Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead (publication day April 14, 2026) by Mai Nguyen is a well-written, funny book about a subject that is the furthest thing from funny–getting through the loss of an infant. So be warned if you want to stay far away–I wouldn’t blame you for not feeling up to it.
But you’d be missing out on getting to know Cleo, who didn’t ask for this loss–far from it–but has to deal with it anyway. Cleo is an actuary, working in a high-stress job, her husband Jay an anesthesiologist. After they lose their baby, Daisy, within a few days after she is born, Jay goes back to work, and Cleo tries to, as well. But they have a substitute for her and tell her she has to take the maternity leave as planned. (It’s set in Canada!)
And that’s worse than anything because there is no baby. And her best friend Paloma lives across the street. They were pregnant at the same time but Paloma’s baby came home. Her mother keeps texting her inspirational quotes, her husband goes on a run whenever he’s not working, no one knows what to say to her, and honestly, she would rather be dead than deal with this. She doesn’t want to kill herself, but if a large piano were to fall above her head she’s not sure she’d get out of the way.
While picking up Daisy’s ashes from the funeral home, she sees that it is advertising for an assistant to the funeral director, an odd man who was nothing but kind in making arrangements for Daisy’s funeral. Since being there is better than being in an empty house, she decides to apply, and is given the job.
The people she works with at the funeral home are unfailingly kind, and funny when not around grieving family, and working there helps. Eventually she finds a support group, and lives through this terrible year, not having lost herself, or her marriage, or her best friend.
Despite the likely tears, I highly recommend it. It was also fairly weight-neutral, although Cleo did think about her stomach, and how she didn’t want to lose the “baby weight” because it was there because of Daisy.
Reading While Fat 