simlish's review against another edition
4.0
I read the novel version and thought it would be a better short story. Glad to see I was right.
fae_on_fire's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
bogfinchgirl's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book. It's a very cool idea of where we all go immediately after death, woven into the story of a woman struggling to survive all alone in Antarctica.
megmcardle's review against another edition
5.0
Every once in a while there comes a book that has such a great hook that you can't wait to read it. But often that hook is empty bait, without a satisfying plot to sink your teeth into. When I read the back of the new novel A Brief History of the Dead I was intrigued. What if after you die, you don't immediately go to heaven, but instead you go to the city. The city is where people find themselves after death. It seems like earth, but you never age. You simply stay there for 50 or 60 years, and then mysteriously disappear. The theory among the residents is that you stay in the city as long as there are people on earth who remember you. The novel starts from this premise, and then alternates with a view of life on earth, where a terrible plague is sweeping the planet. As the death count rises, so does the population of the city. But as there are fewer people on earth to remember them, the city starts to empty out again. We follow a few of the residents of the city as they muse about the nature of death and of memory, and we follow Laura, an arctic researcher who may be the last person on earth. This novel offer lots of concepts to think about, all enhanced by the fact that the author can really write. His language is rich and his descriptions are vivid. This story sticks with you.
annakmeyer's review against another edition
2.0
The premise of this book was great - when people die, they go to The City, and live there until the last person who remembers them dies. And the first part of the book I loved, but overall it didn't quite live up to what I think it could have been. I loved the writing style, though.
dessa's review against another edition
5.0
Searing and dreamlike. Perfectly detailed. Magic realism at its finest.
Reread August 2017: popping this up to five stars. It really is magic realism at its finest. Meticulously detailed. Everything so fully and perfectly formed.
Reread August 2017: popping this up to five stars. It really is magic realism at its finest. Meticulously detailed. Everything so fully and perfectly formed.
lisa_mc's review against another edition
4.0
The City - the after-world Kevin Brockmeier has created in this thoughtful novel - is where people go after they die, and where they stay until there’s no one left among the living who remembers them. It’s a clever, original concept. Brockmeier doesn’t get into theology; he simply describes a place beyond a simple way station, where people can keep on with their life’s work or reinvent themselves.
But the City’s routine is disrupted by a rapid population shift - a flood of arrivals as millions of people are wiped out when a deadly virus sweeps around the world, and an avalanche of departures as fewer people are left alive to remember the dead.
Although readers have a general idea of what’s coming, the story is not predictable, and never cliched. The author’s clear, sometimes lyrical writing paints pictures both subtle and vivid, but doesn’t intrude on the story or the characters.
Brockmeier raises questions but offers no pat answers, leaving readers with plenty to think about. It’s a satisfying kind of thought, though, at the end of a satisfying book.
But the City’s routine is disrupted by a rapid population shift - a flood of arrivals as millions of people are wiped out when a deadly virus sweeps around the world, and an avalanche of departures as fewer people are left alive to remember the dead.
Although readers have a general idea of what’s coming, the story is not predictable, and never cliched. The author’s clear, sometimes lyrical writing paints pictures both subtle and vivid, but doesn’t intrude on the story or the characters.
Brockmeier raises questions but offers no pat answers, leaving readers with plenty to think about. It’s a satisfying kind of thought, though, at the end of a satisfying book.
technicole's review against another edition
5.0
This book is lovely and brilliant - the rare coupling of poetry and suspense.
uniparemassilmas's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0