Reincarnation Blues: A Novel
Michael Poore
Aug 2017 · Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Mark Bramhall
4.8star
14 reviewsreport
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13 hr 2 min
Unabridged
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About this audiobook
A wildly imaginative novel about a man who is reincarnated over ten thousand lifetimes to be with his one true love: Death herself.
“Tales of gods and men akin to Neil Gaiman’s Sandman as penned by a kindred spirit of Douglas Adams.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
First we live. Then we die. And then . . . we get another try?
Ten thousand tries, to be exact. Ten thousand lives to “get it right.” Answer all the Big Questions. Achieve Wisdom. And Become One with Everything.
Milo has had 9,995 chances so far and has just five more lives to earn a place in the cosmic soul. If he doesn’t make the cut, oblivion awaits. But all Milo really wants is to fall forever into the arms of Death. Or Suzie, as he calls her.
More than just Milo’s lover throughout his countless layovers in the Afterlife, Suzie is literally his reason for living—as he dives into one new existence after another, praying for the day he’ll never have to leave her side again.
But Reincarnation Blues is more than a great love story: Every journey from cradle to grave offers Milo more pieces of the great cosmic puzzle—if only he can piece them together in time to finally understand what it means to be part of something bigger than infinity. As darkly enchanting as the works of Neil Gaiman and as wisely hilarious as Kurt Vonnegut’s, Michael Poore’s Reincarnation Blues is the story of everything that makes life profound, beautiful, absurd, and heartbreaking.
Because it’s more than Milo and Suzie’s story. It’s your story, too.
Praise for Reincarnation Blues
“The most fun you’ll have reading about a man who has been killed by both catapult and car accident.”—NPR
“This book made me laugh out loud. And then a page later, it made me sob. Reminiscent of Tom Robbins and Christopher Moore, Poore finds humor in the dark absurdities of life.”—Chicago Review of Books
“Charming . . . surprisingly light and uplifting . . . It reads like a writer having fun.”—New York Journal of Books
“Tales of gods and men akin to Neil Gaiman’s Sandman as penned by a kindred spirit of Douglas Adams.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
First we live. Then we die. And then . . . we get another try?
Ten thousand tries, to be exact. Ten thousand lives to “get it right.” Answer all the Big Questions. Achieve Wisdom. And Become One with Everything.
Milo has had 9,995 chances so far and has just five more lives to earn a place in the cosmic soul. If he doesn’t make the cut, oblivion awaits. But all Milo really wants is to fall forever into the arms of Death. Or Suzie, as he calls her.
More than just Milo’s lover throughout his countless layovers in the Afterlife, Suzie is literally his reason for living—as he dives into one new existence after another, praying for the day he’ll never have to leave her side again.
But Reincarnation Blues is more than a great love story: Every journey from cradle to grave offers Milo more pieces of the great cosmic puzzle—if only he can piece them together in time to finally understand what it means to be part of something bigger than infinity. As darkly enchanting as the works of Neil Gaiman and as wisely hilarious as Kurt Vonnegut’s, Michael Poore’s Reincarnation Blues is the story of everything that makes life profound, beautiful, absurd, and heartbreaking.
Because it’s more than Milo and Suzie’s story. It’s your story, too.
Praise for Reincarnation Blues
“The most fun you’ll have reading about a man who has been killed by both catapult and car accident.”—NPR
“This book made me laugh out loud. And then a page later, it made me sob. Reminiscent of Tom Robbins and Christopher Moore, Poore finds humor in the dark absurdities of life.”—Chicago Review of Books
“Charming . . . surprisingly light and uplifting . . . It reads like a writer having fun.”—New York Journal of Books
Ratings and reviews
4.8
14 reviews
Cameron Cronick
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7 July 2023
Have you ever been having a really cool conversation with someone you just met and you're really vibing and they seem great and then, seemingly out of nowhere they say something like "well, sure, but all the banks *are* Jewish, so... there's something going on there" and you start questioning every part of the conversation up to that point? That is very much what it's like to read this book. The first 80% is SO GOOD with such a unique way of telling a story (or several) and with vibrant characters. Then it gets so weird so fast. And violent. And racist. And then just weird again? I want to be clear, I don't think the book or the author are bought into terrible conspiracies, I just think the timing/placement/spacing of the last three stories could have been better to be less jarring. So, maybe try reading the last handful of chapters first, then do the rest? Just read the first 80% and imagine a happy ending from there? Up to you.
Faith Arellaga
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1 March 2023
Rollercoaster ride but worth it <3
About the author
Michael Poore’s short fiction has appeared in Glimmer Train, Southern Review, Agni, Fiction, and Asimov’s. His story “The Street of the House of the Sun” was selected for The Year’s Best Nonrequired Reading 2012. His first novel, Up Jumps the Devil, was hailed by The New York Review of Books as “an elegiac masterpiece.” Poore lives in Highland, Indiana, with his wife, poet and activist Janine Harrison, and their daughter, Jianna.
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