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Reviewed by Pikasho Deka for Readers' Favorite
Dottie & the Art of Dying by Sarah Asermily follows a dying woman's journey as she navigates death and the beyond. It's been nine months since Dottie Clark was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Now on her deathbed, Dottie is surrounded by her loving children and grandchildren, each of whom says their last goodbyes. Soon, Dottie wakes up in the "in-between," where an angel she calls the nightingale encourages her to embark on an ethereal journey through time and space to understand the significance of death in life. On her journey, Dottie will witness a young man on the verge of suicide, a serial killer's origins, an AI assassin's last kill, a dolphin's most precious memory, an alien's deep-seated regret, a mother's will to protect her family, and her own descendants' remembrance of her.
Poignant and thought-provoking, Dottie & the Art of Dying explores the existential themes of love, life, grief, and death and their inevitable impact throughout history. Sarah Asermily interweaves multiple interconnected short stories about death in all its myriad forms, and the reader becomes the observer through the POV of the main protagonist, Dottie Clark. The narrative touches upon aspects related to the human condition and demonstrates how humans try to avoid the permanence and inevitability of death by being remembered by their loved ones. Asermily is simply brilliant in her ability to resonate with the reader with evocative scenes and situations that are not only emotionally powerful but also somehow weirdly inspiring. There is a bittersweet feeling to Asermily's tale that accentuates the novel's core themes. Highly recommended.
