Review of I See You've Called in Dead by John Kenney

I was charmed by John Kenney's darkly funny, thoughtful novel about an obituary writer hitting rock bottom and reflecting on mortality, leaning on his friends, and finding unorthodox ways to embrace the messiness and wonder of life again.

Awkard, endearing Bud Stanley is an obituary writer who's going through some things. He's gone downhill since his wife divorced him for her prior boyfriend, and now he's all but given up on love; his last blind date involved a woman who brought along her ex and explained that they were back together and she couldn't stay.

Bud's work is currently subpar, and he feels less and less engaged with his life in general. All of this worsens when he accidentally publishes a joke version of his own obituary.

Bud's few friends are concerned about him, his therapist urges him to explore unexamined feelings around his mother's death, which occurred when he was young--and now he's begun attending the funerals of strangers on weekends. Can anything help Bud learn how to live again?

I See You've Called in Dead teetered just on the edge of too jokey for me, but Kenney skillfully pulled back from taking it too far by keeping a dark edge to his humor and mixing grief, the sobering reality of facing mortality, and bursts of laughter in one realistically messy and irresistible character arc for Bud. The dialogue is fantastic, and I repeatedly laughed out loud.

I was charmed by this novel. I've been thinking about this story with great affection and considering all the people to whom I'll recommend it.

John Kenney came to speak at a local Friends of the Library event and was as darkly funny and thoughtful as I had hoped and imagined he would be. His upcoming book (scheduled for publication in spring 2027) is nonfiction centered around his mother's life beyond the measly 74-word obituary version of her existence.

I listened to an audiobook version of this title through Libby and my public library.

More Books to Explore

John Kenney is also the author of Truth in Advertising, Talk to Me, Love Poems for People with Children, Love Poems for the Office, Love Poems for Anxious People, and Love Poems for Married People. He is a longtime contributor to The New Yorker magazine’s Shouts & Murmurs section.

If you're interested in more Bossy reads that are darkly funny, check out these books. And for Bossy reads that explore issues around mortality, please check out these titles and book lists.