Comments | coalescent: The Brief History of the Dead

coalescent

The Brief History of the Dead

Oct 15, 2005 12:58

A little over two years ago, a brilliant short story by Kevin Brockmeier, called 'The Brief History of the Dead', appeared in the New Yorker. The story is at once a tour of the city of the dead and a dramatisation of how we give life to those we remember. Both the layout of the city and its population are in flux over time. They live as shadows, ( Read more... )

kevin brockmeier, memory, antarctica, book review

Comments 4

Out of curiosity... megancrewe October 15 2005, 12:44:14 UTC

Would you be able to say how this book compares to James Morrow's This is the Way the World Ends? I was struck as I was reading your review by the general similarities: satire of corporation and marketing, the world's last living person stranded in Antartica, a society of the dead. It could easily have all that and be a very different book, of course.

Either way, thanks for the review! Sounds like the sort of book I'd want to pick up. :)

Re: Out of curiosity... coalescent October 15 2005, 13:09:14 UTC

I'm afraid I haven't read This Is The Way The World Ends; googling around, I can see the similarities, but I suspect Morrow has the satire higher up in the mix than Brockmeier does. Also, from what I can gather there's more direct contact between the protagonist and 'the unadmitted' in that book than there is between Laura and the dead in this one. She's not answering to anyone or for anything, except very indirectly.

Glad you liked the review, though. :)

Re: Out of curiosity... megancrewe June 5 2006, 02:05:45 UTC

I'm a little late to the mix on this one. I'm a little over half way through "History of the Dead" and it seems very similar to Morrow's book. The similarities are overwhelming, from a trek across Antartica to the global extinction and the last person alive. Morrow does use significantly more fantasy imagery than brockmeier, and he relies more on the legal confrontation as a plot device.

Классный блог! bollenqyrow July 18 2011, 11:32:11 UTC

Здравствуйте! Как вы относитесь к молодым композиторам?

Блог Ваш что-то мало оптимизированный и малочитаем. Можно разрекламировать его с помощью софта XRumer 7 Elite (ХРумер 7 Элите) скачать можно на http://x-rumer.ru/ слышал убойная программа для продвижения ЖЖ журналов.