It was only a matter of time before we found human remains.
The earth is jammed with dead things. Everyone knows that. But this isn’t just another day of tiptoeing through jelly fish on the beach or scrubbing smashed insects off the windshield. This is different.
This is how we are first introduced to Brigs and Carrie; they are breaking into his mother’s house only to find her rotten remains lying on the floor of the living room. The novel goes on to describe the deaths and funerals of several more relatives in both the distant past and the more recent past. But what this book is really about is life. And love. Joys, sorrows, fears, marriage , and family. Jennifer Quist has taken the morbidity of death and the messiness of everyday life and turned it into something beautiful.
One of the (many) wonderful things about this book is the writing and the details in the writing. I could picture everything in vivid detail, and there were countless times that I thought to myself, “Yes! Exactly. That is exactly what it is like”. Life, as she writes it in The Love Letters of the Angels of Death, rings true.
The writing style used in this book is unique. Brigs is telling the story as “I”, and talking as though he is speaking or writing a letter to his wife, “you”. To me, it came across as a sort of love letter to his wife. It made the book feel intimate, like we are in on their secrets, the good and the bad. I loved it.
You’ve never heard it yourself – that sound you only make when you’re asleep. You don’t know it’s the worst thing I’ve ever heard.
… I can tell just from your pressure and warmth against me, across my legs, against my shoulder – that I won’t ever live one moment here without you.
The empty air on your end of the phone is hollow and funny. You’re still in the stairwell, trying not to cry, and I can tell you hate yourself.
Do you ever read something in a book that is exactly like something you do or think, but thought that maybe you were the only one? There were several moments like that for me in this book. This next quote stands out for me as something I do all the time; many different versions of it, involving a rotating cast of loved ones.
Sometimes, usually when the weather is bad and the freeways are black with ice and the commute takes too long, you try it on – my death. You take it in – shallow but still very much beneath your skin. It’s a tiny injection of grief and fear. It’s meant to protect us, like an inoculation. You stand in our kitchen as the sky outside gets darker, and you let this contrived, imaginary tragedy immunize you against real sorrow. In your imagination, you marshal the possibility of my death into the small, controlled sphere – one you hope cannot coexist in the same world as a truly dead me. It’s a bit like Halloween – playing dead, acting it out to keep real death away.
Another thing I liked about this book is the fact that the author wrote about a happy marriage of a couple with 4 children. Although the children in the book did not play a huge role in the story, I could always feel them there, as a backdrop to the marriage, like they were so much a part of it they did not need to be mentioned. The evidence of them was always around; a pregnant belly, fingernails in the hair, the longing to be alone just for a few minutes. In a way, I think that if the children had played a bigger role, it would have taken something away from the story of their marriage.
Here is one of the best quotes I have ever read about parenthood and marriage:
And even through every offering you make, we both know the baby himself is not really an idol. He’s just an altar – a place to lay sacrifices. The sacrifice you make here is so profound I’ve never dared to mention my own – real but lost and invisible in the face of the cataclysm of your new motherhood. But the look of sameness in the routine of my life is not real. I have laid something precious on the altar of the baby too. My own sacrifice – it was you.
Several weeks later I am still thinking about this book. One regret I have is that I read it in mid-December when my mind is not as focused on what I’m reading. I feel like there is more I could have gotten out of it. I did, however, get to enjoy reading some of it when we went to visit family near Liverpool, Nova Scotia.
Laura has written a wonderful review of this book at Reading In Bed. At the end of her review, you will also find a Q&A with Jennifer Quist where she talks about the power of connection, the second person perspective, and whether or not to shelter our children from death.
Jennifer Quist was recently on the CBC where she talks about death, how she wrote her book, and Lego.
Love Letters of the Angels of Death has been long-listed for the 2015 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Her second novel is due to come out in the Fall of 2015.
Consumed by Ink 
It’s wonderful when you find a book that resonates so strongly with you on a personal level, and I can see how the author’s use of “you” would make the story feel more intimate. Great review.
Thanks. It’s a good book for anyone who has ever been married or is hoping to be someday. It felt like an authentic account of a successful marriage, and what that might look like; day to day stuff, rather than romance and sunshine.
I’ll definitely put that on my reading list. Thank you for the thoughtful review.
You’re welcome. I hope you like it!
I was sold right from the premise, but the quotes sealed the deal!
And, the good thing is there are so many more! Enjoy!
Both this novel and your trip to Nova Scotia sound great. I’ve always wanted to visit there.
You should! It’s beautiful here. Just make sure you’re not visiting during a long stretch of foggy days, so you can see the scenery. 🙂 As a true Nova Scotian, though, I love the fog.
I love fog, too, but you’re right. It can interfere with the scenery!
This whole review gives me chills 🙂 So glad you loved this as much as I did.
I do that too, the imagining death thing. All the time. With my husband, my kids, even myself – I imagine what it would be like if I died, would my youngest remember me, that kind of thing. And the “My own sacrifice – it was you” makes me cry every single time.
Before I had read that quote about the sacrifice, I had never thought about it that way before. But, it’s so true. And, I have always done the imagining people’s death thing- I can even get myself crying over it. Thanks for pushing me to read this book!
I get asked to read the “sacrifice” chapter aloud at book clubs sometimes and I get choked up just telling them, “There is NO WAY.”
Hi Jennifer! I loved your book. I can’t wait for the next one!
I can see why you’d get choked up reading that section out loud. Do you find that reading parts of your book to other people feels too personal? Or, do you enjoy it?
Thanks so much, Naomi. I like public speaking almost as much as writing and I love reading the book to anyone who will listen. However, I hate public crying. It’s not the “personal” that puts me off but my preference for keeping myself together at events. Ha!
Wow, amazing review and the book sounds so deep and poignant.
Thanks, C.J.! It is deep, but it’s not too heavy, if that makes any sense. It won’t bog you down, and it makes you be able to see things so clearly.
Naomi, your review has me nearly ready to brave the snow and cold to go buy this book immediately. It sounds so good!
Good, I’m so glad! It think you would like it. Before you do, though, call ahead to make sure they have it. If they don’t, ask them to order several! 🙂
What a lovely review of what sounds like a stunning book – your love of it shines through!
Thanks! With such beautiful quotes to choose from, I couldn’t go wrong. Thanks for visiting!
Wow, this sounds wonderful. That passage you’ve highlighted gave me goosebumps. I’ve just finished Four Letters of Love by Niall Williams and there was a passage in that (beautifully written) book that I felt was written just for me. This is a lovely review Naomi and this book is absolutely going on my wishlist.
Yay, I caught another one. 🙂 Be sure to share that passage with us when you review the book! I love it when a book feels so personal.
I remember seeing Laura’s review and thinking that I ought to read this book, and now you’ve reminded me! Gorgeous review.
Thank you, Carolyn! Surely between the two of us, we’ve convinced you. 😉
I agree with everyone else now that I’ve had time to read your review! I doubt I would have ever seriously considered this book due to the title, but now it’s definitely going on my TBR list! Your review definitely comes from your heart! Very nice… Thank you for sharing!
It’s nice to hear I can get people reading something they might not otherwise have picked up. People have done that for me in the past, and it’s nice to pass it on! I hope you enjoy it!
Though it wasn’t in December, I, too, read this in a very busy time of year (amidst the deluge of new autumn publications) and as much as I loved it, I did wonder if I wouldn’t have loved it even more if I’d settled into it and taken more time. However, it’s also a book that is hard to imagine “settling” with; it has such an irresistible momentum. So perhaps the answer is really just a reread!
This is definitely a book that could be re-read. I really did wish I had been able to focus more – I had to read it in short snippets. Let this be a lesson to everyone else – Read it when you have lots of time to settle in!
Agreed. I bet a lot of other readers, too, immediately thought that, upon finishing. And, really, what could be a better goal for a writer to have!