is it markedly profound. Instead, This Shining Life is painfully honest, and for that reason, it is beautiful.

I’m in two minds about this book - is it a gentle, in depth story of love, loss and vivid characterisation, or a fictionalised ‘misery memoir’? A bit of both I think, but the darkness and grief are somewhat relentless, and the reader has to wait until near the end for even a glimmer of hope and a more positive future for the characters. It is beautifully written however, and the characters leap off the page. Rich is diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour and the story follows the people closest to him as they deal with his departing. It centres around Ollie, his son who is clearly autistic, and his wife, Ruth, who is understandably devastated by Rich’s diagnosis. At the start of the book the family is fractured, with each of the characters pretty self absorbed, but by the end they have a much greater understating of each other, and particularly of Ollie. I did read this until late into the night, so it definitely has sticking power, but there is not much cheer here.

I wanted a slow, character based book to sink into and I found the perfect choice in This Shining Life. This book deals with love, death and grief and the effects these have on three generations of a family. I would say that Ollie is the main character who links all of the others together as they face life after the death of Rich - father, husband, son, friend and a larger-than-life character. Harriet Kline explores so many aspects of grief and how the choices made by parents affect their children throughout their lives. I enjoyed this gentle story and ,despite the subject, was left optimistic by the end.