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I See You've Called in Dead
I See You've Called in Dead: A Novel | John Kenney
The Office meets Six Feet Under meets About a Boy in this coming-of-middle-age tale about having a second chance to write your lifes story. Bud Stanley is an obituary writer who is afraid to live. Yes, his wife recently left him for a far more interesting man. Yes, he goes on a particularly awful blind date with a woman who brings her ex. And yes, he has too many glasses of Scotch one night and proceeds to pen and publish his own obituary. The newspaper wants to fire him. But now the companys system has him listed as dead. And the company cant fire a dead person. The ensuing fallout forces him to realize that life may be actually worth living. As Bud awaits his fate at work, his life hangs in the balance. Given another shot by his boss and encouraged by his best friend, Tim, a worldly and wise former art dealer, Bud starts to attend the wakes and funerals of strangers to learn how to live. Thurber Prize-winner and NYTimes bestselling author John Kenney tells a funny, touching story about life and death, about the search for meaning, about finding and never letting go of the preciousness of life.
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I See You‘ve Called in Dead, by John Kenney (2025)

Premise: After a drunkenly posting his own mock death notice, a New York obituary writer looks for the meaning of life and death.

Review: This is a fun, moving, and insightful book. I particularly appreciated how it held certain truths out for us without laying it on too thick; death is after all a mystery that‘s really impossible to write about well. It‘s also a really great New York book. Cont

Mattsbookaday My one complaint is that there was a bit of a mismatch between the timeframe (set in 2019) and the generations described, but this was only a bit jarring. Come for the Gen X slacker humour; stay for the warmth and insight.

Bookish Pair: This reminded me a bit of The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer (2023)

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
5d
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