Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead
- Judith D Collins
- Apr 12
- 6 min read
By: Mai Nguyen
Narrator: Elyse Dinh
Simon & Schuster Audio
ISBN: 9781668080863
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date: 04/14/2026
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: 5 Stars (ARC)
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.
My Review
CLEO DANG WOULD RATHER BE DEAD by Mai Nguyen explores the raw and messy layers of loss through a mix of dark humor and unflinching honesty. The plot follows a woman's raw, nonlinear journey from grief after a devastating loss to healing.
Highlights...
Cleo Dang and her lifelong best friend, Paloma, go through their pregnancies together. However, when they go into labor at the same time, something goes wrong; Paloma comes home with a healthy baby, but Cleo's daughter, Daisy, survives for only a few days on life support before passing away.
Struggling with intense grief, Cleo isolates herself from her supportive husband, Ethan, and her parents. She specifically resents Paloma, who is living the life Cleo desperately wanted.
Formerly a high-powered actuary dealing in risk and probability, Cleo finds herself unable to return to her normal life. After a disastrous attempt to go back to work, she takes a job at the same funeral home that handled her daughter's service.
Working under a quirky owner named Kenneth, Cleo is surrounded by death. This environment, though morbid, forces her into contact with the messy, ongoing reality of life through other bereaved locals.
My thoughts...
The beautifully written, emotional story highlights the friction between Cleo's need to talk about her loss and her Vietnamese parents' cultural belief that constantly voicing grief "keeps it alive".
Through her work at the funeral home and, eventually, by joining a support group, Cleo begins to find small moments of connection and joy. She slowly learns how to live with her loss alongside Ethan and Paloma.
By incorporating dark comedy through the eccentric staff and events at the funeral home, Nguyen explores how humor can be a vital survival mechanism for enduring the unthinkable.
The funeral home (loved) acts as a setting for Cleo's emotional processing through interactions with eccentric coworkers and the care of the deceased, which contrasts with her husband Ethan’s active coping mechanisms. While the job initially deepens Cleo's isolation from Ethan, it eventually facilitates her reconnection with him by providing a space to process grief through community.
Themes...
~Identity and Purpose After Loss
~Cultural Perspectives on Mourning
~The Strain on Relationships
~Absurdity and Humor as Coping
Cleo finds solace in the administrative and physical tasks of the home—answering phones, arranging flowers, and organizing services. These repetitive actions ground her when her internal world feels chaotic.
An emotionally charged and gut-wrenching narrative that immerses the reader in the depths of grief, showcasing the tumultuous journey of loss.
This story unfolds with an unfiltered honesty, revealing the chaotic and often painful aspects of human emotion. Yet, amidst the turmoil, it beautifully highlights the profound connections that can emerge between individuals, ultimately delivering a message of hope and resilience that uplifts the spirit.
The core takeaway of "Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead" is that grief is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be shared.
The title is a provocative, double-edged statement that captures both the literal and metaphorical state of the protagonist. While the title suggests a desire to escape, the story ultimately argues for the necessity of staying—even when life feels unbearable.
The story concludes not with a miraculous recovery, but with a messy, honest commitment to keep going despite the "unresolved" nature of her loss.
I appreciated the moving author's personal note and inspiration for the novel and journey to collective healing.
Recs...
If you enjoyed Mai Nguyen's "Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead"—a blending of dark humor with an exploration of profound grief, frequently featuring women in "messy" or "unhinged" states of mourning, check out the following:
~Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin
~Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
~The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston
~The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer
~Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine Gail Honeyman
Special thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for sharing an advanced reading copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 5 Stars
Pub Date: April 14, 2026
Praise
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
"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, starred review
Nguyen (Sunshine Nails, 2023) 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
"Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead is a deeply compassionate and unexpectedly funny novel about love, loss, and the messy, resilient business of being human. Mai Nguyen always writes with warmth, insight, and emotional precision, and here she finds moments of wit and connection even in the most painful terrain. This is a story that sticks with you—not just for the way it turns sorrow into moments of light, but for its tenderness and humanity."
—Marissa Stapley, NYT bestselling author of Lucky
“Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead is a window into grief: its ability to make us our worst selves, but also how, over time, it can turn us into a person who sees life for how precious and beautiful and exquisitely improbable it truly is. Nguyen’s writing is open and vulnerable and so very raw. I cried a lot, but I also laughed and was reminded that grief is a journey that never ends but shifts and morphs and should be tended to as long as is needed. It is a testament to the healing power of connection, and I’m so glad this book exists.”
—Charlene Carr, author of We Rip the World Apart
“Propulsive and unflinching, Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead captures the depth of human loss with the tenacity of life's hopes. When her newborn child dies, Cleo finds herself in an impossible search to make meaning out of tragedy and profound grief. Told with exceptional candor, heartbreak, and humor, Nguyen’s novel evokes a complex spectrum of emotions, causing readers to pause and reflect on their own love, loss, and other life experiences long after reading.”
—Ann Y.K. Choi, author of All Things Under the Moon
“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
About the Author
Mai Nguyen is a Vietnamese Canadian author based in Toronto. Her debut novel Sunshine Nails (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster Canada) was longlisted for Canada Reads 2024, and was selected as one of the best books of 2023 by NPR and CBC. Her second book, Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead, will be published April 2026.
Her non-fiction writing has appeared in Wired, Washington Post, Marie Claire, Maclean’s, Toronto Star, and more. She has been nominated for a National Magazine Award twice and holds a Bachelor of Journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University.
Born in Winnipeg and raised in Halifax, Mai currently lives in Toronto with her husband, daughter, and French bulldog.
Her name is pronounced like My Nwin. WEBSITE
