The Likely Resolutions Of Oliver Clock by Jane Riley

I really enjoyed this book.  It helped that the author had done her research on what life behind the scenes is like in a Funeral Parlour.  She almost got it right, what she missed was the very overdeveloped sense of the absurd that everyone I ever worked with had; trust me it takes a certain kind of person to work in a Funeral Parlour and a pre-requisite for a coping mechanism seems to be a sense of humour that borders on deranged.  There are a lot of emotions flying around and those family meetings can be really something and she captured this exquisitely, even if Mr Clock did feel a little obsequious at times.  I wasn't sure about "The Folder" but it was great to see Oliver step away from the formula and try and treat each visitor through the doors as individual stories because that really is how it works.

The only real let down for me was how much of a mess Oliver was away from Clock & Sons.  The dichotomy between work Oliver and home Oliver was so great that it just didn't ring true and spoilt it just a teeny, tiny bit for me.  I get the whole frustrated relationship thing but he just felt like so much of a mess when away from work and almost devoid of any personality that I did wonder where it was going.  Strangely, the book is saved by his almost complete breakdown when someone close to him dies and he struggles to get past it.  I loved how the grief was allowed to filter through all aspects of his life and that it was shown to be completely devastating, even though Oliver was doing his best to minimise his outward show.

The nuances of emotion in the book are, on the whole, really beautifully handled.  Occasionally the author whacks you round the head with a point but these were mercifully few and far between.  I think the most frustrating thing for me was that in his search for an Adult Relationship Oliver misses what is clearly under his nose.  The fact that it was so obvious that these two were perfect for each other felt like overkill and over-signposted in the book; especially as they frequently followed or proceeded some half-hearted encounter with the woman he'd found himself with.

Throw in a lot of almost Catholic Guilt about changing the way that Clock & Son operates and there is a lot going on here.  I did really enjoy it though and was pleased that it tackled some difficult subjects in an accessible way, including making those who deal with people at their absolute lowest point come across as completely and utterly human.