This was a challenging book to read, in part due to the subject matter and in part due to the writing style; the story unfolds slowly, and there are no grand moments or revelations. This is a nuanced study of death and at the subtleties of human relationships.

The book gave me a lot to think about, but in the end I found it ultimatley unsatisfying. None of the characters in the book really won my empathy or interest, likely because apart from Laurel they were all quite one-dimensional - essentially window dressing for the story. Laurel herself is largely inscrutable and not particularly likeable. It's certainly not necessary for the main character to be likeable, but a book with an unsympathetic protagonist needs to be particularly strong in other ways, and this book fell short for me.

Apparently The Optimist's Daughter started off as a short story which was later expanded to a novel; I wonder if it might have been better off left as a short story.