Cover Image: Funeral Songs for Dying Girls

Funeral Songs for Dying Girls

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

DNFing this one 37%. I find that I often don't gel with Dimaline's writing style, and I'm sad to say that is the case with this one. Also the fatphobia is just not it. I think there will be lots of readers for this book, but it wasn't for me.

Was this review helpful?

Funeral Songs for Dying Girls is the most recent young adult novel by Métis author Cherie Dimaline. Dimaline is most known for her young adult novel The Marrow Thieves, featuring a dystopian future in which indigenous people are hunted for their ability to dream, and has written a bunch of other adult and YA novels, all of which feature indigenous protagonists of some sort. I've really enjoyed at least parts of all of Dimaline's works - they're often powerful in themes, rarely subtle, and even when I think they miss they do so in interesting ways. So I was very interested to try this latest YA novel of hers, which sounded in description like a bit more small scale YA novel than some of her other works.

The good news is that Funeral Songs for Dying Girls is a well crafted young adult novel, which will certainly work for a lot of the young adult audience. The novel follows Winifred, a 16 year old half-Métis girl who lives in an apartment above the cemetery office where her father works, as she deals with both the normal struggles with growing up as a girl who doesn't quite fit in, has OCD, feels pressure to have sex, and struggles severely with loneliness....as well as the more particular struggles of living in a cemetery with a father who hasn't gotten over the woman who died birthing her. Oh and in the process of it all, Winifred both prompts a con artist ghost tour company to come to the cemeteryand meets a real ghost in Phil, a girl she grows more and more to care about. It's a story that deals with YA themes even as it gets very tropey at times, but it's also one that well, wasn't one that quite matched my own experiences as a teen and thus wasn't quite FOR this adult reader. That's not necessarily a problem with the book of course - as I'll detail below, that's part of the peril of being an adult reading YA.

Plot Summary:
Winifred Blight has lived her whole sixteen years with her father in an apartment that sits above the office of a local cemetery. Her mother died in childbirth, and as such she's grown up with no one other than her white father and her beloved Métis aunt Roberta as family...except her aunt passed away a few years ago and her father has always seemed to be grieving and praying for the ghost of Winifred's mother to come back. Meanwhile, Winifred has largely been an outcast among her school classmates ever since they learned she lived in the cemetery...and her one friend, a geeky boy named Jack, is suddenly growing more mature and appealing looking...and is gaining the attention of other girls. And so when an attempt to use Jack to lose her virginity at 16 goes awry, Winifred feels lost and alone...a feeling that is only made worse by the news that her father and her may soon have to leave the only home she's ever known as the cemetery is losing too much business to keep her father on as an employee.

But then something unthinkable happens: Winifred encounters a real ghost, an indigenous girl named Phil, in a ravine inside the cemetery. And Phil keeps appearing to Winifred...and soon becomes able to converse with her and tell her story, and soon Winifred doesn't feel quite so alone. But when several sightings of Winifred in distress in the cemetery make people believe that the cemetery is haunted, the cemetery becomes host to a con-artist's ghost tour scheme...one which is latched onto by Winifred's jerk of a cousin Penny. And while the ghost tours might help the cemetery and save Winifred and her father's chances of staying in the only place she's ever known, it soon becomes clear that the presence of so many people will only hurt Phil...and Winifred is soon forced to choose between the unthinkable: the only "home" she's ever known or the dead girl who's the only one who can help cure her loneliness.....

Funeral Songs for Dying Girls is told from the first person perspective of Winifred, with the story jumping back and forth in time at times as Winifred flashes back to her past, largely the stories she heard from her Aunt, and on occasion to the story of the ghost girl Phil's life as she tells in it parts to Winifred. The story is, to some extent, pretty YA tropey in a certain stereotypical way - Winifred is ostracized by cliqs at school, she makes friends with the geeky outsider boy as a young girl only for that boy to grow into a handsome and now non-outcast who doesn't realize he's leaving her behind, and feels pressure to lose her virginity upon her 16th Birthday, etc. It's the type of Young Adult tropeyness that may appeal to young adult teen readers who have gone through similar circumstances, but to be honest, it's so much so in a way that never really would've spoken to me, who didn't really feel any pressure to have sex as a kid or teen (and yes I realize that's probably more unusual on my part, but it affects my perspective here). Add in the awkwardness when Winifred is rejected by that geeky friend Jack, and well, it's a lot of stuff that makes me cringe and makes this book not quite for me, even if there's nothing wrong with it and it will work for other actual young adult readers.

That said, there's a lot here despite that that really works with both Winifred as a character and the book's themes of grief, loneliness, and what really makes a "home." Even ignoring the YA tropeyness I mentioned above, Winifred is an easy person to care for as she deals with a whole host of problems - she has to deal with being only half-Métis and not really having an indigenous community to call home (she lives with her White dad and her beloved indigenous Aunt died a few years back), she has to deal with being outcast from school just for not fitting in and for the random circumstance of living above a cemetery, and has to deal with her father being too absorbed in his grief a lot of the time to seemingly help and care for her. She's got OCD tendencies that have her count whenever she's in discomfort, which is done well here, and well, she feels tremendously alone. And so when the last thing she thinks she has, the ties to the cemetery she grew up in and kind of plays in, is in jeopardy, she takes a desperate action at making a dumb deal with her cousin Penny to try and use the ghost tours to save those ties and what she thinks is a home. It almost leads to disaster when those same tours and cousin almost jeopardize a new relationship (with Phil) that provides her with much needed warmth, but it's an understandable disaster.

And the book touches on some very solid YA and non-YA themes in terms of family, grief, and what it means for something to be a home. Winifred's whole life has been overshadowed by her mother's death - not only do they live in a cemetery that contains half her ashes, but Winifred's birth resulted in her mom's death and her father has clearly been grieving all this time. Her father never takes out that grief upon Winifred in anger, but it clearly distracts him from being able to pay proper attention to her, even when she's suffering, which leaves her all the more alone. And Winifred herself kind of grieves not knowing her mom, as well as the Aunt Roberta who basically served as her mother figure. The two of them being shaken by events into moving forward, through Winifred's reactions are a big part of this book and it works well. And then there's the issue of what it means to be "home", which we see through both Winifred, who thinks of the cemetery as "home" even as it really has nothing for her other than memories, and through Phil's story, and how things went so wrong as to lead to her death. Through these stories the book argues that "home" isn't necessarily a place, but rather the people whose hearts matter to us, something that leads to a change in Winifred to the better in the end.

So all in all, you have a pretty solid YA book here, albeit one whose YA tropes really didn't work for me, but for other people, especially YA readers, this may work a lot better. So worth a look for YA readers for sure.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this review copy in exchange for an honest opinion. Review has been posted on Amazon.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book, as this book has already been published, I will not share my review on Netgalley at this time.

Was this review helpful?

Maybe more 3.5 stars. I used to have a major thing for ghost love stories, and I think I still do after reading this. I think there was entirely too much sex talk in this book. I know how teenagers can be but idk this just felt weird to me. I definitely cried twice, though. So it hit something in me.

Was this review helpful?

'Funeral Songs' was a 2023 release I was highly anticipating, but unfortunately, this one fell flat for me.

I was immediately intrigued by the premise (good ghost stories are forever my favorite) and the cover, so I was immediately excited to dive into this one. Despite the relatively short length, however, it took some time for the story to get going, and the writing style was rather confusing - at times it was hard to tell whether we were in a flashback or not.

I will say that as a girl around Winifred's age, her voice and mentality were extremely relatable, and I appreciated her character immensely.

Ultimately, this just wasn't the story for me, but I think there is an audience out there for this book who will love it!

Was this review helpful?

I requested this for consideration for Book Riot's All the Books podcast for its release date. After sampling several books out this week, I decided to go with a different book for my review, especially after I heard there were fatphobic comments in this one.

Was this review helpful?

This novel was just okay for me. I was intrigued by the cover and the premise. I thought parts of the novel was moving, but the whole ghost part, I didn't think was done well. The writing was great!

Was this review helpful?

I received a free copy of Funeral Songs for Dying Girls from Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada in exchange for an honest review.
Winifred lives in a cemetery with her father, who works in the crematorium. She has many strange adventures in the cemetery, not the least of which is when she meets the ghost of a teen girl named Phil.
Love, death, and life become complicated as Winifred’s world is threatening to turn upside down and leave her and her father no choice but to leave the cemetery. And leave the spot where her mother is buried. Grief and love are main themes in this beautiful novel by Cherie Dimaline.
Funeral Songs for Dying Girls is a short read, but a deep and echoing one. Its beautiful in its haunting nature, and it’s no doubt the perfect read for spooky season. Queer, indigenous, and haunting, Funeral Songs for Dying Girls is sure to be beloved.

Was this review helpful?

Funeral Songs for Dying Girls is one of those books that understands what it means to be a teenage girl.

Like many other novels by Dimaline, this story brilliantly weaves Indigenous personality into an otherwise grim story. From the first page, I loved Winifred, and her cemetery. She felt very familiar to me, and I feel like I was able to connect with the story more because of this. As the story progresses, we learn more about her and her family, and how she wants to be so many things, and can’t find ways to do them all.

Phil is another wonderful character, and adds into the amazing Indigenous representation, as well as the history behind many missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada and the US.

While this is a teen novel, there are a few trigger warnings to look up beforehand, but otherwise this is a phenomenal book. Thank you to NetGalley, Tundra Books and the author for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Was this review helpful?

As my fifth outing with Dimaline’s work, with unfortunately declining enjoyment of the last few, Funeral Songs for Dying Girls had a lot of pressure going in, and it did not disappoint. There’s something so fascinating about seeing the world through the eyes of a teenager written by Dimaline. There was also something innately nostalgic about this particular book for me, maybe it’s the lightly magical YA vibe had diminishing returns with over the last few years, finally connecting with me again through this hopelessly romantic but unflinching sensible protagonist, vaguely reminiscent of Blue Sargent from the Raven Cycle (extremely high praise coming from me). I loved getting to read a sapphic story from Dimaline, and hope for more from her in the future. After tackling ghosts here, witches in VenCo, and the werewolf adjacent rugaroo in Empire of Wild, my only question is, Cherie Dimaline vampire book when? Thank you to Penguin Random House and Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

"Funeral Songs for Dying Girls" by Cherie Dimaline is a hauntingly beautiful exploration of life, loss, and the human experience. Dimaline's prose resonates with deep emotion and a poetic touch, enveloping readers in a world of raw feelings and introspection. The book's intricate narrative weaves together the stories of its characters, creating a tapestry of shared pain and interconnectedness. Dimaline's ability to delve into profound themes while maintaining a compelling plot is commendable. "Funeral Songs for Dying Girls" is a powerful and evocative read that lingers in the mind, reminding us of the fragile beauty and resilience that exists within the human spirit.

Was this review helpful?

I absolutely loved this book!! I couldn’t put it down.
I just loved all the characters. I highly recommend this book.

Was this review helpful?

4.25 stars

I quite enjoyed this book. I always appreciate Cherie Dimaline’s writing, and although this wasn’t my all-time favourite of her books, I really liked the story, and it made me feel a range of emotions. It took me a while to finish, but that’s a result of my strange attention span rather than a reflection of the book. It was a good one, I’ll most likely pick up a copy for my classroom library.

Was this review helpful?

This is a part of a trend I've been noticing of characters ho are haunted by something in the past who become obsessed with a relationship with a ghost. The ghost takes all of their attention so they don't have to deal with a situation in their life. It creates an odd balance between action and emotional reflection. Plenty of unique details here if you like a more meandering, off kilter book.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Cherie Dimaline can do no wrong. I love everything this author writes and this book was just as amazing and poweful as every other

Was this review helpful?

What drew me to this title was my past experience with Dimaline's novels. I adore the Marrow Thieves and its sequel, as well as fell for the tingle-inspiring sinister notes of Empire of Wild. While each book is unique in its own right, I knew that something special would happen here and I was right.

FSFDG follows a young girl as she comes into her own while yearning for a mother she didn't get to know and fighting for the only place that she believes holds a connection to her. What will happen if she and her father are forced to move away, are forced to begin anew somewhere far from where she hopes the ghost of her mother still inhabits? All questions Wini asks even as she falls for and is ultimately hurt by her best friend.

I have always loved how Dimaline makes her characters multi-faceted: she makes them vulnerable, naïve, strong, they make mistakes, and learn from them. This makes it all the more easier for her readers to fall for them and their story. Winifred is just like any teenage girl, falling in love easily, being disappointed, finding her strength, crying, laughing, and being scared. When a ghost story becomes reality, Wini must decide if she is going to be selfish and only wish to speak with this ghost just to make contact with her mother or will she become what Phil needs to finally finish her story?

This is a story about growing and learning, discovering more than what we can see, and finding friends and love along the way.

Was this review helpful?

Contemporary teen fiction. Coming of age story. It makes me cringe to even think of reading a book with this description; never mind finish it! Lol. But the reality is the added ghost element and a lonely motherless teen who lives on the grounds of a graveyard convinced me that I should read it. Add in that Cherie DiMaline is indigenous herself (as is her main character) and has won many awards; I figured what the heck let’s read it.

Am I glad I read it? Yes.
Would I recommend it? Maybe. For a struggling teen, someone trying to cope with loneliness or anyone whose just lost a loved one this could be a very comforting and cathartic read.
For me, in my current state it was just okay. I see the allure of it and why everyone is ranting and raving about its impact. Alas the reality is that this moment in my life doesn’t need this book. But I’m glad it exists for those who do need it at any given moment.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

Was this review helpful?

Read if you like: books on Indigenous identity, Young Adult
-
Winifred lives in an apartment in a cemetery, where she starts rumours that the cemetery is haunted. But then she meets a real ghost, Phil, who changes her outlook on life.
-
This book was amazing. Cherie Dimaline is an auto-read author and this exploration on Indigenous identity was very interesting. Winifred and Phil were both so interesting in different ways and I really enjoyed this book.

Was this review helpful?

Funeral Songs for Dying Girls was a lovely book on grief, anger, and growing up and how a teenager handles it. We get to watch Winnifred evolve throughout the book from the moment her and her father are threatened with a move to the eventually resolution of the situation. Throughout the book, there is great imagery about how Winnifred lives her life in routine, not really existing, much like she is a ghost. When she's introduced to Phil, we get to see how Phil brings out growth in Winnifred.

Initially, Winnifred wants to utilize Phil to save her home so that her father and her can continue to live in the cemetery, but as time advances and Win and Phil get to know each other, Win has a change of heart and she must stop the ghost tours from hurting her new friend.

I did find this book slow to start off, but around the middle point, when we get more information on Phil and her life before her death, it picked up. I thought that the way Dimaline wove Phil's story into Win's was elegant and poetic and I loved that Phil was able to help Win come to some sure conclusions of herself and give her the confidence to take the next step in her life. The way that Dimaline weaves hard moments into the story was perfect and there were moments that made me tear up and want to cry and moments that were just tender and sweet.

Was this review helpful?