Book Review: The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier

Grade: B

In The Brief History of the Dead, Kevin Brockmeier explores death as a form of insomnia--that the will and memory of the living can perpetuate the lives of the dead, and vice-versa. Brockmeier's simple plot alternates between two realms--earth (home to the living) and "the City" (home to the dead). In the City, the dead continue living as long as someone on earth still remembers them. But the City's population is shrinking fast becasue a virus has killed all but one human on earth--antarctic researcher Laura Byrd. The remaining residents of the City are Byrd's acquaintances from earth. As she struggles to survive, the dead learn to live. Both rely on each other for survival. Byrd wills herself to live by remembering her family, friends, and acquaintances. City residents remain alive through her memory.

"That was what insomnia was, after all--an excess of consciousness, an excess of life. Ever since she could remember, she had treated her life as an act of will, the you-can-do-anything-you-set-your-mind-to philosophy, but she couldn't will herself to fall asleep. The only way to fall asleep was not to care whether you fell asleep or not: you had to relinquish your will. Most people seemed to think that you fell aslweep and then started dreaming, but as far as Minny could tell, the process was exactly the reverse--you started dreaming and that enabled you to fall asleep. She wasn't able to start dreaming, though, because she couldn't stop thinking about the fact that she wasn't already asleep."

While I recommend this book for its discussion of death and memory, I caution readers of its failings. Brockmeier succeeds by creating a powerful image of the link between the dead and the living--that the dead remain through the memory of the living. He fails because the characters and plot do not match his theme in power or depth. I felt little connection to any of the characters, alive or dead. I did, however, like the name of the central dead character--Luka--which is similar to my son's name--Lucas (even though Lucas was unborn at the time I read this book). Similarly, I found the plot predictable and lacking depth.