Absolutely delightful. Not a how-to book. Feels like a visit with a witty, interesting, young-at-heart elder who loves to tell stories about her life. I listened to the audiobook, which was excellent. ( )

This really should have been a short essay instead of a 117-page book that sells for $19.

It's very repetitive, and the author rambles a lot, including various stories about her family that added nothing to the "book."

It is most definitely not a how-to, despite what the back cover claims.

The message is a good one, though: Declutter and organize now, because you'll die eventually, and no one else will enjoy doing your chores for you.

There are a couple minor swear words, and weird sexual references that were clearly unnecessary. The author is not a Christian, so various unbiblical ideas are referenced, also. ( )

A quick cute read but it wasn’t filled with steps of how to do it like the Marie Kondo books. ( )

I enjoyed this little book. I ordered myself a copy after I lost my father a few months ago. I suppose my father was a death cleaner! I don't know what he would have thought of that label, but he taught me a lot about not accumulating and holding onto "stuff" and about handing things down while you're still living so you can see your loved ones enjoy those things! My own home is too cluttered and I feel I have far too much stuff! Time to be inspired by my father's lessons and by Margareta Magnusson's wise words and do the hard work and find joy in a more minimalist lifestyle! ( )

A remarkable, inspiring, and useful little book - especially for people over a certain age, myself included. I finished it in one afternoon. Unabashed frankness about the subject of death is so refreshing. The Swedish author makes such a great point, while reminding us a few times throughout the book that she is between 80 and 100 years old! Great sense of humor too! Her suggestions on "death cleaning" (no need to be shocked at the phrase at all...) are so reasonable and completely up my alley. I agree with everything she says. Has to be done (for everybody's sake) - and better earlier than later. It's simply rude to leave a mess for somebody to take care of when we are gone - when we can easily do it the decluttering ourselves while we still can. ( )

The book basically just says get rid of your stuff before you die so your loved ones/other people don’t have to deal with your junk. It’s very light on strategy. But it’s nicely written. ( )

I am the right age for this book and have been doing my own version of death cleaning and preparing to save son aggravation and hard work. You reach a point where you feel you can do no more but know there is more to be done. So, I bought this little gem of a book hoping it will motivate me to get back to it. ( )

Not so much a “how to” per se, not that I was looking for advice. I quite enjoyed her little mentions of memories and anecdotes. I’m glad she included her doodles. ( )

Good concept, this book tends to get a little repetitive though. An interesting idea. ( )

I liked it. Kind of geared for end-of-life kind of "death cleaning," so take the title literally. ( )

A meditation on how to live and prepare for your own death. A sweet conversation with a lucid grandmother. It was a lovely read. ( )

4 stars from me but not for the tips and advice. Decluttering has been done to death over recent years and Margareta Magnusson hasn’t really come up with anything new. However, the whole point of decluttering, to her mind, is to get it done so that the job isn’t left to your spouse or children after your death! Very sensible idea if you ask me! My eldest daughter has already made comment to this effect “I’m going to have to deal with - all this - one day, you realise”. Don’t tell her I’ve told you this! ( )

What a wonderful little book! Funny, poignant, and full of good advice that's useful at any stage of life. ( )

I enjoy reading takes on minimalism from different countries. This Swedish take is one of the closest to my own personal style than any that I've seen (even more than Konmari). It's not as catchy, but the concept is clear: life a life with an amount of stuff that you won't burden those who come after you with the weight of your stuff.

Having gone through my moms things when she passed (and she went through her moms things when she passed), this concept is quite prominent for me. For those who have never had the misfortunate of sorting through a loved ones life, it's a heavy burden to bear. Finding time to slim down pays dividends now for the living, and later for those still alive. ( )

A useful reminder to everyone to clean up after themselves. ( )

I enjoyed this. There's not much here that isn't common sense, but it's written very well. ( )

Initially I was disappointed with the book; there seemed to be nothing new to learn, decluttering-wise. But as I read on, I found myself wanting to spend more time with this author; she's so endearing! I finished the book with a big smile on my face -- not what you'd expect from a book with "death" in the title! Very short book, well worth a look. ( )

Very practical, very sweet. I enjoyed the clarity of thought that Margareta had when approaching objects for a slow objective sorting. ( )

I love to listen to books that will help me to be better at something and I love to do that while cleaning, thus this book called to me. I will say I was disappointed. Other than it being a spin on my quarterly big cleans, I really didn't glean any cleaning tips. These tips were more about the emotional, or in this case lessening of emotions, when getting rid of things. I do this anyway but maybe others would find occasional learning moments in the book. ( )

Helped me to communicate with my grandma, who is a hoarder. Worth 5 stars just for that, but also a good read and as it says, very gentle. ( )

KonMari for hygge goths.

This gentle book tells gentle stories from the author's life and how death cleaning became important to her. She writes about how she came to understand the need for reducing possessions, particularly when she had to go through households after the deaths of several loved ones and when she had to downsize and move to a smaller home. However she does not provide specific ideas, methodology or tips that are not generally known. The stories are interesting but the book was not useful to me. Some of her suggestions are counter productive. One suggestion that I particularly dislike is to give your unwanted items and knick knacks to others as hostess gifts or to relatives when they come to visit. It seems if you don't want to keep an item then you should not gift it to others unless they have specifically expressed strong interest in it. Otherwise you are just transferring your stuff to someone else's death cleaning pile. The truth that she tells is that if you don't do your own death cleaning and thereby show your heirs what is important to you then, once you die, it is likely everything will just be hauled away in a big truck because no-one will have the time or knowledge to winnow out the important items. The other truth she tells is that we should share our cherished stories now with our children and grand children rather than hope they will appreciate our items after we are gone. ( )

Sometimes I think it must have been much easier to live and die at the time of our ancestors, the Vikings. When they buried their relatives, they also buried many objects together with the body. This was to be sure that the dead would not miss anything in their new environment. It was also an assurance for the family members who remained that they would not become obsessed with spirits of the dead and constantly be reminded of them because their possessions were still scattered all over the tent or mud hut. Very clever.
Can you imagine the same scenario today? With all the skräp (Swedish for “junk”) people have now, they would have to be buried in Olympic-sized swimming pools so that their stuff could go with them!

Swedish death cleaning is a way of decluttering your possessions in advance of your death, so that you do not leave it all for your heirs to do. If you do not want to pass on loved furniture or other items to your friends and relations now, you can make a list or label items with the name of the person you would like to have them after your death.

But if you're famous, maybe you shoudn't do too much death cleaning, or scholars won't have anything to work with when trying to write about you later on. Incidentally, I discovered that Ingmar Bergman thought about his death all the time, as is evident in some of his films, but didn't bother to do any death cleaning. In Stockholm we now have a huge Ingmar Bergman archive as a result.

Interesting idea. I must try it at some point. ( )

Charming, meandering, and slightly dotty Nordic alternative to awful Marie Kondo. ( )

This book is hilarious and fascinating. It's not just a book on getting rid of stuff you don't need so your relatives won't be saddled with doing it for you. It's about Swedish culture, raising a family around the world in the 20th century, and the Magnusson family. I read it in what my brain thinks is a Swedish Grandma Accent and it made sentences like this, from the "If It Was Your Secret, Then Keep It That Way" chapter, the best thing ever: "Save your favorite dildo - but throw away the other fifteen!" ( )