Richard RoperRecensioni

This was a bit like a male ELEANOR OLIPHANT in certain ways. Andrew has SUCH an excellent job. I've been thinking recently about how certain jobs are super common in books and why that is, so this was especially fun to read--but also so sad. I felt like the ending and making a bigger impact was rather wholesome yet didn't come off as preachy. Captivating and well written, I quite enjoyed this.

Loved Andrew and the dry British humor.

This book was both heartwarming and hilarious--a great combination! It tells the story of boyhood friends who have become estranged but then reunite with a plan to walk the Thames Trail in England. The story is told in alternating chapters from the point of view of each of the men and also goes back in time to explain what led to their estrangement. I very much enjoyed this format; it was very engaging, and the pace moved quickly. The characters were flawed but likeable, and although I wish the ending had been different, it did not detract from my overall enjoyment of the book. It reminded me of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry or The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper, but with much younger protagonists. Highly recommend!

Not great literature, but a pleasant enough read.

Genuinely funny in a very British way. Enjoyed the story more than I anticipated. Enthusiastically recommended!

This was one of those occurrences where I decided to read a book based off the cover and title. It was very amusing to tell my friends for a week that I was reading a book called "How Not to Die Alone." I agree with those who have stated that this book is similar to "Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine." The author introduced a strange sense of humor in the beginning of the book that, in my opinion, failed to continue throughout the book. Also, the different quirks that each character possessed were interesting, but I felt like by the end of the book, I wasn't invested in any of them anymore. As we all know, I am a huge fan of good characters and character development. But this book lacked that by the end. Similarly to Eleanor Oliphant, it started off strong, but it lost me by the end. I do not regret reading this book and I do recommend it to readers interested in this type of book. I just wish a few things could be changed to make it a well deserved read all the way to the final page.

When I walked into the bookstore I was looking for a novel called “How Not to Die Alone” by Richard Roper that I had seen reviewed. Instead I found a book called “Something to Live For” by the same author. When I picked it up I saw that it was the same book, just with a different title.

This confusing change of title from hardback to paperback was probably intended to give it a more positive spin, but I think it was a mistake, for not dying alone is what this wonderful British novel is all about.

Andrew has an odd government job. When bodies of individuals are found, often weeks after their deaths, it is his responsibility to go into the foul-smelling residences and search for signs of relatives or, failing that, enough money to pay for the funeral services.

As it happens, Andrew himself lives alone with his model trains. Yet to the people he works with he pretends to have a wife and two children. His fantasy somehow strengthens him. Roper writes, "They were his happiness and his strength and the thing that kept him going. Didn't that make them just as real as everyone else's family?"

Then he meets Peggy, a new employee with a marriage that is all too real. Her husband keeps promising to stop drinking but never does. She actually envies Andrew's happy home life.

Peggy gives Andrew an incentive to rethink his life and his lies. Perhaps he won't have to die alone like those people whose debris he must sort through for his job. Or, if you wish, perhaps he now has something to live for.

I enjoyed this book for Roper's humor and insights. This is his first novel, but we can look forward to his next one, whatever its titles.

During a job interview, Andrew did not hear a question and instead of asking what was said he just agreed, and that is how he came with a wife and children. Whenever his boss and co=workers asked about his family he gave them generic answers. A new co-worker, Peggy, comes to the office and Andrew trains her on their job, which is working for the council and going to homes of those who have died without any known kin and trying to find paperwork and bank papers that will let them know who the next of kin is and/or if they have enough money to pay for their funeral. During the course of working together, both develop feelings for each other which is a problem since both are married with children (supposedly.) Eventually Andrew's truth comes out and he has to learn that he is not alone but does have friends.

I loved this book. Andrew is very relatable. He is awkward. He is alone. He is lonely. He messes up. He has his hobby and seems that he needs little more. He has a good heart. Peggy is open, honest, and big-hearted. She has ideas which Andrew agrees with and may bring to fruition. Their co-workers are nuts--but whose aren't. Andrew's hobbyist friends help him a lot. They are loyal, true, and kind. They are also funny. I liked them a lot.

Andrew discovers he has feelings for Peggy--feelings he hasn't had in a long time. It is bittersweet to watch him stumble along with those feelings. When Peggy learns his truth she is compassionate. She advises him to make decisions. She knows she has decisions to make also.

The story on the surface is sad but there is reflection, love, and hope in it. I left the story feeling that Andrew and Peggy will get together and have a happily ever after at some point.

Es fing etwas zäh an, aber dann nahm das Buch Fahrt auf. Es hat mir gut gefallen. Es könnte uns alle treffen.

Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.

So, this was a thought provoking and sobering at times read. I did laugh a few times, but a few times while finishing I thought to myself will I die alone and if I do, will anyone be left after to miss me and come round to check in on me.



My family does a very good job of staying in touch with each other. We do Polos (videos) everyday almost to each other. We also text and sent pictures. When I go home to visit my family I stop in on older relatives who are content for me to sit and watch them watch television (mostly Lifetime). It just never occurred to me to not see them and check in on them.

This book shows us another side of those people who either lost loved ones, or didn't have any with them in the end. I ended up loving Andrew for just making sure that someone besides the local vicar was there to see them off. Roper does a great job with slowly revealing Andrew's story. You will have a lot of sympathy for him. And I also love that he didn't have Andrew just have a happily ever after romance wise. Honestly, I would have been happier without the romance. Between that and the flow of the book being off here and there, I ended up giving this book four stars.

"How Not to Die Alone" follows Andrew. Andrew works for public works and specifically gets involved when someone is found dead and it appears there are no next of kin to be found. Andrew seems to have a routine down pat. He goes to work, investigates a house, goes to a funeral if planned, comes home and talks in a chatroom with other model train enthusiasts, and talks to himself as he eats. We know he has a sister that he talks to once a quarter, and other than that he is trudging through his days. Until the day it comes about that Andrew who told a lie (he is happily married to a woman named Diane and they have two kids) which may get found out. With a new coworker named Peggy starting to push Andrew out of his rut, he is starting to realize why and how his life got so off unbalanced.

I really enjoyed the character of Andrew. You at first may find him weird. Readers are told pretty much up front how he came to lie about being married and you may find yourself not feeling sympathetic to him. I maybe had my eyebrows raised through that part of the book because I just thought how odd it was. However, it takes almost until the end of the book for Roper to reveal why Andrew lied and specifically what happened to him. You then realize why Andrew has become so focused on making sure that the deceased are not left alone at their funerals. That someone should be there to mark them leaving the world. You find out why he loves Ella Fitzgerald so much, but why one song causes him almost physical pain.

Now onto the slightly negative. I didn't really care for the whole romance he had going on in his head with regards to Peggy. I liked how Roper developed their relationship from coworkers, to friends, to amateur sleuths when tracking down leads on possible kin to deceased men and women. However, Peggy has her own marriage and problems to deal with and I hard cringed at Roper possibly throwing the character development of both characters out the window to slap a bow on things. I was so happy to see I was wrong with that, no spoilers, but I loved how well done this was and how it was taken care of by Roper.

The other characters in this book, Andrew's sister (Sally), Sally's shitty boyfriend (Carl), and the frightful coworkers (Keith and Meredith) were written very well. We get a slow reveal about Sally and Andrew's relationship and I felt so sad about the whole thing. No spoilers, but when you read about how they were raised, what happens after, and why they seem so apart from each other's lives it all makes sense.

I already mentioned Peggy above, but she was written so well. Peggy has her own problems, but she does want to help Andrew when she realizes what is going on with him.

The writing was very good. I would also caution reading this while eating or anything. Some of the descriptions of the homes that Andrew and Peggy walk into turned my stomach a bit. FYI, I am a very clean person, I promptly went and cleaned my bathrooms after finishing this book. There is some dialogue that made me laugh here and there, but I loved how Roper shows Andrew's awkwardness and you are able to get the sense that he wants to make connections, but is out of practice.

The flow as I said was not consistent throughout. I think when Roper reveals things about Andrew's past it kind of brings the book to a halt. The passages concerning Sally, Andrew's mother, and what happened to Andrew after going to university were great, and I definitely don't think it should have been told in a chronological way. It just caused the book to grind slightly at times. And the book then moving back to the present didn't work for me all the time since a few times since I would get focused on what Roper revealed and wanted to go back and get more details on that.

The setting of this book takes place in London. It just feels like a London where the lights have gone out a bit. Though there is humor in the book here and there, it's a pretty grim subject matter at times. This book did make me curious about whether in the U.S. if we have a similar office going around taking care of unaccompanied deaths and ensuring the deceased are given a funeral and buried.

The ending though is a breath of fresh air. It will definitely warm your heart.

Easy, fun, fast read, but not memorable. A few chuckles, but not laugh out loud funny.

Andrew works for the council; it’s his job to search out the next-of-kin of those who die alone. This is grim, but not quite as grim as it could be, because Andrew takes it upon himself to attend the funerals of his ‘cases’ and to search for next-of-kin like a detective. But Andrew has a big secret. When he is first hired, he makes up a spouse and two non-existent children, partly through a series of misunderstandings, and partly as wish fulfillment. Then two things happen that make that lie untenable. His boss want to encourage team bonding by having each staff member host a dinner party in his or her home. And a woman named Peggy is hired and starts going out on calls with him, changing his perspective on the possibility of happiness.

Charming and quirky with undertones of more serious issues of loneliness and social isolation.½

Reminded me of The Office a bit. Sad and sweet at the same time. I enjoyed the book.

The hero of Something to Die for (and I think he is a hero) is Andrew. Andrew could best be described as socially inept in that he lacks certain social skills and finds it difficult to mix with people and judge their reactions. So he disappears into his world of model railways and finds it much easier to mix with the faceless few railway enthusiasts online who are somewhat cliquish and unsociable in pursuit of their hobby. Andrew works for the council in a somewhat unusual role; he visits the houses of recently departed tenants, destitute people who have no next of kin, and it is his job to trace relatives, and hopefully they will help fund the funeral, if not it falls under the auspices of the council to provide a paupers grave. Andrew has created a fictitious world, in his need to be wanted by his work colleagues, pretending he is happily married to Diane with two lovely children Steph and David. A change occurs in his life when Peggy comes to work with the council and in particular as a colleague to Andrew. There is a certain attraction between the two, is it really possible that this strange likeable young man might at long last find some happiness
This was a very enjoyable, funny, poignant and ultimately uplifting book, a joy to read from start to finish. There are some genuinely laugh out moments but equally some compelling thoughtful observations…..”because as Andrew had discovered, once you’ve smelled death it never leaves you”……”Peggy had hugged him. This wasn’t physical contact through formality-an introductory handshake. Nor was it the unavoidable touch of the barber or dentist, or a stranger on a packed train. It had been a genuine gesture of warmth, and for that second and a half he was reminded about how it felt to let someone in”……. Many thanks to the good people of Netgalley for a gratis copy in return for an honest review and that is what I have written.

Andrew is a loner working for the Council in the UK. He's a member of the Death Administration department dealing with deceased estates in the event a person dies without a next of kin. Andrew and his colleagues are responsible for searching the property for proof of family or friends and the funds to cover funeral expenses. If none can be found, the burden falls to the state.

Andrew is a model train hobbyist and his regular job and loner lifestyle made him instantly relatable and irresistibly likeable. Andrew's job is fascinating and the first thing that attracted me to this book, but after reading a few pages there was plenty to keep me engaged.

I loved Andrew's online interactions with his fellow model train enthusiasts and the general office banter and relationships also gave me cause to smile and nod along. I wasn't expecting to find much to laugh about, but Something to Live For often made me chuckle to myself, here's an example from Page 30:

"Consequently, his living space was looking not so much tired as absolutely knackered. There was the dark stain where the wall met the ceiling in the area that masqueraded as a kitchen; then there was the battered grey sofa, the threadbare carpet and the yellowy-brown wallpaper that was meant to suggest autumn but in fact suggested digestive biscuits."

I can see why parallels are being drawn between this and Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman: both characters are loners and both have some socialisation issues - albeit to different degrees. But this is lighter, less dramatic and therefore seemingly more real.

The only reason Something to Live For by Richard Roper wasn't a 5 star read for me was that it had a touch of the 'cringe factor' for me. The cringe factor is hard to describe, but here it came in the form of a lie Andrew told his work mates that had managed to snowball in the ensuing years. This kind of situation makes me cringe and while it made perfect sense for the character and the plot arc, it nevertheless prevented this from becoming a 5 star read for me.

This book is being published with a different title overseas (How Not To Die Alone) but I think the Australian title strikes the better chord and is more in keeping with the overall message of the novel. A moving and uplifting read, highly recommended.

* Copy courtesy of Hachette Australia *

Something to Live For is on course to be one of the books of the year and it's definitely going to be on my books of the year list. It's absolutely superb in every way.

Andrew has a very unique job, one which I find fascinating and horrifying in equal measure. If somebody dies alone and doesn't appear to have any relatives or friends to take on the task of arranging a funeral and looking for next of kin, then the council have to step in to do all of this and that's where Andrew, and the team he works with, come in. He frequently has to attend a residence where somebody has died, go through their belongings, contact relatives and, although he doesn't have to, he attends the funeral. That's the kind of man Andrew is. It's not an easy job, especially when a person's passing has gone unnoticed for a while, but what I loved about him is that he showed respect at all times.

Andrew is also the kind of man who has a secret, one which he didn't intend to have but which has got bigger and bigger as the years have passed. When Peggy joins the team, for the first time in a long time Andrew starts to think he might want to make a different life for himself.

I loved Andrew and Peggy. Andrew is one of those self-effacing types, a man who is in the background causing no trouble at all. Peggy, on the other hand, is a more brash person who says what she thinks. Yet they hit it off as colleagues and friends quite quickly.

Richard Roper has cornered the market in glorious turns of phrase.

"As if to confirm his gloom, he knew the restaurant was a poor choice by the look the waiter gave him on arrival, as if he were a stray dog who'd wandered in looking for a place to die".

He has a way of describing things that really appeals to me.

"Ever since the disastrous dinner party he'd carried himself with the air of a well-meaning schoolteacher who'd let his students bring in a game on the last day of term only for them to spray silly string all over the place and write rude words on their desks".

His writing is sharp with a hint of sarcasm, witty and yet moving. This is a book that gave me all the emotions. I smiled and laughed A LOT and I also cried. I honestly don't know how he thinks up the analogies that he does but he is so talented to be able to do so.

I must mention the team from the council too. As supporting characters they are just fantastic. Cameron is Andrew's boss and is constantly trying to enforce team-building ideas upon everybody (nightmare!). Then there's Keith and Meredith. He's a bit of an oaf and I don't honestly know how to describe Meredith.

As stories go, I loved the unique feel to it and the quirkiness. Andrew is into model trains and Ella Fitzgerald and they are basically the mainstay of his life, along with his unusual job. Really, the whole thing is just an absolute joy from start to finish and even when it moved me it was still so uplifting and so wonderful.

If this is a debut then I can't wait to see what Richard Roper writes next. Something to Live For is a very special book indeed.

How Not to Die Alone by Richard Roper is a very highly recommended quirky, delightful, funny, heartbreaking, and hopeful debut novel. Yeah, ALL the emotions are here in this debut novel that had me entrenched and invested from beginning to end.

Andrew, 42, has a public health job at the Death Administration department that few people could do, let alone with the compassion Andrew shows. He enters the homes of deceased individuals who died alone and searches for some evidence of a next of kin or assets that will provide the ability to cover the burial costs. He also attends the funeral services, often as the only mourner present. Co-workers think he goes home each night to a loving wife and two children, but that is not the case. When applying for the job years earlier a misunderstanding led to the lie and he has found it easier to perpetuate it. His only friends are members of a private group on an online model train forum. His only relative is an older sister who he only talks to on the phone a few times a year.

When Peggy joins the department and Andrew and Peggy begin to form a friendship and connection. A relationship would be impossible. Peggy is in a troubled marriage, but she believes Andrew also is married. Then, when his boss decides that each member of the team will now host a monthly dinner at their home, Andrew is in a tough position. If he confesses and tells the truth now, he could lose everything, but if doesn't he could lose any chance of happiness.

The characters are all well-developed, flawed, and realistic. Andrew is a kind, awkward, and lonely man, who is still suffering from past traumas that the reader will not know all the details of until the end - and then everything in the story falls into place. In the narrative, most of his problems all seem to be self-inflicted, serving to keep Andrew safe, but lonely. Peggy is actually good for Andrew, making him open himself up to new experiences. If Andrew can take a risk, he may be able to make some personal connections, and find a chance at happiness.

The writing is excellent and the narrative is well-paced. Roper does an incredible job introducing new information and developing the plot and characters slowly to the reader, until a big final reveal at the end. How Not to Die Alone is much funnier and more poignant than any description could do justice to. In spite of the fact that Peggy is married, you will be rooting for these two. I didn't jump up to the five stars until the end, although I also talked back about the very final denouement in regards to his job.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Penguin Random House.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2019/05/how-not-to-die-alone.html

Poor Andrew started his job many years ago with a white lie that has snowballed. During his interview, he led the boss to believe that he had a wife and kids, and since that time he has been unable to backtrack, indeed he has embellished the fabrication beyond all recognition. Andrew's job is to investigate the lives of people who have died alone, in order to track down any relatives or friends who might be able to assist with funeral expenses and other estate issues. The job suits his lonely soul, but when Peggy starts working with him his life becomes more interesting and enjoyable. The author conveys Andrew's dilemma and personality with compassion and insight, without being heavy-handed.