Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Search - Being Dead

Being Dead
Being Dead
Author: Jim Crace
Lying in the sand dunes of Baritone Bay are the bodies of a middle-aged couple. Celice and Joseph, in their mid-50s and married for more than 30 years, are returning to the seacoast where they met as students. Instead, they are battered to death by a thief with a chunk of granite. Their corpses lie undiscovered and rotting for a week, prey to sa...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780312275426
ISBN-10: 0312275420
Publication Date: 3/21/2001
Pages: 208
Rating:
  • Currently 2.9/5 Stars.
 58

2.9 stars, based on 58 ratings
Publisher: Picador
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio Cassette, Audio CD
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

short-angry14 avatar reviewed Being Dead on + 79 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
This book was a very quick read for me. Tells the story of an older couple who are murdered in the sand dunes near where they first fell in love. Sounds like a love story gone wrong, where there will be many tears shed, right? Wrong! This book tells in minute detail the physical breakdown of the couples bodies, ie. weather, insects, crabs, flies and general decomposition of corpses. Totally not a love story...well, maybe in a sick way, as they died with the husband still clutching her leg. Good book, but definitely NOT a sweet love story.
GVvicki avatar reviewed Being Dead on
Helpful Score: 3
This is a hauntingly beautiful novel that keeps popping up in my mind even though it's been a couple years since I read it. Well written and speaks to the soul.
reviewed Being Dead on + 65 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
It is scary to think just how long a person can be missing, decomposing and soon completely disappear before anyone notices.
woot avatar reviewed Being Dead on + 6 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
I really liked this book, but I'm sure it isn't for everyone. The author describes the physical process of 2 human bodies as they decay after death. This description is mixed in with stories about some of the events that occurred before their death. There is a bit of a mystery for a while about how the pople died, but the basic theme seems to be that people are mistaken when they assign meaning and cause to their life's events. A very thought provoking book.
MartieKr avatar reviewed Being Dead on + 72 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I was a little disappointed with this one. A little too graphic for my tastes.
Read All 13 Book Reviews of "Being Dead"

Please Log in to Rate these Book Reviews

reviewed Being Dead on + 105 more book reviews
This book starts with the sudden death of a couple and then alternates chapters moving backwards and forwards in time to show the chain of events that led to their death, and the final evolution of their bodies.

Primarily, it is a love story; it is not a drama or mystery. Poetic. Very biological (a lot of time is spent throughout the book on decomposition).

Great writing, but I didn't care for it.

2 stars out of 5
tamara avatar reviewed Being Dead on + 78 more book reviews
Great book, from a biological standpoint of death.


Genres:

Tagsdeath, love