Mrs Death Misses Death: Salena Godden

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Thank you NetGalley and Canongate for a copy of Mrs Death misses death by Salena Godden. When I requested this, I was expecting something completely different to what I just read in a good way. Told in sparse, affecting prose interspersed with poetry, Godden produces a thought-provoking novel that travels across time and place to question the value of life, the experiences of womanhood, and grief in all its forms.’ She is nobody and she is everybody. She is the homeless person begging for change outside the train station. Mrs Death is the spirit of the ignored and the saint of the betrayed. She is the first woman. Mrs Death is the first mother of all mothers. She is calling to us all now. She is weeping. She is cradling her crumbling world. She is holding this toxic and wounded planet to her cold breast. She is sitting next to you on the bus. She is amongst us. I got it wrong. Mrs Death is not the wife of Death. No. And she is not the mother of Death. No. She is Death, and she gets the final say.

A rhythmic and powerful poetic meditation on death, life and love and the hidden mysteries of the universe; both playful and sombre, hilarious and human NIKESH SHUKLA A chapter “Mrs Death: You Could be Heroes” starts with mourning the death of inspirational heroes like Cohen, Bowie and Prince before arguing that true heroes are activists, volunteers, protesters, health service workers, campaigners for “libraries, museums, galleries, independent bookshops … beautiful places where thinkers and writers and artists [can] meet and share work” Listening to this being read by the author on audio took on an entire meaning as it’s read harrowingly.But Mrs Death has reached exhaustion and saturation – despite all the technology and communication available to mankind what she and her lover Time and sister Life had expected to be a quiet 21st Century, instead she has to control her sister’s Life fecundity and also deal with greater than ever untimely death “war and deconstruction, famine and murder”. Mrs. Death wants to unburden her collected stories to relieve her conscious so she befriends an author named Wolf Wilfred and convinces him to write her memoir. The two become the oddest of friends but rely on each other for support. The desk, when he has it in his attic room above the Forest Tavern in East London, turns out to be Mrs Death’s own, and it shares her many tales with him, the circumstances of some, the reader may recognise. Amongst other tales, there’s an interesting take on the story of a certain notorious nineteenth-century serial killer. Godden brings her poetic skills in writing this amusing story, of Mrs. Death unburdening her story to Woof Willeford, a struggling author who buys a magic desk. Through the desk, Mrs. Death takes Woof with her while she explains her story. I listened to the audio narrated by the author herself. She tells her story in a stream-of-conscious format which works well with her poetic skills.

A family of monkeys feel loss when they lose a member of their group. The killing of Harambe! Why did they kill Harambe? Why don’t we respect and save the animals, Mrs Death? What will we do when the last elephants are extinct, Mrs Death? Who will save the turtles and the coral reefs and the rainforests? I just— it feels so juvenile to me. This is the kind of unpolished, stream of consciousness poetry you scribble in your teenage math journal while blasting Fall Out Boy. A beautiful, lyrical, and achingly brilliant story about love, grief, and family. Henry's writing will leave you breathless." —BuzzFeed I believe this was supposed to be a unique, powerful 'story' told partially by the character of Death herself (yes a woman), and by a confusing character named Wolf. We get a couple other random commentary chapters thrown in for good measure but mostly it's about Wolf's struggles with mental health and the idea of why we live; and Death's remorse at having to take lives (plus some extensive comments on when people are 'misses' or nearly die). There could have maybe been a timeline set-up here that was manageable or could be followed; but the way the book is written it just gets lost. Salena Godden has written a story that demands and deserves to be heard. Hypnotic and beautiful, tender and sad, Mrs Death Misses Death brings me life.

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The Writing It is clear Salena Godden can write. This is my first introduction to her work, and she writes solidly. I have never read any of her poetry so it was great seeing a bit of it included in this book. She writes convincingly so much so, I started feeling sorry for Mrs. Death. Salena Godden appears at The Fountain's Evening of Quarantine Dreaming , 25 Feb, 9pm, part of Paisley Book Festival