Life Before Death

by Matthew William Frend

There’s something you need to know - there's more to life than living. A road trip across the wilds of the Northern Territory, Australia, is a spirited ride through late-twentieth century Australian counter culture. Then an event occurs which gives an insight into the other side of life itself, and provides a message. A message which resolves the ultimate unknown – why are we here?

Genres: Fiction

363 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 23, 2011

About the author

Matthew W. Frend has always had a passion for writing fiction. Drawing on his diverse background in information technology and military strategy, he created the Free World War series. He lives by the Benjamin Franklin credo of "Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing."
Following his time in the Australian Army, Matthew spent over twenty years as a computer programmer, and has lived in Australia, USA and Scotland. He has also been involved with equestrian sports at the grass roots level.

Reviews

[Join the Penguin Resistance! · Rating 3 out of 5]

This new book proved to be amazingly more than I expected. Its theme is decision points-how the choices we make determine our future and affect our purpose in life, and on this planet. By the end I was reminded of the metaphysical facets of the Astrological sign Scorpio: that one has the choice to continue to be a scorpion, living on the surface, or to become an eagle and soar. In “Life Before Death” a coterie of “friends” (one might almost call them acquaintances at first, because their coming together seems so “accidental” or perhaps synchronous). Living together in a near-rural rental house, Mandy, Robyn, and Jane and Allen (who are life partners) travel, literally and figuratively, along with other travellers they meet in the process, through a wide and extensive variety of alternative lifestyles, basically exploring Australian counterculture as each searches for a meaning for her or his own life.

[Kathy Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. The writing in this book is amazing. But the story moves very slowly and there almost seems to be no point to the novel. While the lack of moving plot made it take me a long time to get through this book. The conversations between Mandi and her best friend Robyn are always interesting and very thought provoking. And there are plenty of these conversations throughout the book that kept me reading despite the slow pace. This book is full of quotes that I have circled so that I'll remember later and great writing, but the actual story seemed a little lacking. However, if you are someone who is into metaphysical and philosophical conversation, this is a book that I would recommend. Just don't go into it expecting a light read and fun plot.

[Mandie Pottery · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a Goodreads giveaway, and kept me mostly interested. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the book, I felt that more humour could have been used, and the characters more fully developed. Overall this read was enjoyable, and had an interesting plot, but definitely could have been a more entertaining story.

[Julie Casciano · Rating 3 out of 5]

I couldn't even get through the first chapter. I was too bored. Not a terrible book, just not fir me.

[Kato Justus · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thank the author for giving me a copy of his book in exchange for my honest (I dreaded writing) review.

💨 “Life Before Death” by Matthew William Frend is about a group of young rebels. These friends travel across the Australian outback in search of adventure and the meaning of life and death. They concoct a money-making scheme to fight against the social constructs of a polite, law-abiding society. Their northward journey from the southern part of Australia to the northern part takes the group through Coober Pedy.

Coober Pedy is an opal mining settlement in a hellish desert area of Australia where the residents carve out caves to live underground so they can survive scorching surface temperatures. I found that part of the story fascinating.

The primary characters end up at a horse ranch. There are some interesting descriptions of training as one of the characters is a “horse whisperer.” That is the part of the story I most enjoyed.

The theme of the story is living life as you want before dying. The book also touches on the stupidity of bigotry. This group of young rebels approaches their life before death thought experiment by spending most of their time high—smoking weed or taking psilocybin mushrooms. Then they begin navel-gazing on the meaning of life.

Imagine a drug-fueled Cheech and Chong seriously contemplating the meaning of life. Then you have the gist of this story.

In my opinion, the author squandered opportunities to make the story exciting by not focusing upon possible areas of conflict that might occur between this group of renegades and the societal antagonists they were trying to avoid. As a creative piece, this book needs work because there are errors; spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Criticisms aside, there are some real gems in the writing and storytelling. I hesitate to read Matthew William Frend's “The Free World War because of my experience with this one.

[Angela Randall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

I enjoyed listening and reading this book. I thought that people would like to read this book.It was well written.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read