Unlikely Animals

I'm feeling a lot more charitable towards this book after reading the author's note. I now understand what the author was trying to accomplish. Unfortunately, the narrative itself didn't quite manage to accomplish in 340 pages what the author's note did in 4. 
As much as I signed on for a quirky/morbid book with the dead narrating and dipping into animal's perspectives, suspension of disbelief was not possible when confronted by a person with no training, experience or certification being hired as a long term substitute teacher, a senior in a retirement community having unrestricted access to a loaded gun, and a person doctor-recommended for full-time care, with no mention of financial barriers to such, REPEATEDLY being left alone. It might have been necessary for the plot, but alongside perfunctory prose and inconsistent characterization, I spent a lot of time feeling detached from the story. 
It has its moments, and a heck of a twist, but whether it was emotional outbursts or big reveals, it never quite felt earned, like there was a steady build up that the reader could be invested in. The side effect of too many characters? Too many plotlines? 
Turns out the passages I found the most charming were actually excerpts from another writer. 
Personal thing, admittedly, but the whole ‘domesticating wild animals' thing also really bugs me, though the last bear scene might be inferred as a powerful statement against such. 
Safe to say, it wasn't for me. 
⚠️ Infidelity, terminal illness, drug addiction