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My Life With Corpses
My Life with Corpses blends a sharply defined reality with a soaring leap of imagination in the story of an enigmatic narrator we know only as Oz, a Kansas girl raised by a family
of dead people.
Oz tells how she survived her childhood only to face new the terrible risks of having feelings and the discovery that her family were not the only dead people walking around
looking as if they were alive.
Author of the award-winning Margaret Cape,Wylene Dunbar has written a novel that looks into our hearts and souls with intelligence, humor, and, finally, wisdom.
of dead people.
Oz tells how she survived her childhood only to face new the terrible risks of having feelings and the discovery that her family were not the only dead people walking around
looking as if they were alive.
Author of the award-winning Margaret Cape,Wylene Dunbar has written a novel that looks into our hearts and souls with intelligence, humor, and, finally, wisdom.
- GenresFiction
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
2 people are currently reading
33 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 20, 2008
I read this in 2006 and recently found my review that I had written right after I finished reading it:
my book is goood. i explained the theory of the book to james today and he seem pretty interested in it. y'all know i'm reading my life with corpses, right? the theory goes like this:
people die, every day, and they still live. in fictional theory, you have a corpse inside you and it's waiting to come out. people are walking around you all the time but they've already died. Literally, they have died and become corpses, however only the narrator sees them for what they are. But they still function, still living the life they know, they don't usually know they are dead.
the narrator is "dying" ie. seeing her corpse more prominently then before (i've had too much to drink and I still like big words!!). the only way to push your corpse back is to live. metaphorically, it's excellent. how many people do you know who have mentally died but their bodies keep functioning?? if you go about your daily life without passion, are you dead?
it's really a great book and has so many good passages (which i share below). But, as we've already established, i am interested in death and the way people handle it, so this book may not be for everyone. death is obviously a big part of the plot.
"Good. This evening I need a god." (i would just like a god that i could believe in not to tear me apart for fun and games.)
"..of course, it was easy to be "faithful" when your definition excluded one-night stands and anything done out of town."
"..that when we harm another on purpose, the execution of our intent can form a vector from us to the other, forcing a part of our life down its line to be destroyed as well." (that kills any chance of revenge...)
"I no longer needed what he had once been willing to give me. I had unexpected new nourishment for the fragment of life that had survived." (for people trying to suck the life out of you. some part of you can still hang on and fight.)
"My thinking was this: if I simply turn around and walk back, and if I do that every time I come to the brink, won't that save me?" (that's my theory as well. so far, i've been able to turn around and walk back.)
"When walking blind you might, for instance, come to a brink already occupied by another and that other might be waiting there with no better purpose than to throw you off." (oh yes. i know people like this. they are "dying" and willing to sacrifice you to save themselves.)
"There are those who never get enough [life] no matter how much they use up and, so, they grab and take life without reciprocation - the stealers.."
"..but it seems that regardless of where we go, we are, as far as cause and effect are concerned, all in exactly the same spot."
"We need other people to live and, yet, they might well be killing us, all at the very same time."
"We are all carrying our corpses with us, ready for the memorial service."
death isn't a morose topic if you approach it right.
half a bottle of wine later and i feel the need for a bubble bath.
my book is goood. i explained the theory of the book to james today and he seem pretty interested in it. y'all know i'm reading my life with corpses, right? the theory goes like this:
people die, every day, and they still live. in fictional theory, you have a corpse inside you and it's waiting to come out. people are walking around you all the time but they've already died. Literally, they have died and become corpses, however only the narrator sees them for what they are. But they still function, still living the life they know, they don't usually know they are dead.
the narrator is "dying" ie. seeing her corpse more prominently then before (i've had too much to drink and I still like big words!!). the only way to push your corpse back is to live. metaphorically, it's excellent. how many people do you know who have mentally died but their bodies keep functioning?? if you go about your daily life without passion, are you dead?
it's really a great book and has so many good passages (which i share below). But, as we've already established, i am interested in death and the way people handle it, so this book may not be for everyone. death is obviously a big part of the plot.
"Good. This evening I need a god." (i would just like a god that i could believe in not to tear me apart for fun and games.)
"..of course, it was easy to be "faithful" when your definition excluded one-night stands and anything done out of town."
"..that when we harm another on purpose, the execution of our intent can form a vector from us to the other, forcing a part of our life down its line to be destroyed as well." (that kills any chance of revenge...)
"I no longer needed what he had once been willing to give me. I had unexpected new nourishment for the fragment of life that had survived." (for people trying to suck the life out of you. some part of you can still hang on and fight.)
"My thinking was this: if I simply turn around and walk back, and if I do that every time I come to the brink, won't that save me?" (that's my theory as well. so far, i've been able to turn around and walk back.)
"When walking blind you might, for instance, come to a brink already occupied by another and that other might be waiting there with no better purpose than to throw you off." (oh yes. i know people like this. they are "dying" and willing to sacrifice you to save themselves.)
"There are those who never get enough [life] no matter how much they use up and, so, they grab and take life without reciprocation - the stealers.."
"..but it seems that regardless of where we go, we are, as far as cause and effect are concerned, all in exactly the same spot."
"We need other people to live and, yet, they might well be killing us, all at the very same time."
"We are all carrying our corpses with us, ready for the memorial service."
death isn't a morose topic if you approach it right.
half a bottle of wine later and i feel the need for a bubble bath.
May 25, 2018
Wow. What a book.
July 24, 2009
Oh.
I don't know what it is about this book, but I just can't go on. I'm zoning out and just reading the words. Nothing is absorbing into me.
I don't like the flashbacks, or the layout of the story either.
I have nothing nice to say about it.
I don't know what it is about this book, but I just can't go on. I'm zoning out and just reading the words. Nothing is absorbing into me.
I don't like the flashbacks, or the layout of the story either.
I have nothing nice to say about it.
February 3, 2008
I tried to read this book. I got to around page 100 and I just thought it was horrible. who knows maybe I'll try again one day but I found this book highly disappointing.
June 17, 2010
I honestly couldn't even finish this book. It wasn't terrible...but i couldn't get into it. The story is kinda weird.
Read
January 2, 2011ugh, skip it.
March 29, 2012
I didn't not care for this book at all.
January 14, 2014
didn't finish. it's a messy story, there's no thread to follow, so to speak. basically unreadable & so I stopped.
February 16, 2025
I am not one to give up on a novel, but I gave up on this one. On the one hand, the idea of "living corpses" put me in mind of the movie "Warm Bodies." The idea being that "zombies" are just people who have given up; people who just stop striving through the ups and downs of life, and just walk through life with no spirit. Corpses are just zombies. I was getting with that idea as I read.
But, on the other hand, there is no story here. The writing, while good, is essentially a philosophical discourse on the "warm body" idea and our narrator as observer and commenter on people going "corpse."
There is no story here.
But, on the other hand, there is no story here. The writing, while good, is essentially a philosophical discourse on the "warm body" idea and our narrator as observer and commenter on people going "corpse."
There is no story here.
July 26, 2013
I had several competing impressions of this book in the first 30 pages or so. Was it a story of a person raised by ghosts, or by some kind of benign zombies? Was everything actually pretty normal except that the narrator was mentally ill?
No, none of these things, really--except for maybe the mentally ill narrator bit. The book centers, essentially, upon the little phrase "dead inside." As in, "Oh, that poor man is so dead inside." The narrator sees a super-imposed image of a corpse upon people who are "dead inside." Sometimes the narrator cannot see the regular body but can only see the skeleton/corpse image. Once someone is "dead inside" there's no coming back to normal. There are some confusing scenes with some of the dead-inside people, but I attribute these to the unreliable, mentally-ill narrator.
The tone the narrator strikes is often pretentious and in some places purposely obtuse; I did not like it, but remember: I rarely "get into" 1st person stories. Pages 63-151 could be cut. From that point on every third page or so could be cut. Essentially, I guess I feel the narrator is long-winded. I found myself on multiple occasions wishing the narrator was not telling her history. I'd have much rather been there with the character while the things were happening to her, than be stuck in the present listening to her tell me about her past.
I stuck with the story all the way to the end--although I skimmed big swaths of it--because I was waiting for some twist, some event that would make the story leap from the page and give me an ah-ha moment. That did not happen. There was the occasional chapter or scene that gripped me, but overall, there was not enough emotion for me in this book.
No, none of these things, really--except for maybe the mentally ill narrator bit. The book centers, essentially, upon the little phrase "dead inside." As in, "Oh, that poor man is so dead inside." The narrator sees a super-imposed image of a corpse upon people who are "dead inside." Sometimes the narrator cannot see the regular body but can only see the skeleton/corpse image. Once someone is "dead inside" there's no coming back to normal. There are some confusing scenes with some of the dead-inside people, but I attribute these to the unreliable, mentally-ill narrator.
The tone the narrator strikes is often pretentious and in some places purposely obtuse; I did not like it, but remember: I rarely "get into" 1st person stories. Pages 63-151 could be cut. From that point on every third page or so could be cut. Essentially, I guess I feel the narrator is long-winded. I found myself on multiple occasions wishing the narrator was not telling her history. I'd have much rather been there with the character while the things were happening to her, than be stuck in the present listening to her tell me about her past.
I stuck with the story all the way to the end--although I skimmed big swaths of it--because I was waiting for some twist, some event that would make the story leap from the page and give me an ah-ha moment. That did not happen. There was the occasional chapter or scene that gripped me, but overall, there was not enough emotion for me in this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 1, 2011
Apparently, this book started as a short story...it should have stayed that way! The book jumped around, was wordy, and the whole thing could have been summed up by reading chapter 14. It was about 300 pages too many. Could have been a really interesting read had it been written better. I struggled with it from page 1. I couldn't keep characters or settings straight, maybe it was me, but I don't usually have such difficulty. I plodded through, because I like to finish what I start, but I could have quit less than 100 pages in. Sorry I bought it...and an autographed copy, too!
August 15, 2012
I enjoyed this book. There were parts I didn't understand, but there are a lot of layers that a second read may clear up. My interpretation is that the author was trying to say if we are not living, we are dying. So many of us go through life as if we are already dead and the main character had the ability to see this aspect of people, people who have given up. I would recommend it to some but not all.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 10, 2010
I enjoyed this book very much.
I bought it from a pile of books with the cover damaged…
The title was different, the book was on sale and I tried to read it.
English is not my natural language, but I read it very well and love this book!
I understood the concept of live with no soul… I think it was an amazing idea to describe how some people live their lives.
Just love it!
I bought it from a pile of books with the cover damaged…
The title was different, the book was on sale and I tried to read it.
English is not my natural language, but I read it very well and love this book!
I understood the concept of live with no soul… I think it was an amazing idea to describe how some people live their lives.
Just love it!
January 27, 2008
We may choose our friends, but we do not choose our family and the adjustment to that fact is sometimes very difficult. This book requires a little dedication to get started, but it is worth the effort.
February 3, 2008
I can't really rate this since I could barely read it, and who knows? maybe it improved. I hope Dunbar writes more because I think she had a good idea and is a good writer; this was very much a freshman novel that needed some better structure and maybe a plot.
June 2, 2012
Well-written and philosophically interesting, though it tends to wander in circles a bit (which I suppose fits a book written by and about a philosophy professor). I never felt compelled to keep reading, but I still enjoyed most of the journey.
3.5 stars
3.5 stars
November 29, 2012
Philosophy is valuable when living in any time...we see what we want to see and sometimes what others think isn't possible...
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews