The Brief History of the Dead (2006) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Characters/People edit see section history

• Laura Byrd: A 32 year old wildlife specialist, part of a three-member research team hired by the Coca-Cola Corporation to explore the possibility of using polar ice water to manufacture an environmentally pure soft drink.
• Michael Puckett: A polar specialist, member of the Coca-Cola Antarctic research team.
• Robert Joyce: A soft drink specialist, member of the Coca-Cola Antarctic research team
• Luka Sims: A survivor. Editor of the Sims Sheet, the only newspaper in the City.
• The Blind Man: A survivor. A citizen of the City.
• Marion Byrd: A survivor. Mother of Laura, and wife of Phillip.
• Minny Rings: A survivor. Sales representative for office supplies in Tucson, Arizona. In a relationship with Luka.
• Phillip Byrd: A survivor. Father of Laura, and husband of Marion.
• Coleman Kinzler: A survivor. A sign-carrying street preacher in the City.
• Lindell Trimbell: A survivor. Vice-president of public relations for Coca-Cola.

Quotes edit see section history

• “"Laura Byrd. Not forever, but long enough."”

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• The living carry us inside them like pearls. We survive only so long as they remember us.”

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• The body was the material component of a person. The soul was the nonmaterial component. The spirit was simply the connecting line.

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• For a long time that had seemed to her to be the key to life: life—real life—was really just a solitude waiting to be transfigured.

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• it was an extension of life itself—a sort of outer room—and that they would remain there only so long as they endured in living memory. When the last person who had actually known them died, they would pass over into whatever came next.

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• Christians always talked about the possibility of being reunited with their loved ones in the afterworld, but no one ever seemed to consider the idea that after twenty years of separation or more those loved ones might have pared themselves down into mere sticks of what they used to be, that they might have changed into utter strangers.

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• She was one of those people who truly became beautiful only when they showed no sign of thought or feeling on their faces, like bright, blank flowers unfolding their petals in the sun.

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• It was possible to drift without thinking into what you were looking for, but it was just as possible to drift right past it into something far worse.

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• The stories people told about the crossing were as varied and elaborate as their ten billion lives, so much more particular than those other stories, the ones they told about their deaths. After all, there were only so many ways a person could die: either your heart took you, or your head took you, or it was one of the new diseases. But no one followed the same path over the crossing.

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• he said he was tired of remembering everything he wanted to forget and forgetting everything he wanted to remember.

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• Her shoes made her understand, in a way that jewelry and sunglasses and the other trappings of so-called feminine fashion never had, why people dyed their hair or wore tattoos. It was for the same reason that birds wove bits of thread or vinyl construction streamers into their nests: for the sheer pleasure of ornamentation.

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• The City: Where those of the living dead are located.
• Antarctica: Laura Byrd was stationed here when "The Blinks" occur.
• New York City: Flashbacks take place where Laura went to college.
• Chicago, Illinois: Flashbacks from Laura's childhood.

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Kevin Brockmeier (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. Richard Poe (Narrator)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• Nebula (Finalist, 2003: Best Short Story)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 813.6

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Literary
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• The Brief History of the Dead (Random House)

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