I forgot to blog about a book I read while I was away in Germany, and that is Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz, recommended to me by one Jeff “Feenwager” Parsons. Such was the impact that said book clearly had on our Jeff, if you happen to have him on your Xbox Live friends list and then start reading this book, you’ll likely have the same reaction as I did.
But anyway. Enough about Jeff and his Gamertag — what about the book?
It was a great read. It helped a great deal that the book was narrated by a likeable character who was honest about when narrating things which took place at different times didn’t quite make sense — how could he possibly remember what was happening when he was born, for example? In fact, the whole cast of the book was made up of strong characters, from our protagonists to some of the more minor people who had a role to play in the story.
The structure was interesting, too — for those unfamiliar with the novel, it’s centred around one Jimmy Tock, who entered the world just as his grandfather departed it. Said grandfather came out with a series of chilling predictions on his deathbed, which Jimmy’s life then begins to revolve around. We join the tale after four out of the “five terrible days” have already taken place, so there’s some tension as Jimmy narrates the events, but we at least know that he’s going to be all right — until we reach the last one, that is.
Jimmy, it has to be said, is a bit of a joker and there are at least two occasions in the novel where he outright lies to the reader only to come back with the literary equivalent of “lol jk” at the start of the next chapter. Unreliable narrators are one thing, but having a narrator who outright lies to you is a new one on me. It elevated the prose somewhat above the usual fare you get with first-person narration — it was more like someone actually talking to you. Pretty cool.
I enjoyed the novel a great deal, in other words — and I’m consciously trying not to give away any spoilers here. It was a thrill ride that kept me interested from start to finish. I’d never read anything by Koontz before, but my good experience with this piece is enough to make me interested to try some of his other stuff.
As always, if anyone has any recommendations along those lines, do feel free to let me know.
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So stoked you dug it! It’s the one book I never have reservations recommending to just about anyone. It trancends age, gender, everything.
I suggest you give Ready, Player One a read. Not nearly as universal, but I think you’ll love it.