Six Feet Over It

Reviewed by: Nina Sachs - MLIS, Portland, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: November 10, 2014

Review

Longo takes a darkly comic setting--a family-owned cemetery--to explore themes of love, death, and guilt and gives them the voice of a sixteen-year-old girl named Leigh. Not much has gone easy in Leigh's life since she was born three months prematurely and not breathing. Her death-before-life has defined her and shaped her worldview. Then, in her mind at least, she is forced to choose caring for her critically ill sister and being with the only friend she's ever had. This choice leads to tragic consequences and an overwhelming burden of guilt. Adding to this felicity, Leigh's father makes her work in the cemetery office rather than pursue more typical high school activities. Fun stuff, right? And yet, it is. Following in the traces of Waugh's novel, The Loved One and the HBO series, Six Feet Under, Longo uses the business of death to explore life's enduring preoccupations: family, love, sex, and growth. Excellently voiced, paced, and "plotted," Six Feet Over It is COC.

Overall Book Score: excellent