I might as well do something constructive with this......

I mean..... I DO work at B&N and it DOES have benifits. ok it has a lot of benifits but one of the great things is that I get to read advanced copies of books. I thought that maybe as I read books I'd perhaps post reviews of them.

Do I know exactly how boring I am for my age? Yeah.......that's why I work at B&N. lol Although I do work in the music department so I'm a little hip......

Nah......

Ok the first book I read off of our advanced readers bookcase I actually read as a favor. I had picked it up on my break because I had nothing else to read and Brian mentioned that he had just finished it. He asked me to let him know what I thought of the ending if I decided to finish it myself. Being a good friend...something I should have maybe re-thought.....I said okey-dokey

....no really I said Okey dokey...like I said....I'm wierd...

Anyway the book I read was " The Brief History of the Dead" by Kevin Brockmeier.

I dunno....it sounded like an interesting title.

Remember the old addage..."never judge a book by it's cover?"

We're gonna change that too...."Never judge a book by ANYTHING EXCEPT WHAT'S WRITTEN ON THE PAGES!"

Whew...glad I got that out of my system..... are we all clear on that? Good.

Here's the link http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&isbn=0375423699&itm=3

Don't get me wrong it isn't a bad book. It's a very interesting premise. The dead never truly leave until the last person who remembers them passes on. They live in an earth-like world. They lead normal lives with jobs, relationships, bills but funny enough...not taxes. LOL Yes I did pick upon the fact that they didn't pay taxes. They do not age from when they died and they still can remember the world before they passed away. Although more and more of them are dissapearing without warning. If the book had just been about that it may have been pretty cool.

But of course not...that would be too simple, what kind of conflict would that cause? Silly me....ah duh.....Anyway the book teetoles between this world of the dead and the real, living world. The story of the real world centers around Laura Byrd, who is stuck in the middle of Antartica because her company, Coca Cola, has sent her there to do research for using the melting polar ice caps as an ingrediant for a new coca cola product. The parts in the living world are about her struggling to survive, since she has hardly any supplies or food left, and she cannot contact anyone at all.

Parts of the book are wonderful. It's neat to see people returning to the world of the dead the more the book goes on becuase Laura starts thinking about them and it's interesting to see the parallel between the worlds as hope starts to become a feeling for both sides that there will be an end.

The book does start slow, it needs a few chapters to really get it's engine going but once it starts it head full force. I was really into it, it had caught my attention and held it. You slowly find out hints and clues as to what exactly is wiping out all of these people and what Laura's role in it is. And it's interesting to see the people of the dead world, especially laura's parents, struggling to find answers about their daughter and about themselves. You root for Laura to survive in the middle of Antertica and you find yourself on the edge of your seat throught most of the book.

Now you say to yourself...but.....

yeah...of course there is a but....I'm sitting on it...

Ok...I'll knock off with the lame jokes. lol

The book PLUMMETS, and I do mean plummets in the last chapter or two. It starts a slow decline before that but it really is not noticable because the book is really captivating. This is why the ending is so painful. You invest hard earned reading time into these characters and then......nothing. Nothing is really resolved. And it's not in the good way. You never fully understand Coca-Cola's involvement in the virus wiping everyone out and the reason that's given is extreamly lame....essentially, it's a terrorist act. It would have been better if by chance if had soemthing to do with the ingridiants that they were using in their products and it was known to be harmful and it was used anyway. It has a great big lead up with suspense and then the follow-through just doesn't hold any water. (I won't disreguard the fact that I happened to be drinking a coke while reading this book....something told me in my head that it might not have been a good idea to do so....irony.....)

That can be said about pretty much the whole book, it's one giant lead up and no oomf at the end. It should be no shock to anyone that Laura does indeed die. It's something you know from moment one. But yet you still hold out hope. That shows amazing writing. You know she is going to die but yet you still have a tiny bit of hope. Fantasatic, the man did a good job. But he doesn't have any closer to his book. The book abruptly ends without rhyme or reason. You are never told of what happens to laura's parents and the other people in the world of the dead. You can surmise as to their fate but you never get that satisfying closer that should be felt. The end of the book should not be focused on a minor charcter. At least not the way it was. Brian did have a good point. There was no other way to end it. And he's right, there really wasn't. But....it could have been done MUCH better.

I think that was the worst part of the book, the end was extreamly frustrating and a let-down.

Should you read the book? I'll say the same thing Brian said to me... "Read it, and let me know what you think of the ending"

And when the book comes whizzing past my head in frustration I'll smile in glee. At least now I know my black eye will match Brian's.