The Brief History of the Dead: A Novel in Apocalypse Whenever

Jan 09, 2017 Silver Thistle rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ghosts, post-apocalyptic

The premise is wonderful and exactly the kind of story I usually love. I suppose it's an apocalypse book...kinda. It's more an 'afterlife' book though, if such a genre were to exist. I thought the beginning few chapters were great and I loved hearing all about the world of the departed (although not the part of 'how' they got there....that was a bit psychedelic).

I was probably more interested in the dead than I was in Laura Byrd, although even the chapters given over to Laura were interesting at ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Jul 17, 2007 Sherrie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: myfavorites, 2006booklist

WOW! One of my favorites of 2006! What a fantastic book! The only way I can do this book justice is to first give you the Editor’s blurb: In a not-so-distant future, a deadly virus kills off every human on Earth, except for Laura Byrd, a wildlife specialist on an expedition to the South Pole. Readers quickly learn that the dead move on to another life in a fantastic city on another plane of existence; there, they live out a second life free from aging and disease until every person who knew them ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jan 11, 2008 Megan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, owned, cold-places, mythology, post-apocalyptic

**EDIT - UPDATE - 4/6/2020**
Per my comments below, I did reread it. 100% apropos (maybe TOO MUCH) for right now in the Covid-19 Pandemic, but so, so good. I tried for like 5+ years to get my partner to read this and even slipped my copy into her moving boxes when she left me. I hope she does someday! I would recommend this to anyone. Especially right now, as long as you're OK wallowing or potentially increasing feelings of anxiety about everything we're going through right now. If you can handle ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Sep 04, 2007 Schnaucl rated it it was ok

Shelves: owned, read_2007, fiction, science-fiction, post-apocalyptic, january

I wanted to read this book ever since The Seattle Times reviewed [http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource...] it. I think the review set my expectations too high.

The premise is certainly interesting enough, or at least, half the premise. This is one of those books that tells two separate stories in alternating chapters that finally sort of merge at the end. I'm not a big fan of that style of storytelling, particularly when the book is so short. In the end it felt more like two novellas, neither of ...more

Like · see review

Nov 21, 2011 Erin rated it really liked it

Shelves: post-apocalypse-dystopia

"It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel....." well, if not fine, then pretty OK with it.

A fairly gentle treatment of the end of civilization on earth (caused by a virus with a 100% fatality rate - is that even possible?), which alternates between chapters involving the last survivor, Laura Byrd, marooned in Antarctica and the other side's "waiting room" filled now only with people whom Laura knew on earth. Very interesting, and rather sweet, I thought. Well worth reading if you like ...more

Like · see review

Jul 05, 2008 William rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, ghost-stories, have-hardcover, read-in-2010

Strange book. I found it interesting yet not captivating. Life after death is an interesting topic for me and I do like to read other people's interpretations. While I realize this is Mr. Brockmeier's vision (and it is a unique one), it was just to easy and fantastical. I know that this kind of outlook can never be truly explained but I would like some of it to make more sense. Do all children go to spiritual orphanages? Why do they need to eat and work? They do not age but what happens if there ...more

Like · see review

Sep 30, 2007 Julie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: literature, speculative-fiction, i-own-it

Interesting concept. This novel goes back & forth between two worlds - one is the world of the living where a pandemic has killed all but one scientist living in the Antarctic. The other world is a purgatory-type place where people remain as long as someone who is living remembers them. So essentially, that world is populated by everyone that one woman had contact with in her life. SEMI-SPOILER ALERT: When she realizes she is the only one left and contemplates suicide it puts it in a whole other ...more

Like · see review

Jun 12, 2016 Susan rated it liked it

This was a re-read for me, and it did keep my interest, altho I will admit to "skimming" some sections because of lack of interest in minor characters. Interesting premise, and I liked the Antarctic saga better than "the city." ...more

Like · see review

Aug 15, 2007 Catherine rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, apocalypse

This is an amazing book---one of the best I have read so far in the twenty-first century. Based on the premise of a dual afterlife: Upon dying, people go to a sort of limbo and remain there for as long as at least one person still living remembers them. When no one left alive remembers you, then you move on to the true hereafter. This book takes place in the near future and follows Laura Byrd, an antarctic research for the Coca-Cola Corporation, and her deceased parents in the afterlife.

Like · see review