Beforelife
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Beforelife
Acheter pour 28,08 $
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Narrateur(s):
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Ash Rizi
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Auteur(s):
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Randal Graham
À propos de cet audio
It’s okay if you don’t believe in the afterlife. The people who live there don’t believe in you, either.
What if you went to heaven and no one there believed in Earth? This is the question at the heart of Beforelife, a satirical novel that follows the postmortem adventures of widower Ian Brown, a man who dies in the book’s first moments and finds himself in an afterlife where no one else believes in “pre-incarnation”. The other residents of the afterlife have mysteriously forgotten their premortem lives and think that anyone who remembers a mortal life is suffering from a mental disorder called the “Beforelife Delusion”.
None of that really matters to Ian. All he wants to do is reunite with Penelope, his wife. Scouring the afterlife for any sign of her, Ian accidentally winds up on a quest to prove that the beforelife is real. This puts him squarely into the crosshairs of some of history’s greatest heroes and villains, all of whom seem unhealthily obsessed with erasing Ian’s memories and preventing him from reminding anyone of their premortem lives. Only by staying a step ahead of his enemies can Ian hope to keep his much-needed marbles, find Penelope, and restore the public’s memories of the beforelife.
©2017 Randal Graham (P)2018 ECW PressCe que les critiques en disent
“Finally, a hitchhiker's guide to the hereafter. Making a debut as stellar as it is hilarious, Randal Graham proves himself a true Canuckian heir to the magnificently pun-happy merriment of literary pranksters Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, and Jasper Fforde. At once a raucous comedy, thrilling adventure, and meta-commentary on the nature of storytelling, Beforelife is an afterlife to die for.” (Corey Redekop, author of Husk)
Brilliant first novel
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The last time I read something even remotely like Beforelife was as a youth reading the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Both have ridiculous characters, impossible settings, ludicrous plots and abundant satire. But Beforelife is better written and more thoughtful.
For me the best aspect of Beforelife is the way in which the book itself is part of the story in a delightfully recursive manner (if recursive is the word I am thinking of). One character is somehow aware that he is a character in a novel, and that the omniscient and omnipotent author has control over the actions and fates of himself and his companions. The narration and the characters routinely measure time in paragraphs, pages, and chapters. And the author has a way of explicitly referring to the literary techniques he is attempting to employ, and explaining the desired outcomes. I don't recall ever reading anything that does this, but the technique is effective not just at achieving the original intent but also inserting humour and creating an inside joke between reader and author. It's brilliant!
The audiobook performance by Ash Rizi is simply superb. The character voices fit perfectly, and the narration precisely captures the author's complex sense of humour.
As someone who normally prefers his fiction to be more grounded in the real world, I was surprised how much I enjoyed Beforelife. In another delightful bit of self-reference to the book, the outline of the sequel was announced by the characters during the epilogue, and I understand the sequel will be available soon. I can't wait!
Brilliantly Written and Entertainingly Strange
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A Bizarre Read
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clever!
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SOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOD
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For me it was a mix of Douglas Adams and P. G. Woodhouse. I was not surprised when one of the main characters (who sounds like Bertie Wooster actually called someone Jeeves and voila proved me right). Totally delightful. Looking forward to reading the next book in the series- "Afterlife Crisis".
delightful
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Predictable
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