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I Was Someone Dead
Hieronymus Zoo has fled civilization to live on his own private island, away from the stress, pain, and drama that come from associating with other people. His idyllic lifestyle is shattered, however, by the nightmares that plague his sleep, and a horrifying monster that rises threateningly from the sea. But is the monster real, or just another creation of his mind? And what will Hieronymus do when a very real woman ends up on the island with him? It could end in tears, or maybe in love... or maybe the end of everything they know.
- GenresFiction
136 pages, Paperback
First published June 29, 2005
1 person is currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
Jamie S. Rich
121 books109 followersRich is an author of both prose (Cut My Hair, I Was Someone Dead, and The Everlasting) and comics (the two-volume series Love the Way You Love; the Spell Checkers series). His third full-length novel, Have You Seen the Horizon Lately?, was released by Oni Press in the summer of 2007. He regularly collaborates with artist Joelle Jones, including the Oni graphic novels 12 Reasons Why I Love Her and You Have Killed Me. Rich most recently wrote It Girl & the Atomics for Image Comics and A Boy and a Girl with artist Natalie Nourigat. He also serialized his fourth novel,
Bobby Pins and Mary Janes
, online.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 17, 2015
A thoughtful contemporary fable with charming illustrations by Andi Watson. I Was Someone Dead is similar in tone to the short stories of Ben Loory, although it was written some time before Ben was ever published. This is high praise indeed considering the esteem in which I hold Ben's work.
Hieronymous Zoo wishes for a life free from pain. Agreeing with Sartre that "hell is other people", Hieronymous works to create a place for himself in the world that minimizes his contact with others. After amassing a fortune, he purchases a serene island far from civilization. He is nearly self sufficient here and his only companion is his loyal dog, Gus. Despite having successfully created his idea of paradise, things still aren't quite right. Zoo becomes plagued by horrible nightmares. Eventually he discovers that he can sleep soundly if he sleeps on the beach. This too has its price. Everytime he sleeps on the beach he is awoken by a Lovecraftian monster rising from the ocean, forcing him to seek shelter inland. He spends his days tormented between the choice of sleepless nights or the possibility of being eaten. One day, a woman arrives on the island . . . changing everything.
As with any fable, there are some obvious truisms here. The troubles we have with society are often projections of problems we have with ourselves and are not the sort of thing one could run away from, etc. I Was Someone Dead manages to resonate deeper than that as well. I was particularly taken with how naturally Rich sidesteps all the gender expectations that are attached to this sort of scenario.
Summarized in a word: delightful
This book is best read in a single afternoon stretched out on a beach just as Summer is beginning to fade, and accompanied by a bittersweet cocktail heavy on the Campari.
Hieronymous Zoo wishes for a life free from pain. Agreeing with Sartre that "hell is other people", Hieronymous works to create a place for himself in the world that minimizes his contact with others. After amassing a fortune, he purchases a serene island far from civilization. He is nearly self sufficient here and his only companion is his loyal dog, Gus. Despite having successfully created his idea of paradise, things still aren't quite right. Zoo becomes plagued by horrible nightmares. Eventually he discovers that he can sleep soundly if he sleeps on the beach. This too has its price. Everytime he sleeps on the beach he is awoken by a Lovecraftian monster rising from the ocean, forcing him to seek shelter inland. He spends his days tormented between the choice of sleepless nights or the possibility of being eaten. One day, a woman arrives on the island . . . changing everything.
As with any fable, there are some obvious truisms here. The troubles we have with society are often projections of problems we have with ourselves and are not the sort of thing one could run away from, etc. I Was Someone Dead manages to resonate deeper than that as well. I was particularly taken with how naturally Rich sidesteps all the gender expectations that are attached to this sort of scenario.
Summarized in a word: delightful
This book is best read in a single afternoon stretched out on a beach just as Summer is beginning to fade, and accompanied by a bittersweet cocktail heavy on the Campari.
November 29, 2014
“Like, a flower is lovely to look at, but it becomes much more miraculous when you know how a seed grows, how it blooms, how a flower becomes.”
So does Jamie S. Rich’s short and unassuming novella, “I Was Someone Dead” bloom from simplicity to complexity with natural ease. In addition to storytelling, Rich assumes the role of investigator to explore the complex inner struggles of his characters. Yet amidst these machinations, he never lets you forget that you are reading a short, swiftly flowing fable that is as touching as it is penetrating.
Hieronymus Zoo has rejected social relationships and gone off with his dog to a deserted island. Here he seeks to plumb the depths of his own psyche and find the inner peace which civilized life could never afford him. However, Zoo soon learns that escapism is not that simple. A horrifying Lovecraftian specter known only as “the Thing” arises from the deep to torment Zoo in his solitude. On top of that, he is soon invaded by another castaway, a woman named Nadya, on a similar flight from a world she never quite fit into.
The story is written in the easy-going prose of a fairy-tale or fable, but the concepts Rich tackles are anything but simple. “I Was Someone Dead” explores the inner lives of his characters to such an extent that in many ways the story takes on the quality of a full psychological autopsy. In fact, Hemingway’s Anima may have found new life in Jamie S. Rich. In many ways this book is a sensitive reply to “The Old Man and the Sea”, proudly reveling in a spectrum of emotion and vulnerability that Papa Hemingway never quite let himself reach, even in his later works. Rich dissects masculinity rather than taking it for granted, and Zoo’s intensely masculine struggle reveals at its heart a feminine linchpin.
Because this little book performs a true marriage between feminine and masculine qualities, it is no shock that left and right brain sensibilities also weave and fuse. Rich’s often clinically crisp prose, unable to contain itself, occasionally bursts forth with surprising poetic force. The ease and spontaneity with which the feeling escapes the analysis gives these moments a tender and genuine flavor.
In short, “I Was Someone Dead” is a book you could easily breeze through in a day, but at the end of the day you’ll be left with food for thought lasting weeks to come.
So does Jamie S. Rich’s short and unassuming novella, “I Was Someone Dead” bloom from simplicity to complexity with natural ease. In addition to storytelling, Rich assumes the role of investigator to explore the complex inner struggles of his characters. Yet amidst these machinations, he never lets you forget that you are reading a short, swiftly flowing fable that is as touching as it is penetrating.
Hieronymus Zoo has rejected social relationships and gone off with his dog to a deserted island. Here he seeks to plumb the depths of his own psyche and find the inner peace which civilized life could never afford him. However, Zoo soon learns that escapism is not that simple. A horrifying Lovecraftian specter known only as “the Thing” arises from the deep to torment Zoo in his solitude. On top of that, he is soon invaded by another castaway, a woman named Nadya, on a similar flight from a world she never quite fit into.
The story is written in the easy-going prose of a fairy-tale or fable, but the concepts Rich tackles are anything but simple. “I Was Someone Dead” explores the inner lives of his characters to such an extent that in many ways the story takes on the quality of a full psychological autopsy. In fact, Hemingway’s Anima may have found new life in Jamie S. Rich. In many ways this book is a sensitive reply to “The Old Man and the Sea”, proudly reveling in a spectrum of emotion and vulnerability that Papa Hemingway never quite let himself reach, even in his later works. Rich dissects masculinity rather than taking it for granted, and Zoo’s intensely masculine struggle reveals at its heart a feminine linchpin.
Because this little book performs a true marriage between feminine and masculine qualities, it is no shock that left and right brain sensibilities also weave and fuse. Rich’s often clinically crisp prose, unable to contain itself, occasionally bursts forth with surprising poetic force. The ease and spontaneity with which the feeling escapes the analysis gives these moments a tender and genuine flavor.
In short, “I Was Someone Dead” is a book you could easily breeze through in a day, but at the end of the day you’ll be left with food for thought lasting weeks to come.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews