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Title: Being Dead by Jim Crace ISBN: 0-312-27542-0 Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: 01 March, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.84 (102 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Dead is Dead; Life is what Matters
Comment: The plot of this book is no secret, so don't think I'm giving anything away here. Celice and Joseph are married scientists/educators who are murdered on the English oceanside during a romantic interlude at the same place where they had first made love years ago. But don't mistake Being Dead for a murder mystery. Instead, Crace would rather lead us to believe that it's a scientic look at death much like Celice and Joseph would look at death. Lurking deeper in the story though, is a look at life, especially Joseph and Celice's.
Masterfully written and told in time-twisting progression, we learn that the saddest thing about Joseph and Celice isn't the finality of their deaths, but rather the lovelessness of their lives together.
Without spoiling the story, it needs to be said that this book will challenge the beliefs of many readers and could possibly turn some of the more narrow-minded off. This is unfortunate for those readers not only because the story requires a scientific premise, but because it is so well presented. Queasy readers may also turn away from some more graphic passages.
Those cautions revealed, Being Dead is one of the best pieces of literature I have read recently, comparable in style, originality and thoughtfulness with Blindness by Jose Saramago and Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee. It hurt me to watch Joseph and Celice's sad lives become exposed, which I think was Crace's intention. I think it also made me think about my own life and the importance of being human and connected with others. Life is precious, and no matter what you might believe about the afterlife, being dead is at the very least the opposite of this life. Live and love are for the living and should be embraced like no other gift we're ever given.
Rating: 5
Summary: I thought I wouldn't like this, BUT
Comment: I did like it. Somehow the story didn't appeal to me at all, people dead on a beach, decomposing, and the plot didn't look like it could possibly move forward. So why did I pick it up ... because I have great respect for Jim Crace.
The protagonists die right at the beginning of the novel (I'm not telling you anything that's not on the back of the book here), and the story moves backward in time, so you find out about them, like them, knowing what happens to them. In a way, it reminded me of the movie Memento, which has a similar plot device. Crace, however, uses it in quite a different way: he is not building suspense, rather he is developing the characters, letting us get to know them and think about their fate and the twists that preceded it.
If you've never read a Jim Crace book, this might be the best to start with, but I'd also recommend The Gift of Stones as a starting point. Crace's books are very different from one another, so each one remains a unique experience. Even if you don't think this one will appeal to you, you might be as surprised as I was how long Being Dead will stay with you and keep you thinking about it.
Rating: 4
Summary: Dark, gruesome, but great!
Comment: When is a love story not a love story? When two lovers are found dead in the dunes. Jim Crace's Being Dead is a magnificent tale told in an unconventional way. Instead of telling the story of Joseph and Felice starting with how they met, got married, had kids, grew old and so on, Crace starts with their demise. From there, the narrative develops in many different directions. Most disturbingly, perhaps, is how their bodies decay on the beach after their murder. He also tells the story of how they met years earlier, not far from where there bodies lie. Another story works backwards, very slowly, on the day they met their demise. And finally, there is the story of their daughter, as she slowly discovers what has happened to her parents. These four intertwined narratives reveal much about Joseph and Felice, perhaps more than would the traditional "love story." Being Dead is inventive, creative, and a pleasure to read, but it is definitely not for the faint of heart. The description of the bodies' decay is very graphic and some would find it disturbing. The gruesome scenes are not gratuitous and I found the descriptions to be so well done, so elegantly crafted, that they're almost a pleasure to read. If you think you have the stomach for some rough descriptions, I highly recommend this novel.
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Title: Quarantine by Jim Crace ISBN: 0312199511 Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: 01 April, 1999 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Genesis by Jim Crace ISBN: 0374227306 Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux Pub. Date: 01 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: The Gift of Stones by Jim Crace ISBN: 0880014504 Publisher: Ecco Pub. Date: 01 May, 1996 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Devil's Larder: A Feast by Jim Crace ISBN: 0312420897 Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: 07 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Continent by Jim Crace ISBN: 0880014989 Publisher: Ecco Press Pub. Date: 01 January, 1997 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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