Winter 07

The Brief History of the Dead, Kevin Brockmeier. New York : Pantheon. 2006. $22.95 (hc) $13.95 (pa) 0-375-42369-9.

There are three planes, or levels of being. The first is life. When people die, they enter the second plane, a giant city they must travel through strange and unknown places to reach. They stay in this city until everyone who remembered them has died. Then they pass into the third plane. This is the premise of Kevin Brockmeier’s new novel, based on an African folktale.

Unfortunately, a virus is spreading across the planet, and people are appearing in the City and disappearing in huge numbers. All the dead can do is watch and wonder why some disappear and some stay.

Essentially, this is a post-apocalyptic novel told from the point of view (mostly) of the dead. It opens with a blind preacher entering the City, and ends with the blind man as well. In between, the novel follows several other characters, mostly the dead, as they grow aware of the changes fast approaching, and try to understand them.

The world of the living is portrayed as a dystopian not-to-distant future. Many of the endangered species we are white-knuckle holding onto today are gone. Terrorist attacks are common. Most of what we see takes place in Antarctica, where the Coca-Cola corporation has sent a team of scientists on a publicity stunt to test the waters of the melting icecap for purity. Here we encounter Laura Byrd, the last survivor of the team waiting for rescue. But no one seems to be coming.

This book is beautifully written. Weaving elements of mystery with magical realism, the book acts as a kind of ode to humanity. It doesn’t chastise or even really resonate with a great deal of sadness, it simply watches with a joie de vivre rarely seen in modern novels.

-CL Bledsoe


	Review of Kevin Brockmeier's A Brief History of the Dead

	The Brief History of the Dead, Kevin Brockmeier. New York : Pantheon. 2006. $22.95 (hc) $13.95 (pa) 0-375-42369-9. There are three planes, or levels of being. The first is life. When people die, they enter the second plane, a giant city they must travel through strange and unknown places to reach. They stay in this city until everyone who remembered them has died. Then they pass into the third plane. This is the premise of Kevin Brockmeier’s new novel, based on an African folktale. Unfortunately, a virus is spreading across the planet, and people are appearing in the City and disappearing in huge numbers. All the dead can do is watch and wonder why some disappear and some stay. Essentially, this is a post-apocalyptic novel told from the point of view (mostly) of the dead. It opens with a blind preacher entering the City, and ends with the blind man as well. In between, the novel follows several other characters, mostly the dead, as they grow aware of the changes fast approaching, and try to understand them. The world of the living is portrayed as a dystopian not-to-distant future. Many of the endangered species we are white-knuckle holding onto today are gone. Terrorist attacks are common. Most of what we see takes place in Antarctica, where the Coca-Cola corporation has sent a team of scientists on a publicity stunt to test the waters of the melting icecap for purity. Here we encounter Laura Byrd, the last survivor of the team waiting for rescue. But no one seems to be coming. This book is beautifully written. Weaving elements of mystery with magical realism, the book acts as a kind of ode to humanity. It doesn’t chastise or even really resonate with a great deal of sadness, it simply watches with a joie de vivre rarely seen in modern novels. -CL Bledsoe