A Trick I Learned From Dead Men by Kitty Aldridge
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Here is my review for A Trick I Learned From Dead Men. It's also on the main page.
A Trick I Learned From Dead Men is a quirky, interesting mix of dark humour and much sorrow. The novel is short, with just over 200 well spaced pages.
The story is narrated by our 25 year old protagonist, Lee Hart. The style of narration reflects Lee's lack of education and his station in life, but can be off putting ,as it is very colloquial. Lee is a mortician in training. At a very young age, his father simply disappeared from the family in search of work, never to be heard from again. Lee's mother re- married a fellow named Lester, who, after the cancer death of Lee's mother, sits nearly catatonic on the couch watching daytime TV. Lee has a deaf, very mentally disturbed somewhat younger brother, who he also tries to care for.
Lee's work as a mortician in training is touching, very graphic and insightful. Lee describes sewing lips together, stabilizing eyeballs, and applying make up to the dead. As Lee narrates " The dead deserve some peace and quiet. Important to respect their needs, it's not like they want much. Dead men need no one and nothing. Fair play to all of them, we could all take a tip." p 137
Overall I was disappointed in the novel. Though I am accustomed to enjoying short ,sparse novels, I felt that the characters were underdeveloped, the narrative slight and somewhat annoying, and the ending to be very sudden and ambiguous. Just like the inderminate ending to the novel, I am left feeling puzzled and uncertain as to how to rate this book. 3. 25 stars
A Trick I Learned From Dead Men is a quirky, interesting mix of dark humour and much sorrow. The novel is short, with just over 200 well spaced pages.
The story is narrated by our 25 year old protagonist, Lee Hart. The style of narration reflects Lee's lack of education and his station in life, but can be off putting ,as it is very colloquial. Lee is a mortician in training. At a very young age, his father simply disappeared from the family in search of work, never to be heard from again. Lee's mother re- married a fellow named Lester, who, after the cancer death of Lee's mother, sits nearly catatonic on the couch watching daytime TV. Lee has a deaf, very mentally disturbed somewhat younger brother, who he also tries to care for.
Lee's work as a mortician in training is touching, very graphic and insightful. Lee describes sewing lips together, stabilizing eyeballs, and applying make up to the dead. As Lee narrates " The dead deserve some peace and quiet. Important to respect their needs, it's not like they want much. Dead men need no one and nothing. Fair play to all of them, we could all take a tip." p 137
Overall I was disappointed in the novel. Though I am accustomed to enjoying short ,sparse novels, I felt that the characters were underdeveloped, the narrative slight and somewhat annoying, and the ending to be very sudden and ambiguous. Just like the inderminate ending to the novel, I am left feeling puzzled and uncertain as to how to rate this book. 3. 25 stars
