With stilted, almost awkward writing, a thin plot, and one-dimensional characters, this dark and sorrowful book by Wenyan Lu is a disappointment because it has the potential to be so much more.

Taking place in modern-day China but in a remote, rural village that hangs on to the old customs, this is the story of a middle-aged woman who is never named. None of the characters is named except for a few who are given nicknames. The woman is married to a man she refers to as "the husband," and they have one grown daughter, who lives in Shanghai. It is a loveless marriage, bordering on abusive. The husband is unemployed. She works as a funeral cryer. It is her job to lead the mourners in crying. Meanwhile, she suspects her husband, who spends his time playing mahjong, of having an affair with a woman named Hotpot, while she herself is making eyes at the local barber. Because of her job as a funeral cryer, she is thought to bring bad luck and to smell of the dead. She experiences discrimination from others' superstitions about death—so much so that she is refused admittance to her father's nursing home and is ostracized by those in the village.

The underlying theme of the book is death and dying—our fears, anxieties, and trepidations. Being surrounded by death weighs on the woman, and eventually she decides to live a better life. Even though the novel was leading up to this all along, her change of heart is quite sudden, so it feels forced and implausible.

The writing style is characterized by short, jarring sentences and abrupt paragraph changes, while the dialogue is stilted and boring and often doesn't serve to move the story forward, focusing on the mundane aspects of life.

This book caught my eye by the title. It follows the journey of our narrator and her daily life in a village in rural China. She is a funeral cryer to help aid those in their grief during funerals. After she sings joyful songs to help lift up their spirits before the funeral ends.

We never learn her name or anyone in her
life. As if she is detached from everything and everyone. Her occupation is looked down upon everyone around her as they feel it brings death and bad luck. But she continues doing it as it provides for her family and she finds pride in her work.

Throughout the book she struggles with her role as a wife, mother, daughter and a working woman. As if she is just going along with daily life and not finding in really joy in the current life she is living.

Her thoughts throughout the book are beautifully expressed and I feel most women can relate.

The ending surprised me but felt complete.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC.

The Funeral Crier by Wenyan Lu is a debut novel that explores the life of a professional mourner in rural China. The unnamed narrator, who leads the lamentations at funerals, is shunned by her fellow villagers and neglected by her husband. She faces a bleak and lonely existence, until she decides to take a chance and change her fate.

The novel is a poignant and humorous portrait of a woman who defies the social norms and expectations of her society. Lu skillfully depicts the contrast between the traditional and the modern, the rural and the urban, and the rich and the poor in contemporary China. The Funeral Crier is a subtle and moving story of grief, love, and redemption, with a memorable and witty protagonist. Lu's writing is elegant, wry, and insightful, and she offers a fascinating glimpse into a culture and a profession that are rarely portrayed in literature.

The Funeral Crier is a novel that will appeal to fans of literary fiction, especially those who enjoy stories of ordinary people facing extraordinary challenges. It is a novel that celebrates the power of human resilience and the possibility of transformation. I highly recommend this novel to anyone who is looking for a refreshing and original read.

The title of the book tells you exactly what the story is about. The narrator muses about her life and family, which by the way, we never learn their names. It is as if it is inconsequential. I enjoyed the book but left feeling sad. I think it is enlightening to read about other peoples lives and experiences that are so different from my own. Great book for a rainy day.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

What an amazing book, from start to finish. I’m now completely obsessed with the idea of a professional “funeral cryer” and all it encapsulates. This story delivers a great take on a woman forced to start a new journey in life, thanks in part to her lackluster husband and apparent selfish daughter. She finds comfort in another but that is soon filled with its own kind of darkness. This book was mysterious yet detailed, a mix not too often executed so perfectly.

My review will be left on goodreads as well as my bookclub insta

Beautiful cover. This book is difficult for me to rate, because there was something lovely about the writing; however, it somehow didn't flow. This might have been due to the attempts at making us realize the protagonist did not use English as a first language.
It was such a troubling story, with families wanting a funeral crier, but at the same time she is ostracized from the entire village.
The family dynamics were such that I couldn't put it down. She works, her husband doesn't...playing mah-jongg all day. She has no one, and she becomes enamored of a local barber.
My big problem was that the story ends so abruptly I was taken aback.
Thank you to Harlequin Publishing and Net Galley for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

I did not finish. While halfway through reading the book it got a little too slow for me. I appreciate the opportunity to read The Funeral Cryer.

The Funeral Cryer is a beautiful story about a woman trying to find herself. Although this book is set in China, and the main character (we never learn her name) is bound by certain cultural requirements, it is very relatable. It is about a woman struggling to determine who she is as a person separate from her duties of being a wife, a mother and a daughter. We never learn her age, but we know she has an adult daughter and aging parents. Like so many of us, she is attempting to have an awakening in the second half of her life. She is struggling to find her true self, and learn what it is that she can be proud of about herself.
The view into life in a small Chinese village was fascinating. The book moves along easily. The story is not complicated, but it has a certain elegance in its simplicity. It is heartwarming and touching.

The Funeral Cryer is a reflective take on middle-aged womanhood in society not only in China but for many women throughout the world. Our main character (who remains nameless throughout the story) tells of her life interacting with an apathetic husband, a daughter that doesn’t live at home and hyper aware of death around her. Her job as a Funeral Cryer generates the household income, but brings more grief than good most of the times. Her own personal awakening gives younger women readers space to reflect on their roles in their homes, they goals for the future and what it means to be a woman in the world.

Conceptually, this story is beautiful. The themes it brings up (trust, love, happiness, disconnect) in the most subtle ways all within the framework of a woman shamed by her family for the role she plays (even as she is the provider and caretaker) are absolute perfection.

The writing style itself isn't working for me. It's choppy, and it isn't a seamless blend of words that take you away. It's blocks of dialogue and blocks of inner monologue. This is going to appeal to a very specific type of reader. I'm giving up at 10% in.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin for the ARC.

I did not finish this one. I can see it being a favorite for hardcore fans of literary fiction. But I am not one of those people. I could not find myself getting invested.

A moving and thought provoking story about a funeral cryer in a small village in rural China. I was unfamiliar with the funeral cryer profession and found those sections to be fascinating. Unfortunately, the writing style didn’t work for me. Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin for the ARC.

I got almost halfway through this book - the dialogue and descriptors often felt choppy, and even if I appreciated the framing devices and exploration of what it means to be in a community because they need you but not because they want you. I appreciated the building relationships the protagonist created, but I think the pacing of the story's growth was a bit too slow for me to get into it fully.

Many thanks to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.