Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Regal House
Pub. Date: March 19, 2024

In the novel, “What the Living Do,” our protagonist is Brett, a 37-year-old woman dealing with traumatic childhood experiences that shaped her self-destructive personality. Brett uses sexual encounters to ward off her inner demons. With open eyes, she has put herself in unhealthy relationships, creating a repeating cycle of abuse. This changes when she falls in love with a younger man, Cole. He loves her, is supportive, and in no way is abusive. I felt relief that she was now in a healthier relationship. Still, Brett refuses to marry him. When he talks about them having a baby, she panics because she fears becoming a mother. It is evident to Cole that she uses sex to avoid any serious talk about their future together. Susan E. Wadds’s novel explores childhood sexual abuse and sex addiction, as well as motherhood, spirituality, intimacy, and illness. She manages to weave the different themes together with ease.

Brett and her work partner, Mel, are in road maintenance. Mel drives the truck as she removes dead animals from the roads. In other words, Brett is a roadkill collector. Brett’s job prevented me from imagining this would be an enjoyable read. Despite my original thoughts, I found the story engaging. The author’s fine writing creates a sweet story rather than a difficult one. Among the most touching scenes in the novel are those that show Brett’s tenderness while handling roadkill. She is horrified to find a dead rabbit missing its foot. She despises cruelty to animals. Despite Brett’s intimacy problems with Cole, the author shows how she can connect with animals even if they are dead.

Mel is a mysterious and spiritual person who prays in an unknown language. He begins to give Brett prayers to repeat after she discovers she has cancer. She feels that the disease is punishment since she blames herself for the deaths of her father and sister even though, at that time, she was only a child. A crippling sense of survivor’s guilt plagues Brett throughout the story. Here, the author breaks your heart with dialogue that feels so real that I teared up. Even with all of Brett’s unlikable characteristics, Wadds manages to make her endearing to the reader. It is easy to empathize with her, especially as she wrestles with becoming a better person. I can see some parts of me in Brett, which makes me wonder if the book’s title references real-life living people, not just our fictional heroine. I found the story to be compassionate and emotionally moving. I recommend reading “What the Living Do.”

I received this novel at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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What the Living Do by Susan Wadds is a compelling look at how we can think being ill is a moral failing. The main character, Brett, thinks her illness is a result of her failures as a person, and she agonizes over the deaths of her father and sister, thinking they were her fault—and her illness is her fault by extension.

She also dates a younger man so she can maintain the illusion of control. All this to protect herself.

There are other undercurrents in this novel, including women’s reproductive rights. Wadds also takes a critical look at Indigenous romanticism. (There’s a part where Brett ascribes her Indigenous coworker a mystical knowledge when the coworker is merely giving general, common knowledge advice. It’s uncomfortable to read. It’s also clear Wadds is interrogating this tendency, though, and not playing into it, because Brett is so obviously misreading the situation.)

I enjoyed the book. It gave me lots to think about, from perspectives I’d never considered and was well written.


Madi (whatsmadireading)76 4

The rapidly growing cancer cells have built up inside of Brett, her childhood trauma, pushing her to decide when, or if, she will choose to love herself and let others love her.

3 ??

This book is packed with symbolism of her childhood secrets that influenced Brett’s distant personality and the cancer she’s reluctant to let go of.

For such a heartbreaking premise, the writing kept me emotionally detached from the main character. This makes sense, being that it’s one of the main purposes of the book, but it made for a long and slow read.

I haven’t read a women’s fiction with quite this tone before. It’s dark and becomes more and more disturbing as you read it. The only book I can think to compare it to is The Paper Palace.
Phil DwyerAuthor 4 books19

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