Destination Funeral feels like getting trapped inside a memory you weren’t ready to revisit. The kind with salt air, old grudges, inside jokes, and emotional baggage stacked floor-to-ceiling in a pink coastal house.

At first glance, the premise sounds delightfully absurd: estranged friends gather for a funeral and wake up reliving the same Saturday over and over again. But beneath the whimsy and time-loop antics is a story deeply rooted in forgiveness, identity, and the strange ways people can love each other badly while still loving each other deeply. I came for the chaotic beachy aesthetic and stayed for the emotional damage. Happily.

The Cover

The cover of Destination Funeral is an easter egg smorgasbord! Literally everything on the cover is alluded to in some way in the book, right down to the palette.

Speaking of the palette, the CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) is so bright and fun and beachy. It really sets the scene, and in some cases the tone of the novel.

The composition seems a bit chaotic and keeps your eye bouncing around the illustration. This aligns perfectly with the emotional tone of Destination Funeral. The story grabs a pinch of this and a dash of that to make something truly interesting and inviting.

A handwriting style block lettering font is a great choice to push the title to the front of the composition while retaining this home-style feel. It also coordinates well with the line drawing style of the illustration it interacts with.

Interior

I read Destination Funeral as an ARC (advanced reader copy)from Net Galley for review. So the version will be different than the final release.

Did the design affect whether I bought the book?

The cover design of Destination Funeral, along with the intriguing title, grabbed my eye immediately. Once I read the description this was a no-brainer to request.

Didion Bennett gives Millennial-oldest-daughter so hard that I am unsure whether I feel seen or offended–maybe both. Each of the main characters burst onto the scene so fully realized that it felt like watching a movie. Complicated, messy, emotional, framily (friends/family) that has so much history it takes the whole book to get where they’ve all come from. I laughed, I cried, I wanted to be one of them. The town of Mercy Island and the estate of Birdsong felt familiar and nostalgic.

Destination Funeral is told from the first-person point of view of Didion, the eldest daughter of the deceased, as she returns to her mother’s home and the town full of people she left behind. Harbison doesn’t stray from the POV, but reveals the story through memories and insights that help Didion to understand and empathize with her once close sister, ex-boyfriend, and bestie.

While the Groundhog Day-like plot device of a repeated day could seem trite, Harbison calls it out and allows the characters to name it and explore it. This element of whimsy makes Destination Funeral fun and a bit campy without taking away from the emotional depth of the story. A glorious balance is struck between circumstantial silliness and the serious business of grief and long-held grudges.

The power of relationships weaves strongly throughout Destination Funeral. Both positive and negative outcomes are demonstrated and explored including family, friendships, romantic relationships, and community.

Forgiveness and empathy comprise the core of the story in Destination Funeral. Sometimes we forgive when we shouldn’t, other times we hold grudges long past their expiration date.

Destination Funeral represents a wonderful amalgam of different relational stories and the ways that they all intertwine. It isn’t just a romance, or just a family saga, or just a friendship story. Each person has their own ways of relating to the other people in the story, and it’s handled in such a way that the dynamics are evident without needing to spell it out or go on for hundreds of pages.

As I mentioned before, Destination Funeral strikes an equilibrium between humor and deep feeling. Like the way a person jokes to relieve tension in real life, but approached in such a way that it seems genuine to the characters and their situation.

YES! The cover is very closely related to the content. This will act as an amazing visual touchstone to remind me of the story and how it made me feel each time I see it.

I am so psyched about Destination Funeral! It is moving and delightful. The traits of the main character resonated intensely. At times, I was angry at her, only to realize I am very much the same (yikes! time to take a look at myself)! This is an emotional roller coaster that I was happy to ride. I will definitely be adding this to my collection.

I wholeheartedly recommend Destination Funeral! Read it with your book club, your besties, or even your family. Then follow it up with a discussion over a shared meal (beach setting optional).

Would you ever want to relive a single day in a time loop to figure out something in your life?

May your life be as full as your bookshelf and as long as your TBR list.

Happy Reading!