It's a Wonderful Death

It's a Wonderful Death

by Sarah J. Schmitt

320 pages· 2015

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About
Seventeen-year-old RJ always gets what she wants. So when her soul is accidentally collected by a distracted Grim Reaper, somebody in the afterlife better figure out a way to send her back from the dead or heads will roll. But in her quest for mortality, she becomes a pawn in a power struggle between an overzealous archangel and Death Himself. The tribunal presents her with two options: she can remain in the lobby, where souls wait to be processed, until her original lifeline expires, or she can replay three moments in her life in an effort to make choices that will result in a future deemed worthy of being saved. It sounds like a no-brainer. She’ll take a walk down memory lane. How hard can changing her future be?

But with each changing moment, RJ’s life begins to unravel, until this self-proclaimed queen bee is a social pariah. She begins to wonder if walking among the living is worth it if she has to spend the next sixty years as an outcast. Too quickly, RJ finds herself back in limbo, her time on Earth once again up for debate.

RJ is a snarky, unapologetic, almost unredeemable, very real girl. Her story is funny and moving, and teens will easily connect with her plight. Prepare to meet the Grim Reaper, who’s cuter than you’d expect; Hawaiian shirt–wearing Death Himself; Saint Peter (who likes to play Cornhole); and Al, the handler for the three-headed hound that guards the gates of Hell. This cast of characters accompanies RJ through her time in the afterlife and will do their best to gently shove her in the right direction.

Discussion questions for It's a Wonderful Death

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  1. 1

    How does RJ’s initial introduction as a snarky, unapologetic "queen bee" shape your empathy for her as she faces the afterlife, and how does your perception of her shift as the story progresses?

  2. 2

    If you were given the chance to replay three moments in your past to alter your future—just like the tribunal offers RJ—would you take the offer, and which moments would you choose to revisit?

  3. 3

    The novel plays with traditional, often intimidating depictions of the afterlife by introducing characters like a cornhole-playing Saint Peter and a Hawaiian shirt-wearing Death; how does this humor impact the heavier existential themes of mortality and fate?

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