Ollie, an autistic 11-year-old boy, doesn't know how to cope even before his playful, always optimistic father dies. After Rich's death from a brain tumor, the boy is completely lost in Harriet Kline's inspiring 2021 novel “This Shining Life.”

Before his death, Rich tells Ollie something that is to him enigmatic about life being worth living. The boy loves sudoku puzzles, so he views his father's statement as a puzzle. If he can only solve the puzzle, everything will finally make sense to him.

The novel's only characters other than Ollie and Rich are Ruth, Ollie's mother; Nessa, her sister; Angram, Ruth and Nessa's mother; Marjorie, whom Ollie calls Other Grandma; and Gerald, Rich's father. Before his death, Rich selects special gifts for each member of the family, but because of his mental confusion sends each gift to the wrong person. Ollie believes that if he can get each gift to the proper person, he will be able to solve his puzzle.

As flawed as Ollie may be, each of the other family members has a flaw that may be no less disabling. Perhaps the greatest of these is their tendancy to ignore whatever Ollie says about solving his puzzle. His frustration builds.

How Kline resolves all this is a pleasure to read. In the end Ollie won't be the only one to learn something about the meaning of life. ( )

With brain tumors, alzheimers, surviving, and caring for those who are walking the ends of their life, there has been a lot of life that has been lived. A story of putting the pieces of life together, it’s meanings for individuals and the art of leaving behind something meaningful, Kline gives us one family’s experiences.
The plot is detailed and the writing is worthy, but the story line didn’t enthrall me.
*I received an arc from the publisher through NetGalley for an honest review ( )

This Shining Life by Harriet Kline is a highly recommended poignant family drama.

When Rich dies from brain cancer his family must learn to deal with grief and each other. The novel is written with short chapters that are from the different points-of-view of Rich's wife Ruth, son Ollie (almost eleven), sister-in-law Nessa, mother-in-law Angran, mother Marjorie, and father Gerald. Ollie is on the autism spectrum, and he misses his dad who provided stability for him and could help him understand the world. After his dad dies, he is determined to solve the puzzle he thinks his dad left for him that will explain what it means to be alive.

Ruth is grieving and struggling with depression. Rich brought joy to her life and she depended on him. Nessa, who was friends with Rich before introducing him to Ruth, is also grieving but must try to help Ruth and handle her indomitable mother Angran, who is not only a force to be reckoned with but also deals with depression and repressed anger. Marjorie wants to mourn her son and have a relationship with her grandson, but Gerald is sinking into dementia and makes life even more challenging and difficult. Angran doesn't help as she steadfastly steps in-between them. All of them are dealing with numerous emotions and reactions to Rich's death.

Although all the characters are given room for their voices, Ollie is the heart of the novel since his are the only chapter's written in the first person. He is greatly concerned with solving his father's puzzle, the answer to what it means to be alive, but no one seems to be listening or understanding what he is saying. They also seem to be forgetting that he also is grieving. The puzzle focuses on the special gifts his dad picked out and chose for everyone before he died. Ollie was given a pair of binoculars so he could focus on things. Now he is sure he needs to determine what connects all the gifts to solve the puzzle

A novel about a grieving family is naturally going to be sad, but Kline also shows how members were trying to help in their own ways. The result is a beautifully written novel about loss, endurance, sorrow, love, and acceptance as a family tries to navigate their journey in grieving and life. The short chapters and even pacing help propel the novel along. Ollie's obsession does become a bit tiresome and repetitive, but that is also indicative of being on the spectrum and how he deals with his emotions. All of the characters are portrayed as complex, unique individuals with unique voices. This character driven, poignant family drama is a fine debut novel.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Penguin Random House.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2021/06/this-shining-life.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4079924008 ( )

I found this a deeply moving and empathetic portrayal of a family struggling to cope in the aftermath of the premature death of a loved one. By exploring how each of the characters felt and behaved, as well as showing their individual perspectives on shared experiences, the author not only added layers of emotional depth to her storytelling, but also very effectively demonstrated that there is no magic ‘blue print’ for successfully negotiating the bereavement and the grieving process. How individuals deal with it is influenced by so many factors, only some of which are directly connected to the relationship they’d had with the deceased. Any bereavement can stir up memories of earlier losses, particularly any negative feelings which weren’t dealt with at the time; it can also trigger old resentments and conflicts, opening up emotional wounds in ways which feel raw and visceral. However, as Harriet Kline’s characters discover, acknowledging and dealing with these feelings can be a catalyst for change and can help to begin to lay to rest these ‘ghosts’ of the past.
In addition to her reflections on the grieving process, through Marjorie and Gerald the author included some very poignant and well-informed insights into how each of them was being affected by his inexorable descent into the horrors of dementia. Her portrayal of the struggles each of them was facing – he, in an inevitably muddled way, realising that he was losing himself as well as his son, whereas she, with her all too acute clarity, was trying to deal with the loss of both her son and her husband – was superbly well-handled. Of all the characters in this story, the two who will remain in my mind, and my heart, for a long time to come are Marjorie and Ollie.
Although there were many moments when the author’s portrayal of the rawness of her characters’ grief, anger, depression, despair, confusion etc felt almost unbearable to read, she introduced enough moments of humour (both light and dark!) to provide some much welcome relief. For me this was yet another example of her understanding that there are many ‘faces’ to grief and that we need to be able to embrace all of them if we are to move forward and once again embrace the joys of life. ( )