-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
A Novel
by Mai Nguyen
A darkly humorous yet uplifting novel about a grieving mother who starts working at a funeral home and discovers that the best way to honor the dead is to live—from the author of the "insightful, moving" (Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author) Sunshine Nails.
All Cleo Dang has ever wanted is to be a mother. The day she discovers she's pregnant is the happiest of her life, especially when she learns that her best friend, Paloma, is also expecting. It's a wonderful surprise, and together, they enjoy their pregnancies. But when they both go to the hospital in labor, something goes very, very wrong. Paloma comes home with a baby. Cleo does not.
Ravaged by grief, Cleo must now navigate life after losing her baby. She alienates herself from the world, particularly her best friend, who is living the life she so desperately wanted. Forced to take leave from her demanding job as an actuary, Cleo manages to find work at a funeral home, where she meets a revolving cast of bereaved locals and discovers the power of confronting grief.
Darkly humorous yet uplifting, Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead follows a grieving mother who starts working at a funeral home and discovers that the best way to honor the dead is to live.
"Nguyen is brilliant in her depiction of the agony of grief as well as its absurdity and surprising capacity for tender connection. An astonishing portrait of grief and an ode to the beauty that manages to live in its midst." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Nguyen writes with raw, unflinching honesty about the agony of losing a child, balancing pathos with dark humor. Cleo's messy, nonlinear, yet ultimately hopeful story of rebuilding proves that while some wounds may never heal, they can be transformed into something unexpectedly profound." —Booklist (starred review)
"Mai Nguyen's morbidly funny sophomore novel, Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead, explores the raw depths of grief as the title character flounders after her infant daughter's death. Touching and insightful, Nguyen's novel is a moving depiction of motherhood and an honest portrait of grief in its multilayered complexity." —Shelf Awareness
"It's rare to read a book knowing that it will stay with you long after it's finished like this. It had me wiping away tears and laughing within the same page. Mai Nguyen writes about grief with humour, deep insight, and incredible honesty. It's a beautiful story of a mother's love, sorrow, joy, and human connection." —Natalie Sue, bestselling author of I Hope This Finds You Well
"Deeply emotional and unexpectedly funny. Nguyen masterfully balances heartbreaking vulnerability with wit and hopefulness. A truly beautiful novel and window into a mom's profound love for her baby." —Emily Austin, bestselling author of We Could Be Rats
This information about Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Mai Nguyen is a Vietnamese Canadian author whose debut novel, Sunshine Nails, was longlisted for Canada Reads and named one of the best books of 2023 by NPR and CBC. Her journalism has appeared in Wired, The Washington Post, and The Toronto Star. Raised in Halifax, she now lives in Toronto with her husband, daughter, and French bulldog.
If you liked Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead, try these:
by Susanna Kwan
Published 2026
An utterly transporting debut novel about the unexpected relationship between an artist and the 130-year-old woman she cares for—two of the last people living in a flooded San Francisco of the future, the home neither is ready to leave.
by Quiara Alegría. Hudes
Published 2025
The story of a runaway mother's ten days of freedom—and the pain, desire, longing, and wonder we find on the messy road to enlightenment—from Pulitzer Prize winner Quiara Alegría Hudes.
by Sarah Leavitt
Published 2024
A poignant graphic memoir about the power of art to transform and heal after the death of a loved one.
These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Can you name the title?
Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
