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Review
'Sure-to-be-acclaimed fiction mixes with travelogue ... Gripping - and moving - stuff.'
(Sunday Times Travel Magazine - February 2006 20060408)'His confident voice, observational brilliance and playful humour dazzle to the end.'
(The Times 20060408)'Convincing . . . reflects on relationships in a beautiful, delicate manner'
(Publisher's Weekly 20060408)'Unique and spellbinding ... Brockmeier is up to something different' (Minneapolis Star Tribune )
'Brockmeier investigates our capacity for wonder ... and the result is exacting and perfectly strange' (The New Yorker )
'A spellbinding novel'
(Amy Worth, lead account manager, books, Amazon; Bookseller/ February Booksellers' choice )'Such a powerful read'
(Time Out )'Interesting and intellectually daring'
(New Statesman )'The themes...are united with wonderful delicacy . . . A prodigy of imagination, insight and overwhelming tenderness'
(Murrough O'Brien, The Independent )'The Brief History of the Dead is more magic realism than science fiction. Brockmeier brings to his book the inquisitive soul of a child. He is a master of the imaginative ponder. His prose is full of whimsy, word play and metaphysical musing. ... evocative and attentive...truly spellbinding'
(Weekend Australian )'A genuine page turner'
(Derby Evening Telegraph )'The inventiveness with which the author links (the worlds of the living and the dead) is highly impressive'
(Financial Times )'Brockmeier is a lyrical yet subtle writer, interested in perplexing teleological questions . . . A powerful read'
(Time Out )'Imagery like this abounds so that reading Brockmeier's prose is like eating a plate full of tasty titbits. You are bound to be delighted over and over again...it's entertaining and pleasurable to read.'
(Canberra Times )'Luminous'
(The Age )'Such is his sensitivity and skill that Brockmeier contrives a mystery that is nonetheless subtle, absorbing and ultimately satisfying.'
(Colin Greenland, Guardian )'The Brief History of the Dead is altogether remarkable'
(Good Reading )'An intriguing take on the afterlife and will encourage you to think about what death means to you'
(The Weekly Times )'Sort of like Lost in a good book . . . Comparison with Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones is inevitable'
(USA Today )'Brockmeier's tale of polar hardship is gripping, but this touching novel is more concerned with what it means to confront nothingness, and how small gestures and accidental meetings shape who we are'
(James Smart, Guardian )Sunday Times Travel Magazine
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Customer Reviews
Brockmeier has a very readable, accessable style:elsewhere it is described as lyrical, and there is a simplistic and unfussy beauty to it as he tells the stories of The City inhabited by those who have died and the plight of Laura Byrd, a wildlife specialst employed by the Coca Cola company to investigate the Antarctic ice to check its purety for possible soft drink use.
The idea of a city of the dead, whose inhabitants exist only as long as those still alive remember them, is ingeniously portrayed, with a host of well defined characters. That these characters are aware of how they ended up in the city, and why suddenly some disappear, adds another level to the story.
Other reviewers have mentioned the "But" element of the novel, and they are correct: the end is guessed too quickly, the final third of the novel, however finely expressed and imaginatively written, leaves the reader a little underwhelmed at the end, almost to the point of exclaiming:"Is that it?"
And that is a shame, because this is a book that offers intriguing ideas and throws up many questions, and deserves to be read.
Brockmeier can certainly tell a story, even though he seems not entirely certain in this one how to end it. But that may be exactly how he intended it.
A very, very good read, all the same.
It has to be said that this is a very well-written tale. The author provides an articulate and readily readable style, with well-drawn characterisation and locations. The struggle of Laura Byrd's solitary struggle for survival in the Antarctic, counterpointed by the on-going repurcussions in the city of the dead makes for compelling attention from the reader. The Antarctic's cruel beauty is strongly evoked in the narrative.... or was it just that I was reading this with lots of snow outside my own home at the time?
The unravelling tale (not to be spoilt by more detail here) certainly provokes thought, conjecture and evaluation of our own life, loves and memories. It touches upon a number of philosophical conundrums regarding life, the universe and our position in it. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, but only have the one reservation.... the ending. Did the developing plot/narrative back itself into an inevitable cul de sac? Provoked by many thoughts and conjectures throughout the novel (a reason in itself to read it) I did feel rather let down by the resolution or ending, if it can be called that. Is it me, and have I missed some great spiritual meaning and insight at the end, or have I just been conned by a pseudo-esoteric ploy to appear to present a conclusion to a tale that promised (perhaps needed) a more satisfying twist or encapsulating denouement? I notice that Warner Brothers have immediately bought the film rights.... well, the film will have to manufacture a more convincing ending.
But do not be put off reading this book. It does provoke thought and offers a refreshingly original idea to savour.... and you can't say that of a lot of current fiction.
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