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The Brief History of the Dead
Kevin Brockmeier
#UB6052
Paperback, 252 pages; 2007 (2006)
$7.90
Dying had changed Marion Byrd. She had been so weary back when she was alive: weary of talking and weary of eating; weary of thinking, remembering, desiring, anticipating….But then the virus had appeared and she had died, and suddenly everything was different. She began to appreciate all the things she thought she had forgotten how to enjoy, like music and dancing and the way the breeze felt on her neck when she pinned her hair up in back.
Most of the characters in this spellbinding novel are dead. They live in "the city," which many inhabitants theorize is not heaven or hell, but someplace between life and whatever's beyond. It's generally believed that people disappear from the city when the last living person who remembers them dies. When the city's population suddenly plummets, the residents wonder, literally, what on Earth is going on. Meanwhile (back on said Earth), wildlife specialist Laura Byrd—who many of the remaining dead people seem to have some connection to—finds herself cut off and alone in her Antarctic research station, fighting for survival. The Brief History of the Dead ponders life, death, and memory—all while escorting the reader on a thrilling, lyrical, emotionally rich adventure.
(CH)
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