60 pages • 2 hours read
Mikki BrammerThe Collected Regrets of Clover
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-11Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes frank discussions of death and prolonged grief, as well as brief discussions of alcohol addiction.
The narrator and protagonist Clover Brooks remembers when, as a five-year-old, she witnessed her kindergarten teacher, Mr. Hyland, suddenly die while reading Peter Rabbit to the class. Initially unsure if it was part of the storytelling, the children sat calmly beside him. After realizing what had actually happened, the children started screaming, aside from Clover. While the school suggested counseling for Clover, the narrator’s self-absorbed parents deemed her unaffected by the event. This experience left the young Clover reflecting on what Mr. Hyland’s final words might have been. The incident had a lasting impact on Clover, who, despite outwardly appearing fine, carries the memory of the event with her.
Chapter 2 Summary
Clover works as a death doula and often reflects on the moments she has witnessed, such as the regret of an old client, Guillermo, who revealed that he had accidentally killed his sister’s hamster as a child. Back at home, Clover tends to her pets and a collection of notebooks filled with her clients’ final confessions. Clover is introverted and emotionally reserved, and her life is centered on helping strangers through their final moments. Although Clover is committed to her work, the loneliness and demands of her profession take their toll.
Chapter 3 Summary
Clover lives in a rent-controlled apartment passed down by her grandfather, while her only friend is a stylish and spirited man, Leo, who lives in the same building. Leo often teases Clover about her social life, urging her to be more open to taking risks. One day, Leo announces that a new neighbor is moving in, causing Clover unease as she dislikes unexpected changes.
Chapter 4 Summary
In this chapter, Clover has a flashback to the day she learned of her parents’ deaths. At the time, she was engrossed in a book about animal facts. Clover received the news from her guidance counselor and other school officials. She maintained her composure as the adults informed her about the accident involving her parents in China. Afterward, Clover started living with her grandfather in New York City. She felt both curious and apprehensive about her new life in the big city, but over time, she slowly adapted to this new environment.
Chapter 5 Summary
Clover often experiences the solitude of extended isolation. She finds herself compulsively rewatching romantic scenes from movies and fantasizing about fictional love stories to cope with loneliness. Wanting to feel connected with other people, she decides to attend a death café, a casual gathering where strangers discuss topics related to death. She takes the crowded metro to get there and relishes the closeness of another passenger while recognizing that she has never experienced physical contact with another human being.
Chapter 6 Summary
As she attends the death café in the New York Public Library, Clover conceals her profession and lies that she is there because her grandmother is dying. A young man, Sebastian, nervously joins the group. He says that he seeks to understand and become more at ease with death because his grandmother is dying, while his family avoids conversations about death.
Chapter 7 Summary
As Clover leaves the café meeting, Sebastian chases behind and insists on talking to her. Though reluctant to engage in conversation, Clover is pulled into a brief chat. Sebastian expresses his fear of death, while Clover, still concealing her work as a death doula, shares her perspective. Awkwardness ensues, and Sebastian ultimately asks her out for coffee, which she rejects. Feeling relieved, Clover returns home to her pets, pondering Sebastian’s persistence. She speculates about his intentions, even considering the possibility that he might be a salesman of expensive funeral services targeting vulnerable people at death cafés.
Chapter 8 Summary
As she takes her dog, George, for a late-night walk, Clover runs into her new neighbor, Sylvie. Sylvie is friendly and eager to get to know Clover, and they exchange greetings. Despite her reluctance, Clover agrees to have coffee with Sylvie, feeling anxious about her hasty acceptance. She reflects on a past experience with a girl named Angela, who became distant after learning about Clover’s job as a death doula. Determined to avoid rejection, Clover decides to reject Sylvie before becoming too involved in a new friendship.
Chapter 9 Summary
In a flashback, young Clover engages in a poignant conversation with her grandfather about death during their Sunday meal at a café. She asks her grandpa why people die and questions who decides when it happens. Grandpa offers a metaphor involving matches, explaining that the length of one’s life is unpredictable, much like how a match may burn for various durations. He also discusses the idea that aging and factors beyond human control influence when death occurs. Afterward, Clover and her grandfather visit a bookstore to choose new books, as they do every Sunday. They cherish their time spent reading together, though Clover is left contemplating the mortality of her beloved grandfather.
Chapter 10 Summary
Clover reflects on her own aging, remembering her parents from a photograph her grandfather gave her. Then, she decides to accept an unpaid job as a death doula for Abigail, a young artist from Idaho, whose imminent death is provoked by liver failure due to chronic alcohol usage. Clover strives to make Abigail’s last moments peaceful, and her presence facilitates Abigail’s reconnection with her parents before her passing. The chapter ends with Abigail’s peaceful death at the age of 26.
Chapter 11 Summary
After Abigail’s passing, Clover navigates a crowded subway, still reeling from her recent experiences as a death doula. As she returns to her apartment, she reminisces about her grandfather, who used to sit in his favorite armchair, reading the newspaper. She ponders the significance of the last words of the dying and how to incorporate their wisdom into her life, focusing on entries in her notebooks. Inspired by the regret of one of her clients, Camille, Clover resolves to find and savor a delicious mango, aiming to prevent future regret.
Chapters 1-11 Analysis
The novel begins with the traumatic childhood experience of the protagonist, Clover, who witnessed the sudden death of her kindergarten teacher while he was reading the story Peter Rabbit. This event introduces the themes of death and The Transformative Power of Confronting Regrets, which form the basis of the narrative. The teacher’s death leaves the young Clover pondering the unspoken final words of someone before death and symbolizes the unresolved regrets that often accompany death. As Clover matures and is marked by death several more times, she chooses a profession as a death doula, guiding individuals through their final moments and helping them confront their regrets. This role allows her to witness the most personal moments of her clients, such as Guillermo, who shares his childhood regret before passing away. Through these stories, the novel explores how individuals reflect on their lives when facing mortality, emphasizing the complexity and diversity of human regrets.
Despite her profession, which involves connection and community, Clover grapples with isolation and loneliness. She maintains a reserved and emotionally distant demeanor, preferring to help others navigate the complexities of death rather than confront her own emotional needs. This internal struggle continues throughout the novel, as Clover gradually learns to open up and live a variety of experiences, some of which make her feel vulnerable.
The theme of Death as Avoidance of Life is embodied by Clover’s character, who focuses on helping strangers through their final moments with empathy and compassion while living a life of isolation and emotional detachment herself. Clover’s reluctance to engage in relationships, both romantic and otherwise, stems from her past experiences of rejection and the nature of her relationships with her family. Her parents, who died when she was six years old, were mostly absent from her life, as they did not take her with them on their frequent trips abroad. Her grandfather, while a wise and caring presence, was also an emotionally distant academic who could not provide for all the emotional needs of a young girl. Clover’s openness to death stems from a long-time curiosity but also from a prolonged grieving process after the death of her grandfather. While she can assist others in death, she is unable to help herself in life and avoids the help of others.
An important metaphor in the first section of the novel is that of the matchstick, introduced by Clover’s grandfather to explain the unpredictability of life. This metaphor symbolizes life’s fragility and impermanence and adds a sense of urgency to the novel. The unpredictability of how long a matchstick will burn mirrors the uncertainty of life, emphasizing the transient nature of existence. The matchstick metaphor highlights the idea that it is necessary to confront one’s regrets before it is too late. This idea, in turn, encourages an attitude according to which one should not delay in addressing one’s regrets, nor should one avoid taking risks in seeking a more fulfilling life.
Observation and reflection are essential elements of the novel. As a death doula, Clover observes her clients when they confront their regrets, thus providing a lens through which readers can explore the regrets that shape these characters’ lives. Such observation enables Clover to reflect on her clients’ experiences and their internal transformations throughout the novel, and she fills notebooks with various regrets and bits of wisdom clients provide in their final moments, hoping to learn from them. The novel emphasizes the significance of observation and reflection in personal growth.
Mikki Brammer employs literary techniques such as detailed descriptions, dialogue, and internal monologue, to create depth in storytelling and express the acuteness of the protagonist’s emotional experiences. Clover is the novel’s first-person narrator, but she is not all-knowing. The novel has an episodic structure, which allows for flashbacks to gradually expose Clover’s past experiences that shape her present life, allowing for an evolving understanding of the character, her process, and her changing world. Clover’s character further develops through personal reflection as well as her interactions with various characters, including Leo, Sylvie, and Sebastian. Leo, her elderly neighbor and friend, teases Clover about her social isolation. Sylvie, the new neighbor, enters Clover’s life unexpectedly when she moves into the building. Clover’s apprehension is met with genuine excitement for connection on the part of Sylvie. Sebastian’s persistent attempts to engage Clover challenge her reluctance to connect with others.
