The job provides a story motherlode that Roper mines to tragicomic effect, but he’s far more interested in workers than work. He’s required to visit the homes of people who died alone, look for next of kin and arrange their funerals. It’s a risky proposition for any novelist, particularly a rookie, but when Roper makes it work, the payoff is tremendous.Īndrew’s workplace, the Death Administration, occupies center stage. He wants to show that Andrew can’t live authentically until he reaches back and confronts the heartbreak that derailed him in the first place. But Roper aspires to more than a yuk-yuk sitcom resolution. He will, of course - the book’s title tells us as much. We root for Andrew to come clean and connect, as much for his benefit as our entertainment. Like many funny novels, “How Not to Die Alone” is influenced by the adage that humor equals tragedy plus time.
So, when Andrew’s boss obliges each employee to host dinner at his/her home, we know exactly what’s coming. This untruth, a miscommunication he failed to correct, was born of wistful, wishful desire rather than malicious intent. This is a smart choice, one that inspires our empathy and helps to assuage any discomfort we may feel when we discover, only a few pages later, that Andrew is also a big, fat liar.įor the past five years, Andrew, single, childless and forlorn, has convinced his co-workers that he’s happily married with two children. Roper introduces Andrew as a tenderhearted, thoughtful person. A showcase for Roper’s mordant humour (it’s set in the U.K.), the book kicks off with a cold open: Andrew Smith is the sole mourner at a “pauper’s funeral” for a man who “had died on the toilet while reading a book about buzzards.” Andrew isn’t required to attend, but shows up anyway, hoping his presence will dignify the dead man’s lonely end. That “headache” - the consequences of telling your employer a baldfaced lie - is the primary complication in “How Not to Die Alone,” Richard Roper’s winning debut novel. asks why I’m looking for weed using a company device - on company time - I’ll have to say I cancer. “Google ‘legal cannabis,’” he said, pointing to my phone. When we landed, he wanted to visit a marijuana dispensary. Recently, I flew with a colleague to Denver. In addition to writing novels, I have a longtime corporate career.
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