I didn't know what to expect from this story based on the synopsis but I ended up really enjoying it. The narrator is not named and we only get references to the "Husband," "Daughter, " "Barber," etc. I found this an effective way to illustrate that the narrator also lacked a connection to her own life and struggled with her identity. The writing style was also a little detached, which I felt was purposeful to further the point of the story and the character's own struggles.

I was surprised by the direction the story ended up taking at the end, but I was invested and interested in where it was going. I also loved the funeral cryer element and what it added to the story.

THE FUNERAL CRYER is a debut by Wenyan Lu as a slice of life portrait in a culture that was unknown to me.

This is a slower pace look into the life of a contemporary, rural Chinese woman who becomes a funeral cryer as her profession. The stark prose of her daily life, paired with the repetitive meditations of her body, her husband, or her job felt like a look into the gray world in which she inhabits. The lack of names given and the lack of importance she gives that concept further impress the reality of the lack of self importance or esteem. When she strikes up a friendship with the Barber, it sparks a tiny flame. This story ended in a way that left me feeling like the rug had been pulled out, but in a good way.

A character-driven novel, this will be a great choice for anyone who can set aside the assumptions of class and comfort that we hold and allow the experience of another to simply be told.

Thank you to @htpbooks & @netgalley for sharing this striking debut that was published on April 30th.

3.5⭐


Set in contemporary China, The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu is a thought-provoking novel. Our protagonist is a middle-aged woman who makes a living as a professional mourner – a profession she has been engaged in for ten years. With her husband unemployed, hers is their only income. Though enjoys the financial security her profession affords her, most of the villagers tend to avoid her as they believe that she brings bad luck and “smells of the dead”- a sentiment echoed by her husband who eagerly pockets her earnings, spending a substantial portion of same playing mahjong. He is disrespectful of his wife and emotionally abusive and it is hinted that he might be having an affair. Their grown daughter lives in Shanghai and from what we gather, she keeps her distance. The only person who shows the Funeral Cryer any kindness is the barber of their village.

Narrated in the first person by our protagonist, the tone of this novel is quiet and a tad detached for the most part. The writing is sparse yet evocative and the narrative is slow moving. Though this is not the first I heard of the tradition of hiring professional mourners (the “Rudaali” tradition in Rajasthan, India is one of the many variants of the same). I found the author’s detailed description of the role they play fascinating. There are several characters in and around our protagonist’s orbit, but the bulk of the novel revolves around her observations and reflections on her marriage, her relationships with other members of her family, life and death. We follow our protagonist as she goes about her daily life, attends her professional responsibilities with diligence, and her thoughts often drifting to past events. In her present life, the events we may perceive as significant, our protagonist takes in her stride. She tends to absorb much without visible reaction (though we are privy to her thoughts) and only toward the end of the novel do we notice a significant development in the way she perceives her life. I should mention that none of the characters are referred to by name ( including our unnamed protagonist). Though this aspect of the novel took a while to get used to, I thought it was congruous with the protagonist’s personality. Her observations are honest, heartfelt and laced with dry humor. The setting is vivid and I enjoyed getting to learn about the culture, customs and traditions described in this novel. The author has done a remarkable job of depicting the social dynamics and inequality within the community.

While there is a lot to like about this novel, I did feel that the narrative suffered from minor repetition and thought that the nature of the narrative is such that it should have been shorter to be more impactful. Though this is a character-driven novel, I thought the scope for character development was limited in that we were not allowed to explore certain crucial aspects of our protagonist's life deeper such as the dynamic between her and her daughter since it is evident that theirs is a complicated relationship. The ending is a tad ambiguous, but this does not detract from the overall reading experience.

Overall, I did find this to be an immersive and insightful read and look forward to reading more from the author in the future.

Many thanks to Harlequin Trade Publishing for the digital review copy via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The plot is not unfamiliar- a woman at midlife realizing that she's not living the way she'd like to live-but that's only the bones of this unusual and intriguing novel. The unnamed narrator is unhappy with her husband (with good reason), missing her daughter who has moved to Shanghai, and an outcast in her own village because she provides the all too necessary crying at funerals. It's a slice of life in rural China, it's a story of a woman in an unusual job it's a thoughtful exploration of names. And it's beautifully written. Know that not a lot happens but it's. wonderful character study. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

The Funeral Cryer is a well-written book. The author presents the story in a somewhat detached manner using the tool of anonymity. The reader never learns the name of the funeral cryer and other characters are simply referenced as the husband, the brother, the daughter, the barber, etc. However, I believe this emphasizes the poignant, intimate thoughts and emotions the funeral cryer shares about her interactions with others. She yearns for a strong emotional connection with another person, something that has escaped her even during marriage and motherhood. Rather than living life, the funeral cryer has just allowed life to happen to and around her through the years and now she is searching for something more. The action of plot is primarily the emotional journey of the funeral cryer. This was not a “can’t put it down” type of book for me. It was more of a leisurely read with pauses throughout. However, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it. I am interested to see the development of future works by this author.

“I’d rather be a weed. I didn’t want any attention. I wanted to be free and wild. Then I could do whatever I wanted. With anyone I wanted.”

This is the story of a funeral cryer who is kept at a distance by her community because it is believed she carries bad luck due to her profession; a wife who is reflecting on her marriage and what it means to be married (“What kind of husband was a good husband?”); a mother and daughter who tries her best to support her family; and most importantly, this is just a story of a woman who is navigating her womanhood.

The Funeral Cryer is such a beautiful story. I don’t usually annotate books but this book I marked up! We don’t learn of the funeral cryer’s name (she makes a point about it in the story!) but we follow her journey of defining AND redefining her relationships (both familial and intimate), her views of her body, and her happiness. The book explores themes like a woman’s relationship with pleasure, daughters vs. sons, the benefits of marriage, family dynamics, a woman’s right to be selfish, AND how beauty is defined (young vs old).

This is a VERY reflective story that I think would be great for a book club/buddy read or if you want a solo journey. The story is slow-paced (which is not a bad thing) but if you’re patient with the book you will without a doubt discover the gems of the funeral cryer’s story. I will definitely be on the lookout for more from Wenyan Lu!

SN: The last 3% of this book had me flabbergasted in the best way possible because NONE of that was expected! LOL

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the ARC!!

The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu is a book about a woman that lives in a small mountain village in China. She is the local funeral cryer, a job considered to be bad luck by her community. She is basically an outcast & treated poorly by her husband. The funeral cryer suspects her husband is having an affair with a newly widowed young woman & she herself comes close to having an affair with the local barber.

This was a slow book with very little action. It is well-written & some aspects about village life are interesting. Overall, no one in this book is very happy.

Thanks to the publisher (Harlequin Trade Publishing, Hanover Square Press) & Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for access to this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

I struggled with this debut novel.

Set in contemporary rural China, we have an unnamed protagonist with an unusual occupation- a person paid to cry at funerals. I liked that part as I do believe that funerals are not as much about remembering the person who has passed but being there for their family members. Our character who is in the middle of her life- has a lazy husband, who might be having an affair and a grown daughter who lives in Shanghai. Many of the protagonist's worries are relatable - aging parents, marital ups and downs, and expectations of grown children. Not to mention the ideas surrounding death and dying.

I was not expecting a plot that would be fast-moving or action-driven. After all, such subjects do not warrant rapid-fire storytelling. I just think that if the character isn't overly concerned that her husband is having an affair- I shouldn't get too bent out of shape about it either. The major turn of events at the end of the story gripped me but then the ending appeared to fizzle. It has left me wondering what the author desires the biggest "take-away" of the novel to be.

The writing was beautiful, I am just not sure that I would recommend this book.


#TheFuneralCryer #NetGalley.
Expected Publication Date 30/04/24
Goodreads Review 10/04/24

This was such a sweet and relatable story of a woman in rural china , having an awakening . Beautiful and very tender .
Thank you for the eArc .

This is an interesting look at a practice unfamiliar to me. The unnamed narrator is a funeral cryer- a person paid by a family to mourn their deceased loved one. Also interesting was the look at a life in a small Chinese village and their customs and traditions. The narrator is married to a husband(also unnamed) who is physically and emotionally abusive. The narrator begins a relationship with her villages barber which does not end well when I finished the book it left me and the narrator wth lots of unanswered questions which makes me wonder if there’s a sequel in the works

A woman feels ostracized by her community because of her job as a funeral cryer and mistreated by her lazy husband.

I'm not going to lie, this one was a disappointment. I get where the author was going, but it just was not able to hold my attention whatsoever...

The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu tells a story of a woman from contemporary rural China, whose job it is to attend funerals and sing and cry. As a result of many superstitions and beliefs surrounding death, her neighbours and former friends give her a wide berth, hoping not to risk bringing death to themselves or loved ones by associating with her. Her relationship with "the husband" is fractured and really doesn't sound like it was all that great to begin with, and "the daughter" has moved away to Shanghai and doesn't visit. The woman doesn't seem overly concerned by this solitary life she lives, but as she begins to believe "the husband" may be having an affair (and potentially is the reason for a young widow's recent pregnancy), she begins some self reflection and exploration.

This is where I gave up, a little more than half way through the book. There were a few (fleeting) interesting moments, but almost nothing happened in the first half of the book. I was drawn in by curiosity about this unfamiliar notion of a funeral cryer and by the description but at about 25% when nothing had happened, I started to wonder if a clear plot was coming. I started reading some reviews and even though they confirmed not much was going to happen, the beauty and the revelations sounded promising. As I approached the halfway mark I realized that it was unlikely there would be enough redeeming qualities to keep me reading.

This one is a debut, so I have hope that the author writes more and continues to share her perspectives and stories, I just hope that her next work has a little more going on so that readers can appreciate the beauty in her writing without losing interest as I did.

Thanks to @netgalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read and review this one.

The writing was good but I really could not get into this due to the narrator. It all felt very detached and I couldn’t sympathize at all.

Unfortunately a DNF

Thank you Netgalley for the e-arc of this upcoming novel! I felt like this was such an emotional punch to the gut. Overall it was taxing, not in the sense that it was hard to read but in the sense that it asked some things of the reader.
Culturally speaking, this felt really rich. Think sprawling historical epic, think cultural practices and justice to them. This was done right from start to finish.

A funeral cryer is an old-world cultural tradition in China. The cryer sings and stirs up emotional responses at funerals. While a disappearing tradition in modern China, the main character in this story continues this practice in her small village. Given limited employment options, and while shunned by some for the practice, it is the main source of income for her family. The descriptions of village life, the patriarchal village and family life, even when most employment/income is provided by the women in the household, was fascinating to a point. The story highlighted the lack of employment opportunities and limited resources for those without a university education or for those not living in the larger cities. The writing style was abrupt, short sentences, representing a colloquial style of speaking. The story of a funeral cryer, her do nothing but play mah-jongg husband, and his affairs, became repetitive after a while. Once I got past descriptions of life in this small town, I lost interest in the story. And the writing style did not present a fluid reading experience.

The Funeral Cryer was a novel that introduced me to many cultural differences between a mature woman living in a Chinese village and the life I enjoy. I had never heard of a funeral cryer. The fact that the main character had stumbled upon this career as a way to support her household seemed to affect every part of her being. While the job seemed to pay well and allowed her husband not to work, it brought with it an isolation as the funeral cryer was often unwelcome in homes or at happy gatherings.

I was interested in the descriptions, from the minimalist housing and lack of material goods, to the complicated system that allowed the government to own all the land. The views on aging, children, and usefulness were also explored. The writing style is unique, with characters only referred to by their role or relation, husband, barber, etc. The novel would lead to great discussions

This was an emotional, atmospheric read. I really appreciated the sparse, minimalistic writing style that packed more of a punch with the austerity of its phrasing. Some sections are entirely short, back-and-forth dialogue that is still easy to follow/understand and really allows the reader space to draw their own conclusions. The whole story is narrated by the funeral cryer, and her musings, reflections, and resolutions felt like a truly immersive experience. Despite the sometimes limited page time of the other characters, they all have intriguing backstories and are distinct individuals with compelling relationships to the funeral cryer that were interesting to explore. I appreciated the emphasis on city and village names with the lack of named characters, the overall setting, and the depictions of Chinese death culture and superstitions. The plot unfolds slowly and satisfyingly, and I did not predict the ending. I liked that the story ends at this particular point in the funeral cryer's story, and I keep going back and forth on what I think her answer to the final question posed at the end will be. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a moody, broody, atmospheric, emotional read that really lets you get to know one character in depth.

Thanks to Book Browse and NetGalley for the advanced reader's copy of this book.

The Funeral Cryer is a quiet, contemplative character study of a woman in her forties living in rural China. She has been raised with traditional expectations of her life and is accepting of her not particularly happy life and the restrictions she places on herself.

She works as a funeral cryer which allows her to express strong emotions that she otherwise suppresses. This job brings in the only income for her immediate family, but the job comes with the stigma of being unlucky which alienates her from her neighbors. The story is told only from her point of view so the reader never really knows if her community feels she is unlucky or if she is projecting.

The details of her job, life in a rural community and the contrast with city life were interesting. She identifies the characters in her life by their role/job rather than names which adds to the universality. She has a sense of humor, ie: calling a character Hotpot after everyone's favorite dish. Her understanding of her daughter, husband and mother are insightful.

The reader sees her acknowledge and act on her own needs and other characters begin to give her respect as a person.

The title piqued my interest as I've never heard of a funeral cryer and I'm always interested in different cultures. While the conditions of the people's lives in this Chinese village (constant struggles to earn enough money for present and future needs, ever present concerns of what neighbors/family think of their
actions/decisions and all of the superstitions that govern their thoughts and actions) were depressing, I kept waiting for the main character's circumstances to improve. Some of the book reviews spoke of changes she would make that improve her situation. I kept waiting for some big event that would change everything. It was much more subtle than that.
The author's use of first person gives an ongoing monologue of her (the main character's) thoughts, feelings and ambitions. She also agonizes over what others will think of her actions.
I thought the author's style of writing was an asset to the story telling. By giving her these small incremental inner dialogues, the author lets the reader see her inner changes and how that affects how she sees her world and herself.
I could see a book club learning much from a discussion on this book.

I really enjoyed reading this book, it had everything that I was hoping for from the description. I was invested in the main character and it creates a great overall world and a realistic feel to the story. I enjoyed the rest of the characters and that they all worked in this story. It was a great debut going on and I enjoyed how Wenyan Lu wrote this.