Being Dead

BEING DEAD

by Jim Crace

 

Award: National Book Critics Circle Winner 2000

 

Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2001, NY Times Finalist 2000

 

Date Read: February 8, 2023

 

Being Dead is about exactly that – being dead. Joseph and Celice have been a couple since college and revisit the dunes where they first consummated their relationship. Both are professors and have their PhDs in Zoology. They have one daughter – Syl – who is somewhat estranged from them. Overall, they live a relatively normal life.

 

On the same day they had consummated their relationship, they were interrupted by their fellow PhD candidates to verify their whereabouts. Joseph and Celice had sneaked off early to check the tide and while they were frolicking, the house had caught fire and killed Freya, a friend and fellow student. Celice has never been able to reconcile the guilt she holds for Freya’s death (was it her fault?) and the joy she experienced at her new relationship.

 

For nostalgia, Joseph wakes up on this present day to a beautiful, clear sky and is determined to take Celice back to the dunes from their early days – a place she has been hesitant to return to because of the loss of Freya. Once there, she realizes the location doesn’t hold as much trauma as she had thought. So much time has passed and the local flora has reclaimed the devastation of the fire.

 

This place, however, still holds tragedy as Joseph and Celice are violently killed by a thief just after they made love. Joseph is still naked and Celice is naked from the waist down, adding to the indignancy of their deaths. Crace skillfully takes the reader through what led up to this day, the decomposition and other biological processes involved in death, how their loved ones find out about their passing and the history this couple shares.

 

Several key points stand out for me. First, the couple is referred to as nearly elderly and decrepit, although they’re only over 50. Nowadays, 50 is like the new 35. Second, I didn’t fully understand why their daughter was so resentful of her parents. I can understand how the disapproval of parents can strain a relationship, but you just note their objections to your lifestyle and continue on your merry way. The numbness and near hatred Syl experiences seems overkill.

 

Overall, this was an eye opening novel that reminded me of 10 Minutes 38 Seconds In This Strange World, but with a more scientific approach. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Gentleman In Moscow

Image
A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW by Amor Towles   Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2018, Goodreads Finalist 2016, Kirkus Finalist 2016   Date Read: February 24, 2017   From Kirkus Reviews:   “Sentenced to house arrest in Moscow's Metropol Hotel by a Bolshevik tribunal for writing a poem deemed to encourage revolt, Count Alexander Rostov nonetheless lives the fullest of lives, discovering the depths of his humanity.   Inside the elegant Metropol, located near the Kremlin and the Bolshoi, the Count slowly adjusts to circumstances as a "Former Person." He makes do with the attic room, to which he is banished after residing for years in a posh third-floor suite. A man of refined taste in wine, food, and literature, he strives to maintain a daily routine, exploring the nooks and crannies of the hotel, bonding with staff, accepting the advances of attractive women, and forming what proves to be a deeply meaningful relationship with a spirited young girl, Nina. "We are bound to find comfo
Read more

An Island

Image
AN ISLAND by Karen Jennings   Nomination: Booker Longlist 2021   Date Read: December 10, 2022   A short but mighty novel, An Island explores the concept of home, family, identity, the impact of political upheaval and the immigrant experience, when one’s suffering is so intense they move from one shitty country to the next. Samuel has finally found a peaceful home on an island somewhere off the coast of Africa. He was hired as a lighthouse keeper and after a tumultuous life, most of which was spent in prison as a political prisoner, he has carved out a life for himself on this island, enjoying a tranquil existence that basks in the quiet tasks of daily living.   Only after exploring Samuel’s life does the reader understand why such an isolated, spare and lonely existence satisfy him, with no desire to escape but only to grow deeper roots. His life witnessed the end of the British occupation, the installation of a brutal dictator and yet another dictator after the first was poisoned. Sam
Read more

The Changeling

Image
THE CHANGELING by Victor LaValle   Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2019, LA Times Finalist 2017, PEN/Jean Stein Finalist 2018   Date Read: July 21, 2024   From Kirkus Reviews: “A  tragedy thrusts a mourning father into peculiar, otherworldly corners of New York City. When Apollo and Emma have their baby, Brian, it feels like both reward and challenge for the new dad. Apollo, the son of a single mother, had been scraping by as a bookseller who hunts estate and garage sales for rare first editions, so even the unusual circumstance of Brian's birth (in a stalled subway train) seems like a blessing, as does the way Apollo stumbles across a first edition of  To Kill a Mockingbird  (inscribed by Harper Lee to Truman Capote, no less) shortly after. But after some young-parent squabbles and inexplicable images on their smartphones foreshadow trouble, the story turns nightmarish: Apollo finds himself tied up and beaten by Emma, then forced to listen to the sounds of Brian’s murder. LaValle has
Read more