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The Disintegrations
Detached from life in Los Angeles and his past in Australia, uncomfortable around other humans, the narrator of this inventive autobiographical novel researches death on the Internet; mulls over distant and intimate stories of suicides, serial killers, and “natural deaths”; and wanders about LA’s Holy Cross Cemetery. Wry yet somber, astringent yet tender, The Disintegrations confronts both the impossibility of understanding death and the timeless longing for immortality.
- GenresFiction
220 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 22, 2017
1 person is currently reading
108 people want to read
About the author
Alistair McCartney
4 books12 followersAlistair McCartney is the author of The End of the World Book: a Novel (University of Wisconsin Press, 2008). An encyclopedia of memory–from A to Z–The End of the World Book was a finalist for both the PEN USA Fiction Award 2009 and the Publishing Triangle Edmund White Debut Fiction Award 2009, and was in Seattle Times Best Ten Books of 2008. Born in Perth, Western Australia in 1971, McCartney's writing has appeared in Fence, Bloom, Lies/Isles, Crush Fanzine, 1913, James White Review, and other literary journals and anthologies. He is currently at work on The Death Book, the second novel in a projected six book cycle. Based in Los Angeles, he lives with his partner Tim Miller and teaches creative writing and literature in the BA and MFA Programs at Antioch University Los Angeles.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
September 9, 2017
As with his previous work, The End of the World Book, the author abandons traditional narrative to instead blend a series of essays to tell a larger story. McCartney focuses again on the subject of death, this time specifically the multiple aspects of it, while giving us, the reader, his personal perspectives and admitted confusion and lack of emotion over the death of family members, friends, colleagues, and even a brutally murdered neighbor.
I understand some readers might not care for this style of writing; it rips up traditional novel-writing style. Yet, by exploring the mystery of death, McCartney shares some dryly funny, spooky and new perspectives with an eccentric obsession. With the setting of his frequent lunch breaks at a Los Angeles cemetery near his university job, we can imagine ourselves sitting next to him as he delves into death' specifics; the size of a grave, the derivation of the term 'coffin,' the actual disintegration of bodies, and the funeral industry's numerous preposterous products that vainly attempt to prevent our inevitable decay.
Fans of traditional storytelling will enjoy some of the longer chapters, which tell of a few actual 'ghost' stories that happened to him, or at least our narrator. The writing feels quite real but verges into dreams and spooky occurrences.
I understand some readers might not care for this style of writing; it rips up traditional novel-writing style. Yet, by exploring the mystery of death, McCartney shares some dryly funny, spooky and new perspectives with an eccentric obsession. With the setting of his frequent lunch breaks at a Los Angeles cemetery near his university job, we can imagine ourselves sitting next to him as he delves into death' specifics; the size of a grave, the derivation of the term 'coffin,' the actual disintegration of bodies, and the funeral industry's numerous preposterous products that vainly attempt to prevent our inevitable decay.
Fans of traditional storytelling will enjoy some of the longer chapters, which tell of a few actual 'ghost' stories that happened to him, or at least our narrator. The writing feels quite real but verges into dreams and spooky occurrences.
September 26, 2017
This tome on the great mystery of death is exhaustively researched and contemplated. It's ultimately a novel--all the chapters/stories cohere around Holy Cross Cemetery in West LA. I know Alistair and many people/places alluded to here--but my experience was always with the unfamiliar reader in mind. I couldn't put this novel down. It's so engrossing and pulls you in with its morbid allure. I've never read anything quite like it. Some details I imagine are drawn from Alistair's life--but that's hardly important. The atmosphere he creates, the sincere questioning of THE big issues (What happens when we die? Why do we die--or live?) make this novel work. In a word, smashing; yes, I felt smashed by this book--in a good way.
February 16, 2018
Beautifully written novel on a heavy subject
Beautifully written novel on a heavy subject. McCartney presents many ethereal meditations on death without being too clinical or cliche. I found this difficult to put down, while also needing to pause and process not just the thoughts and feelings conveyed to me, but also my own feelings about this subject.
Beautifully written novel on a heavy subject. McCartney presents many ethereal meditations on death without being too clinical or cliche. I found this difficult to put down, while also needing to pause and process not just the thoughts and feelings conveyed to me, but also my own feelings about this subject.
February 11, 2019
A death book
It is hard to say you enjoyed a book on death, but i did. I enjoyed the choice to have the story to!d by a narrator. I don't think about death that often, this book forced me to consider death a bit more. Not overly gruesome or depressing.
It is hard to say you enjoyed a book on death, but i did. I enjoyed the choice to have the story to!d by a narrator. I don't think about death that often, this book forced me to consider death a bit more. Not overly gruesome or depressing.
August 19, 2018
A Novel Novel
I’ve read several memoirs, autobiographies, and even biographies and histories that have been presented as nonfiction, but were clearly, to some degree, works of fiction. Facts are often distorted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Alistair McCartney’s “novel,” The Disintegrations, is the opposite. The author reminds us both before and after that this is a work of fiction, even though much, if not most (maybe all?) is true. The narrator is named Alistair McCartney, was born the same day as the author, has the same job and spouse as the author and works and lives in the same places as the author. The author also cites references but points out that some facts are reported accurately, some are “freely distorted.” I don’t think this is much different from almost any other memoir or autobiography. Memory is a tricky thing. Furthermore, McCartney (as author) points out someone once told him: “Death makes fiction of us all.” And because this book is solely rooted in McCartney’s delightful obsession with death and all related to it, the book is made fiction.
Whatever it’s called, it is a powerful and moving account of the narrator’s musings about death and his relationship to the subject. No deathly rock is left unturned as he explores individual deaths to which he has some remote connection. These range from natural deaths to violent accidental deaths, and murder. Some are missing persons, never to be found. He writes of coffins, graves, decomposition, putrefaction, odors of death, philosophy and spirituality of death. The narrator hangs out at the cemetery near the university where he and the author both work, and speculates about the relationship between birth and death; for example, everyone is born through a hole or a slit, but God is far more creative in the many ways people die.
The author/narrator discloses intensely personal thoughts and experiences and tightly bonds with the reader who is frequently referred to as “you.” We become familiar with the many insecurities, weaknesses, fears, and foibles of the narrator/author, many going far beyond the subject of death. But the point is that everything, from the moment we are born, is colored by our impending death. Death hangs over every experience, every interaction, and every person we touch.
I hope we hear more from Alistair McCartney on this subject.
I’ve read several memoirs, autobiographies, and even biographies and histories that have been presented as nonfiction, but were clearly, to some degree, works of fiction. Facts are often distorted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Alistair McCartney’s “novel,” The Disintegrations, is the opposite. The author reminds us both before and after that this is a work of fiction, even though much, if not most (maybe all?) is true. The narrator is named Alistair McCartney, was born the same day as the author, has the same job and spouse as the author and works and lives in the same places as the author. The author also cites references but points out that some facts are reported accurately, some are “freely distorted.” I don’t think this is much different from almost any other memoir or autobiography. Memory is a tricky thing. Furthermore, McCartney (as author) points out someone once told him: “Death makes fiction of us all.” And because this book is solely rooted in McCartney’s delightful obsession with death and all related to it, the book is made fiction.
Whatever it’s called, it is a powerful and moving account of the narrator’s musings about death and his relationship to the subject. No deathly rock is left unturned as he explores individual deaths to which he has some remote connection. These range from natural deaths to violent accidental deaths, and murder. Some are missing persons, never to be found. He writes of coffins, graves, decomposition, putrefaction, odors of death, philosophy and spirituality of death. The narrator hangs out at the cemetery near the university where he and the author both work, and speculates about the relationship between birth and death; for example, everyone is born through a hole or a slit, but God is far more creative in the many ways people die.
The author/narrator discloses intensely personal thoughts and experiences and tightly bonds with the reader who is frequently referred to as “you.” We become familiar with the many insecurities, weaknesses, fears, and foibles of the narrator/author, many going far beyond the subject of death. But the point is that everything, from the moment we are born, is colored by our impending death. Death hangs over every experience, every interaction, and every person we touch.
I hope we hear more from Alistair McCartney on this subject.
July 19, 2018
I have very complex feelings about this book. I have equal parts love and loathe for this book.
Alistair McCartney's book, The Disintegrations, is a well-executed book. The author's writing style has a relaxed and intimate quality that pulls the reader in from the very beginning of the book. In reading the book, you can't help but reflect with moments introspection, as the narrator speaks to you in a conversational tone. The author's vocabulary is very strong and his sentences can shock as quick and sudden as a paper cut. I found myself checking the dictionary often and wincing as some sentences came to completion. This is a book of nuance; everything about this book, from the font, to the block style of the text, and even the physical dimensions of the book has meaning. Or, I should, has Meaning.
This book is drawn on the author's real life. While I sympathized with the narrator at the beginning, I came to despise him as a fairly wretched individual. I think I still do. The books serves as the author's attempt to understand and elude Death. It also becomes the manifesto of a narcissistic sociopath. The narrator is not a likable man. It is as if Holden Caulfield grew into a haughty intellectual and treated the world his usual naive disdain. What at first seems genuine about him is a mirage while his inner thoughts are solely absorbed on his self and his evasion of death.
I would not recommend this book to a novice reader. This is a book for an avid and advanced reader. It would make an excellent study for a literature or philosophy class. This book requires a level of maturity to fully appreciate. Death is never a light subject to write about and the author does a thorough job of engaging the reader through his ruminations on the topic. This book does not glorify death or pine for it, but it is a thorough dissection of the process of death and the disintegration of self.
Alistair McCartney's book, The Disintegrations, is a well-executed book. The author's writing style has a relaxed and intimate quality that pulls the reader in from the very beginning of the book. In reading the book, you can't help but reflect with moments introspection, as the narrator speaks to you in a conversational tone. The author's vocabulary is very strong and his sentences can shock as quick and sudden as a paper cut. I found myself checking the dictionary often and wincing as some sentences came to completion. This is a book of nuance; everything about this book, from the font, to the block style of the text, and even the physical dimensions of the book has meaning. Or, I should, has Meaning.
This book is drawn on the author's real life. While I sympathized with the narrator at the beginning, I came to despise him as a fairly wretched individual. I think I still do. The books serves as the author's attempt to understand and elude Death. It also becomes the manifesto of a narcissistic sociopath. The narrator is not a likable man. It is as if Holden Caulfield grew into a haughty intellectual and treated the world his usual naive disdain. What at first seems genuine about him is a mirage while his inner thoughts are solely absorbed on his self and his evasion of death.
I would not recommend this book to a novice reader. This is a book for an avid and advanced reader. It would make an excellent study for a literature or philosophy class. This book requires a level of maturity to fully appreciate. Death is never a light subject to write about and the author does a thorough job of engaging the reader through his ruminations on the topic. This book does not glorify death or pine for it, but it is a thorough dissection of the process of death and the disintegration of self.
June 9, 2020
This book is unforgettable. (A novel? Really?) It's about death and dying, not unusual in and of itself, but this is a voice-driven work and so it's really about that voice. I can hear it. (Full disclosure: I've been in the author's classroom.) I know the cemetery McCartney keeps coming back to, Holy Cross in Culver City. Everyone told me to go see Sharon Tate's grave there, and thought I deliberately don't do what everyone tells me, I went anyway. Having once seen Evita Peron's mausoleum in Buenos Aries, I was unimpressed; some very unfamous folks have far grander headstones. One tour of the grounds was enough for me.
McCartney sure has had a lot of dead people in his life. I thought: far more than I have, despite of how much older I am than he. Then I realized: No, I've had more, in fact, but the problem is that they all pretty much died the same way and don't add up to whole book. Wait, they do. And they have.
McCartney sure has had a lot of dead people in his life. I thought: far more than I have, despite of how much older I am than he. Then I realized: No, I've had more, in fact, but the problem is that they all pretty much died the same way and don't add up to whole book. Wait, they do. And they have.
October 28, 2018
A narrative that is splintered amongst a series of pieces focused on death, this book has a bit of a David Mitchell vibe. One of those works that leaves you with some powerful images, which I suspect I will revisit from time to time as I reassemble the narrative in my head.
January 24, 2025
A highly evolved, thoughtful exploration of things thought by all yet discussed by few. This is a wonderful narrative journey revealing an intelligent and inquisitive exploration of our disintegration.
September 4, 2018
Brilliant
April 27, 2020
A bookish queer intellectual hanging out in cemeteries musing about death?!
November 29, 2019
I loved the author's voice and I loved following him through his journey and reflections. That's why we read books! To enter into a different psyche, another mental landscape. I have also been many times to the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, CA where many of these reflections takes place. So that brought back fond memories. The author captured a certain spirit—and spirits, too.
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September 10, 2018Winner of the Publishing Triangle's Ferro Grumley Award for LGBTQ Fiction
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews