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boba_n_books's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Spice Rating: š« / 5 š¶ļø
Corey Farrenkopf's debut novel, Living in Cemeteries, contemplates the best and worst parts of life and humanity through horrors portrayed in a dark, fantastical world.
In this world, people's ancestors pay for their wrongdoings. As a cemetery worker, Dave quite literally lives in cemeteries, and every person who is buried becomes a ghost who is tethered to their cemetery. Most people constantly worry about how they are going to die in atonement for their ancestors' sins. Because people can speak to ghosts, they try and find out who is going to pay for which wrongdoing and when. Unfortunately, Dave hasn't gotten any answers from his ancestors, and that is holding him back from starting a life with his girlfriend, Jessica, so Dave goes on a quest to find out how much time he has left.
This world is so similar to our own, but it has this overarching anxiety and layer of horror following the characters. It made me contemplate how much I'm living in the moment and how precious life truly is. Living in Cemeteries is wonderfully introspective and gives readers a chance to think about what they would do in Dave's situation. I highly recommend it to those who love speculative fiction and horror.
Corey Farrenkopf's debut novel, Living in Cemeteries, contemplates the best and worst parts of life and humanity through horrors portrayed in a dark, fantastical world.
In this world, people's ancestors pay for their wrongdoings. As a cemetery worker, Dave quite literally lives in cemeteries, and every person who is buried becomes a ghost who is tethered to their cemetery. Most people constantly worry about how they are going to die in atonement for their ancestors' sins. Because people can speak to ghosts, they try and find out who is going to pay for which wrongdoing and when. Unfortunately, Dave hasn't gotten any answers from his ancestors, and that is holding him back from starting a life with his girlfriend, Jessica, so Dave goes on a quest to find out how much time he has left.
This world is so similar to our own, but it has this overarching anxiety and layer of horror following the characters. It made me contemplate how much I'm living in the moment and how precious life truly is. Living in Cemeteries is wonderfully introspective and gives readers a chance to think about what they would do in Dave's situation. I highly recommend it to those who love speculative fiction and horror.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Death
Moderate: Torture, Sexual content, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Suicidal thoughts
tyrshand's review
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Right away, I'm going to tell you I loved this book. It's incredibly immersive. The style reminds me a bit of Nina Kiriki Hoffman or Micah Dean Hicks. I'm thinking of stories that have this fog of horror layered over the story -- it may not have terrifying things happen immediately, but the possibility is so strong that you stay tense waiting for it.
In this case, Farrenkopf has created a world where the dead connect with the living in two very important ways. Firstly, their sins will be redeemed upon a hapless relative. This may be horrific or relatively benign, but no one wants their life cut shorter because of things someone else did, obviously. Perhaps it's a heart attack, perhaps ghostly tentacles drag you into the sea and drown you, perhaps something much more prolonged and/or painful. It all depends what you uncle or grandmother or parent and great-great-great aunt did. And the spirits are especially harsh on certain cruelties. The second way people connect to the dead is that their spirits don't rest. They can be visited at their graves and may have clues -- or outright knowledge -- of who will pay for their actions and how.
So our protagonist is hoping to move on to the next stage of life. Grow up. Get married. Start a family. Maybe decide on a new career. But, unlike his girlfriend, he doesn't know how he's going to die and doesn't know if it is fair to get married if he could die tomorrow. The novel is, in many ways, an exploration of him and that liminal period of life where you don't quite know who to be or how to get there. There's tragedy all around him as he interviews his deceased relatives to get a hint of what to expect, but there's also a dangerous legend of resurrection, promises to friends living and dead, and a fractured relationship to his deceased father complicating everything.
It sounds busy for such a short novel, but it isn't. Every plot thread twines perfectly to the central premise and his character arc as the looming dread sinks closer.
In this case, Farrenkopf has created a world where the dead connect with the living in two very important ways. Firstly, their sins will be redeemed upon a hapless relative. This may be horrific or relatively benign, but no one wants their life cut shorter because of things someone else did, obviously. Perhaps it's a heart attack, perhaps ghostly tentacles drag you into the sea and drown you, perhaps something much more prolonged and/or painful. It all depends what you uncle or grandmother or parent and great-great-great aunt did. And the spirits are especially harsh on certain cruelties. The second way people connect to the dead is that their spirits don't rest. They can be visited at their graves and may have clues -- or outright knowledge -- of who will pay for their actions and how.
So our protagonist is hoping to move on to the next stage of life. Grow up. Get married. Start a family. Maybe decide on a new career. But, unlike his girlfriend, he doesn't know how he's going to die and doesn't know if it is fair to get married if he could die tomorrow. The novel is, in many ways, an exploration of him and that liminal period of life where you don't quite know who to be or how to get there. There's tragedy all around him as he interviews his deceased relatives to get a hint of what to expect, but there's also a dangerous legend of resurrection, promises to friends living and dead, and a fractured relationship to his deceased father complicating everything.
It sounds busy for such a short novel, but it isn't. Every plot thread twines perfectly to the central premise and his character arc as the looming dread sinks closer.
redrumreads's review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This book had such a unique world system. The fantastical elements could place this book in the horror realm but ādark fantasyā is the perfect genre description.
I LOVE the idea of the deceased showing up to their own funeral. Our world and overall grief process would be much different if that was the case.
Our MC Dave went through an extreme character-building revolution over the course of this book too. He started out as such a weak pushover. It was starting to aggravate me how often he would put the wishes of the supposed ālove of his lifeā aside for his jack-off of a roommate.
Speaking of, Lenny was insufferable and had no redeeming qualities.
Dave ends up in a really good spot, goes through so many life-altering events, and comes out a better person.
This all really got me thinking that I do not know ANYTHING about my ancestors. I have absolutely 0 idea how I would be dying.
There were a few things that could have been done to help the storyline flow a bit better. I would have liked a back story on why we were so focused on botany. There were so many random tidbits-bits about flowers and plants and I wanted to dive into that more. The nightshade seemed to be a bit of a side-story and could have used more details.
Overall, this is a standout book for a debut author. Thank you to Corey for sending me this book directly! I truly loved it.
corirose's review
adventurous
dark
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
5.0
I couldnāt put this down and finished the ARC in one sitting (thank you Corey!). Iāve been seeing a lot of comparisons to Gaiman come up in reviews and theyāre not misplaced - Farrenkopfās unique world building & dark humor contribute to a story that was at times both brutal and surprisingly hopeful. This was an excellent debut novel and Iām looking forward to what comes next
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