Yr Dead

by Sam Sax

In between the space of time when Ezra lights themself on fire and when Ezra dies the world of this book flashes before their eyes. Everyone Ezra's ever loved, every place they've felt queer and at home, or queer and out of place, reveals itself in an instant. Unfolding in fragments of memory, Ezra dissolves into the family, religion, desire, losses, pains and joys that made them into the person that's decided on this final act of protest.

Told in lyric fragments that span both lifetimes and geography, Yr Dead is a queer, Jewish, diasporic coming of age story that questions how our historical memory shapes our political and emotional present. Visceral, propulsive, and at turns fluorescently beautiful and fluorescently tragic, Yr Dead is the electric debut novel from award-winning writer Sam Sax, one of our most dynamic and imaginative writers.

Genres: Fiction, Queer, Poetry, LGBT, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Novels

281 pages, Hardcover

First published August 6, 2024

About the author

sam sax is a queer, jewish, writer and educator. They're the author of PIG (2023, Scribner) and Yr Dead (2024, McSweeney’s), as well as Madness, winner of The National Poetry Series and ‘Bury It’ winner of the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets. They're the two time Bay Area Grand Slam Champion with poems and stories published in The New York Times, Granta, The Los Angeles Review of Books and elsewhere. Sam's received fellowships from  The NEA, Poetry Foundation, MacDowell, and is currently serving as an ITALIC Lecturer at Stanford University

Reviews

[Meike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nominated for the National Book Award 2024
The Booker shortlist currently features two novels with a lyrical approach (Held and Orbital) that gave me nothing, as I found them rather pretentious and frequently esoteric. Sam Sax shows that poetic novel-writing can be in-your-face and forceful as well: "Yr Dead" starts with the protagonist, 27-year-old queer non-binary Jewish bookseller Ezra, setting themselves on fire in New York City. Then, we get numerous flashbacks into their past life experiences, some metaphorical stories and text conversations with their friend Ericka, plus some impressions of the ride to the hospital after the incident - a lot of the text is an exploration from beyond the grave though, adding a frame of Gothic horror to the experience of feeling like an outsider.

Sax dives into a lot of themes, from Ezra's Jewish ancestry to their mother abandoning them, their sexuality, their desperation because social and environmental protests seem to lead nowhere, their complicated love life, surviving domestic abuse and the repercussions of living in a world that is chronically online but lacks human connection. Ezra's forefathers get voices that are rendered as fiction-within-fiction, the parents merge and shift like ghosts through the lines and through Ezra's consciousness.

This author aims high and has no interest in playing it safe, and I appreciate it - this reads like a more high-risk version of Ocean Vuong, with a very distinct artistic vision. Kudos to the National Book Award for recognizing some daring new fiction.

[Darryl Suite · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another banger off the National Book Award fiction longlist. This book took huge risks and they all paid off. Playing around with form and structure to create something so wildly original and devastating. Themes of suicide, mental health, religion, trauma, identity, queerness. All the emotions, all the feels.

A writer to definitely look out for. Super impressed.

(Glad this was my final read off a ridiculously amazing NBA longlist. What a way to end things)

[Flo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes life in this suburb grows so stagnant that to make anything move is an accomplishment. Time soldiers forward, predictable and slow as a bone healing wrong, and sometimes all you want to do is light a fire to see what burns or breaks.

A promising debut novel, but in a way, the author seems to regret at all times that he is actually writing one. Occasionally, there are some beautiful, lyrical passages that reveal the author's poetic background, but the construction doesn’t entirely work. Given the difficult themes, I was surprised to feel mostly indifferent to the horrible events on the page. I think this could have been as overwhelming as Fernanda Melchor’s works if the author had known what buttons to push. Unfortunately, too often, Sam Sax seems more interested in sharing opinions than in following the narrative—experimenting instead of accepting that some experiments don’t work.

[Brandon Baker]

Ahhhhh idk what to think. At first I thought it was like a mix between Negative Space by BR Yeager (minus the cosmic ritualistic taboo) and Any Man by Amber Tamblyn (based on the mixed media/disjointed storytelling), but this was just *too* abstract for me. It’s depressing and bleak and (I think?) supposed to be profound, and if I was smarter maybe I’d get more out of it, but I am instead just left feeling confused .

[heptagrammaton · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I had a nickel for every gay, non-linear, intertextual, poetic, genre-crossing, raw af, quasi-semi-autobiographical, deeply entrenched engaged with religion and identity, centered around/culmitaniting in a violent (martyr's) death novel published this year, I'd have the equivalent of a dime— which ain't much, but it's weird that it happened twice.

[Traci Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an experimental novel that is heavy on character and basically has no plot at all. I like the writing and some sentences bowled me over, but the fragmentary style left me feeling unmoored. It was hard to tell what was happening in certain sections. If you like books that play a lot with form and the idea of a novel, this would be good for you.

[Steven · Rating 1 out of 5]

longlisted for the 2024 NBA. this is perhaps the most mfa novel to ever mfa.

for me, it didn't work. to mitigate ruining the vibes further, here's a litmus test: watch this video of the author reading one of their own poems. if you like it, you’ll like this book.

[Michael Ahrens · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think at its core this book is a compelling commentary on martyrdom in a cynical age. In form it’s too disjointed for my tastes, and falls on the wrong side of lyrical. Yr Dead is clearly a novel written for people who would rather read poetry, and I am the last person to judge poetry

[Jaella · Rating 4 out of 5]

One Earth We’re briefly gorgeous meets gender queer (+ being Jewish and leftist). Shout out to Ryan for suggesting this book for me

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The way Sax captures the dull ache of being young and solastalgia-plagued really resonates. It's true, we are kind of cooked, and despite being able to see the end so vividly, what else is there to do besides grow up? And when that happens, what now? I related strongly to Ezra's spinning wheels, the ways he struggles to find answers to those questions. The prose vignettes are oneiric and tender, I think fans of Ocean Vuong and Richard Siken would be really into this. And who wouldn't want to pick up a book with this magnficent cover?

The book gives you a lot to think about, handwaving at an unnamed president, an unnamed virus, nebulous protests, references to the violence of colonialism. These are things Ezra considers, but with more resignation than conviction, then the rest of the plot revolves around his interpersonal relationships. His choice to immolate is obviously politically charged, given Recent Events it's easy enough to fill in the blanks I suppose. I do wish that bridge between Ezra's life question and his death answer were more closely hewn anyway, if that was the point.

[Rosamund Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ezra feels hopeless in the face of climate crisis and the Trump administration. They find the protests they attend to be meaningless, and feel lost and unattached. So they decides to set themself on fire as an act of protest. This book occurs in the moments between getting off the subway and setting themself on fire. The flashbacks travel between Ezra's earlier life, and the lives of their ancestors, and the paths those people took to the United States. Despite the brutal subject matter, the novel is tender in its depictions of trauma, hopelessness, and lack of agency. The short, almost prose-poem fragments that make up the story are carefully controlled and full of beautiful details. Sax's talent as a poet is evident in each surprising and perfect detail that make up Ezra's reality. A highly engaging and unexpected book.

[Misère Pourpre · Rating 4 out of 5]

8,5/10
En voilà une publication intéressante, qui ne peut laisser de marbre.
J’ai beaucoup aimé le style, les images, la sensibilité.
C’est parfois troublant, mais dans le bon sens.
Le genre de texte du quel on passe totalement à côté, ou qui résonne. Et je pense qu’il saura trouver où résonner chez plein de gens.

[Ada · Rating 4 out of 5]

Que bé narra Sam Sax la memòria, la fragmentació, l'amor i el dolor. El jo de la novel·la, algú que sabem des del primer moment que es matarà, ens explica la història de la seva vida. És bonic com repeteix imatges des de llocs diferents, com acabem confiant en aquesta veu tendra i crua.

[Floflyy · Rating 4 out of 5]

ça donne envie de chialer sous Xanax 🤯😭

[Cullen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tw: suicide, self-immolation, DV, themes of religion v queer identity

I start my review with TWs because this is not a novel that is light in its content. The author even begins with gratitude and a warning of the same nature, and I truly think in many ways it sums up the core emotional foundation of this novel.

“my deep gratitude to you for picking up this book. Before you begin, I want to be sure you know this novel deals with suicide. Please be sure to take care of yourself - you and your life are more precious than words.”

This novel is probably one of my top 3 reads of the year, and very much in my all time favorites shelf now. While many poets have shifted towards novels in the recent years and navigated it to varying degrees of successful translation and transition, Sam Sax does a fantastic job of creating a form which adds to the themes of this story, while also capitalizing on the poetic ability to present particular vignettes which add to a larger narrative. For my attention span, this story had my obsessively reading through a majority of it within a week. Each passage being 1-3 pages makes it compelling to keep going, and the variety of comedic, vulnerable, reflective, and philosophical tones that vary through this novel are stunning. Sax also includes characters with various pronouns and gender identities that add to the story without making a whole thing out of it, which I appreciate.

This story beautiful explores ideas of memory, collective memory and religion, religious salvation and afterlife theories, religious hypocrisy, identity, self identity and social identity, and ultimately creates a tender and human account of someone navigating up to an end of life decision. Sax does not shy away from entering the mentality of suicidal ideation, they also do not spend unnecessary time trying to validate / glorify / justify it. So many beautiful connections between Jewish and religious ideas of suffering in life and the suffering of life. Even when you think you know where this story might be going, Sax keeps it fun, or existential, or sensory, or funny, or tangible. All of this novel is done with care for the reader, to hear out a characters perspective while also somehow leaving the reader without a sense of doom or depression. Sax captures the existential turmoil of current 20s-30s living in the end of the world feeling with a sense of realness I deeply appreciate.

Can’t stop rambling. Please read this book. Sam Sax, if you read this, you’ll always have a reader in me in any works you create. From one enby to another, thank you for creating this 🫶🏼

This book was really special. Rarely do I reread books these days, but this one has me already wanting to get a personal copy to annotate and to share with friends.

[Rebecca W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favourite book of the year so far!

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once I got into the rhythm of this, it was quite the emotional read

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this post-2024 election really propped up the bleak outlook even more.

Fantastic structure and prose. Read with a lot of deep sighs.

[Fiona Murphy McCormack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Daunt Books for the proof of this book for review. Sam Sax's poetic novel is imbued with beauty and profoundity and mundaneity of being alive when you are engulfed in flames

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

i feel like i could, and will, read this a hundred times. the best art are things i look at in awe and think ‘I’m glad this was made and wish i could do that’

[Deedi Brown (DeediReads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

All my reviews live at https://deedireads.com/.

Another gorgeous, moving book that probably wouldn’t have made it to the top of my TBR without the help of the National Book Award! (Nor onto my shelves — and that would have been such a shame, because I can’t even begin to tell you how stunning the hardcover is.)

Beautiful and devastating and sometimes puzzling, Yr Dead is about a nonbinary bookseller named Ezra, who has set themself on fire in an act of protest in 2016. We flash backward and forward in vignettes, all the way from their childhood to the moments after the fire, almost as if their life is flashing before their eyes.

I’m trash for novels written by poets, so I was destined to love this book (and I did). But don’t just read it for the prose; read it for the commentary on climate anxiety and the political state of the US; read it for the perspective on gender and sexuality and abandonment and domestic abuse and Judaism, including subtle and very well-done anti-Zionism.

Hats off, Sam Sax.




Content and Trigger Warnings:
Suicide; Domestic abuse; Climate anxiety; Sexual assault; Drug use; Antisemitism

[Ryan Novak · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel begins with a content warning and for good reason, it is written as the series of memories and thoughts that occur between the protagonist lighting themselves on fire and dying.

Chaotic, thought provoking, immeasurably sad and at times funny, it is clear this is a novel written by a poet. Many of the ‘chapters’ read more like short poems, rarely using more than a few pages on any singular thought or incident..

Some aspects really made you think such as the overall portrayal of someone lost in the digital age, disconnected despite the connection or the anatomy and psychology of collective action. Despite these points of intrigue, I’m not sure I enjoyed this book and find it difficult to recommend.

[Alex Cottam · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I've never been a joyful man, but still, how sad and perfectly ordinary to be another person to whom history simply happens"

Yr Dead isn't even really a story, but a collection of Ezra's final moments and thoughts as they burn to death. It's life, love, loss, death presented as an experience. An incredibly hard read I couldn't put down. Do yourself a favor and put on some somber instrumental music and just let yourself be swept away.

[Lu Louche · Rating 3 out of 5]

I strongly feel like this is a book that should be read in small doses. The best effect for me was reading 3-5 chapters at a time and then stopping for the day or maybe some days. I think reading it like a novel doesn't suit it at all. It needs this coming back, you forgetting some things but still remembering others and then you can read the chapters more as little things in and of themselves since they always contain a little something that is interesting. But if you read it one after the other the effect gets lost and you are questioning the whole book.

[Kailin · Rating 4 out of 5]

It feels like being young, that ache, the self destruction and constant shock that the adult world is going to destroy you. Unless you do it first.

[Lola · Rating 4 out of 5]

lire ce livre c'était comme flotter au dessus de mon propre corps, je me sens un peu mélancolique comme si je me réveillais d'un rêve à la fois beau et douloureux

[Liz Hein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sam Sax is a poet, and that comes through on every page. While I did find a few parts overwritten, I devoured their language and this book. This is a deeply political coming of age story in an entirely unique format. Sax is exploring nostalgia in its true meaning: suffering that comes from the desire of home, not sentimentality. And this book unveils a whole lot of suffering, but is never gratuitous. This is one I'm going to remember.

[TV’s Kevin Lanigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating energy to bring into 2025. Dark and funny and intoxicating.

[Elvira St. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This could’ve been a tumblr post

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book and incredibly relevant in the present world. A raw look at the absurdity of our lives through poetry.