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cyrenasea's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting but muddled. I realize that was the point, but I found myself skimming some of the more rambling sections. Overall I liked it alright, though.
elaineruss's review against another edition
1.0
Bailed on this I'm afraid. I gave it a good try (about 70 pages in) but it just felt like nonsense to me. It's a shame, there were some really beautiful passages (followed by three pages of nonsense). Perhaps it's too high brow for me and the fault is mine not the authors, who knows. All I know is that i am not the intended audience for this book.
obsessivebooklover's review against another edition
3.0
I loved the idea of a man who'd died figuring out what happened to him but what happened was really unexpected to me as I thought it was going to be a murder especially as there are two seemingly suspicious individuals who were the last to see him.
A bit underwhelming and the way he was sucked into people's memory got boring. Had to force myself to read it for long periods of time.
A bit underwhelming and the way he was sucked into people's memory got boring. Had to force myself to read it for long periods of time.
snorkmidden's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
selenajournal's review against another edition
3.0
i love the way that it was written. stream-of-consciousness and the like. but it was effective. a little confusing at times, but whose thoughts aren't? it was a hard story to get through because of the subject matter at hand, but it was worth it for me.
leighryks's review against another edition
Death of an Ordinary Man: A Novel by Glen Duncan (2004)
djrmelvin's review against another edition
4.0
A dead man observes his family at his own funeral and wake, looking for clues as to why he died. His recently departed stature gives him the ability to see but not be seen, as well as to hear some of the thoughts of his family. Their grief triggers memories of another death in the family, one that no one dealt with nearly as well they seem to be handling his passing. The presence of two people he doesn't recognize is what troubles him most, and until he finds the connection, he can't let himself move on. In a less brave author's hands, this story would have been turned into a predicatable story of bad things happening to good people. But Duncan isn't afraid to twist the story, to veer off just when you think you see the path he is following. He's an author who creates characters strong enough to tell their own story.
lanner's review
4.0
So sad, so sad....and I couldn't stop reading. Sort of like the Lovely Bones, in that the topic is tragic, yet so beautifully handled that you're almost glad it happened. Almost. I only gave it a 4, tho, because I save 5's for books that set me aglow. (Looking over my list, I must be a firefly..)
angielisle's review
5.0
This is one of those books that clearly doesn't play by the "rules" promoted by most writing self-help books - which may explain why I enjoyed it so much.
The story unfolds very slowly. It's a bit like the movie Pulp Fiction in that it's not put together in the traditional beginning-middle-end structure that we all know so well. Even the prose, which reflects the garbled minds/emotions of the characters, follows the pattern set forth by the story structure. The entire book is designed to do one thing - slow the reader down. Duncan makes you take this story one spoonful at a time - which is what we do, when we confront the idea of death. And death is the theme of this book.
The main character, Nathan, is recently deceased. The most important things to him in his life was his family so his wife, son, two daughters, and a life-long best friend are the major players in the story. That's a lot of people to meet, all at once, but this allowed Duncan to emotionally tug readers around as we bounce through the stages of grief from the different perspectives of each character. I found myself stopping after each emotional outburst, only to make assumptions about what would happen next; then, I came back to the book to see if my assumptions were correct. I don't want to give away spoilers, so I'll end this simply by saying that Duncan didn't disappoint me.
The story unfolds very slowly. It's a bit like the movie Pulp Fiction in that it's not put together in the traditional beginning-middle-end structure that we all know so well. Even the prose, which reflects the garbled minds/emotions of the characters, follows the pattern set forth by the story structure. The entire book is designed to do one thing - slow the reader down. Duncan makes you take this story one spoonful at a time - which is what we do, when we confront the idea of death. And death is the theme of this book.
The main character, Nathan, is recently deceased. The most important things to him in his life was his family so his wife, son, two daughters, and a life-long best friend are the major players in the story. That's a lot of people to meet, all at once, but this allowed Duncan to emotionally tug readers around as we bounce through the stages of grief from the different perspectives of each character. I found myself stopping after each emotional outburst, only to make assumptions about what would happen next; then, I came back to the book to see if my assumptions were correct. I don't want to give away spoilers, so I'll end this simply by saying that Duncan didn't disappoint me.