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jenne's review against another edition
3.0
A strange and interesting little book. I don't think I'll get the image of the two dead people out of my head for a while, but not in a creepy way.
Reading in detail about the decomposition of someone's body is a weirdly intimate thing, kind of like getting stuck in an elevator with a stranger.
Reading in detail about the decomposition of someone's body is a weirdly intimate thing, kind of like getting stuck in an elevator with a stranger.
mikifoo's review against another edition
I DNF'd this book. I devoured 'Harvest' when I saw it in Bolen Books (Victoria, BC, 2014). This novel, however, wasn't the same, unfortunately. There was a lot of descriptive writing that left me wondering, "Where is this story going?" and even, "Is this a story?" I admire the idea of reflecting on the wonderment of death, but I was anticipating a story. There are snippets of the characters' lives, but that trajectory is weaved in and out of the description of their corpses decaying on a beach.
(physical, purchased used at Judd Books, London, England, 2018)
(physical, purchased used at Judd Books, London, England, 2018)
lwrenable_91's review against another edition
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
aaronj's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 A meditation on the lives of the two murder victims with strong first chapters that meanders in later sections.
alexctelander's review against another edition
3.0
“‘It’s not as if . . . ,’” she said. And then her scalp hung open like a fish’s mouth. The white roots of her crown were stoplight red.” A couple suffers a horrific fate at the hands of a granite-club-wielding murderer, while they enjoy each other on the beach of Baritone Bay, where they first met. This is the premise of Being Dead, from English novelist Jim Crace, author of Quarantine and Signals of Distress. “Crace is a writer of hallucinatory skill,” says John Updike.
The novel begins with the two bodies lying in the sand, his hand latched on to her shin, a symbol of their unbreakable love passing into eternity. From there the novel takes three directions. One is the incidents that lead up to their deaths; another is how they first met, then fell in love, married, and spent the following thirty years together; the last is the succeeding days of their corpses suffering the wear and teat of nature and the weather, as their bodies remain undiscovered.
Who would have thought it possible that a novel about the death of the main characters would be published? Being Dead cannot be locked into one specific genre, but seems to flitter over them all, one minute taking you to the horrors of their deaths and decay, the next dabbling in the moving love story that kept them together for so long. Crace has a writing style that is truly unlike any other.
Originally published on September 4th 2001 ©Alex C. Telander.
For over 500 book reviews, and over 40 exclusive author interviews (both audio and written), visit BookBanter.
The novel begins with the two bodies lying in the sand, his hand latched on to her shin, a symbol of their unbreakable love passing into eternity. From there the novel takes three directions. One is the incidents that lead up to their deaths; another is how they first met, then fell in love, married, and spent the following thirty years together; the last is the succeeding days of their corpses suffering the wear and teat of nature and the weather, as their bodies remain undiscovered.
Who would have thought it possible that a novel about the death of the main characters would be published? Being Dead cannot be locked into one specific genre, but seems to flitter over them all, one minute taking you to the horrors of their deaths and decay, the next dabbling in the moving love story that kept them together for so long. Crace has a writing style that is truly unlike any other.
Originally published on September 4th 2001 ©Alex C. Telander.
For over 500 book reviews, and over 40 exclusive author interviews (both audio and written), visit BookBanter.
encgolsen's review against another edition
4.0
Jim Crace is a truly astonishing author. In this book he examines a murdered couple, middle-aged scientists brutally attacked on the dunes where they'd sought to rekindle the early flame of their marriage. He zooms in and out, examining the decomposition of their mortal bodies in painstaking and poetic detail, relating the tragedy-tinged beginnings of their relationship, showing the state of their marriage in its complacent middle years. Highly original and a strangely compelling read, but definitely not for the squeamish.
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