Book Review: The American Book of The Dead
The American Book of The Dead by Henry Baum
Genre(s): Apocalypse/Consciousness/Religion/UFOs/Conspiracy theory
Publisher: Backword Books
Description: Eugene Myers is working on a novel about the end of the world. Meanwhile, he discovers his daughter doing porn online and his marriage is coming to an end. When he begins dreaming about people who turn out to be real, he wonders if his novel is real as well. Eugene Myers may just be the one to stop the apocalypse. This history of the future covers every conspiracy imaginable: UFOs, secret societies, and World War III, as well as theories on life after death and human evolution by a writer whose last novel was called by Dogmatika, “A page-turner and an example of an effective piece of storytelling that should be envied.” In the tradition of Philip K. Dick and Robert Anton Wilson, The American Book of the Dead explores the nature of reality and the human race’s potential to either disintegrate or evolve.
This book is tough to classify and tougher to start reading! To put it bluntly, this is an oddly outstanding piece of literature. I have had this book loaded onto my iPad for a few months, and I started reading it as soon as. I downloaded it and, to be honest, didn’t think I would like it – actually, I didn’t know if I could even comprehend it.
The first few pages of this story left me wondering what the book was about and why should I keep reading it. I left it at that. Those first few pages left me feeling the way a teenaged boy feels when he gets caught looking down girls shirts, awkward, ashamed, but hopeful. At the time, I wasn’t ready to re-live anything from my time as a teen and especially not from a book I was reading for pleasure. Fast forward to a few days ago. I was getting ready for a solid twenty something hours of travel time. I was thinking about downloading a few new books when I rediscovered this eight hundred pound guerrilla sitting in the corner of one of my reading apps. Still a bit apprehensive and almost nauseated at the thought of re-engaging this tome, I realized that the only way I could get this monkey off my back was to suck it up and read the damn book.
Henry Baum must be a complex person. His complexity is hinted throughout this novel and is equally well thought out as it is executed. The beginning is rough in that it makes you feel like it’s a full frontal assault on your perceptions of reality. I’m not trying to imply that this book is life changing, but it has impact. Baum is a wordsmith, he knows his way around the English language and isn’t afraid to use his know-how. Beyond being a great writer, he is a thinker. The American Book of The Dead covers some weighty issues. At times it felt like one those lead vests that they give you when you get an X-Ray – you feel the weight, but the vest is oppressive and comforting. When a book confuses and intrigues you, you know the author is doing something right.
The book is almost schizophrenic with the verity of concepts it touches. Topics include – but are not limited to – World War III, the anti-Christ, the Bible, Revelation (not Revelations as it is commonly called) and the space time continuum. This book is The Left Behind series for the rest of us. Baum does an excellent job of balancing the subject of religion, which is always a hot button with readers. I was impressed by his ability to address religious issues and dogma, without coming off as a fundamentalist or an atheist. He covered both sides of the coin without telling us what his religious beliefs are. Now that’s a skill.
This book is well crafted and insightful. It can be overwhelming in the beginning but stick with it you won’t be disappointed. Here are a few examples of some of the verbal craftsmanship that really sinks its teeth into you.
“I was not very objective at this point. I didn’t understand how other people’s lives worked without me.” This exert came from the narrator/author of the story, Eugene Myers.
This next quote is a great example Henry Baum’s willingness to push the limits. This is Eugene or Gene reflecting on his feelings about discovering that his eighteen year old daughter is doing Internet porn on a naughty school girl site: “Watching my daughter, the porn star, was like witnessing an act of terrorism on our family. Hurtful, sickening, faith-destroying, but so ambitious in its degradation—and so personal—that I could not look away.”
I can’t even fathom being in a situation like that. The fact that Baum went to a dark place like that shows a controlled fearlessness that made me feel repulsed. It was like driving by a car wreck, you don’t want to see the mutilated body, but you can’t stop looking.
The last quote I want to share with you comes from an un-named reporter who is covering the devastation after a horrific attack during the war. The Reporter is standing on a burnt out street surrounded by body parts. As he covers the scene he mistakenly says: “The smell is deafening.” These four simple words conjured up images of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, battlefields and horrible traffic accidents with fatalities.
Such is the power of the written word of Henry Baum.
This book is a dark, dark horse. I doubt it will ever be given the credit or the exposure it deserves, but there is no excuse not to read it.This book isn’t for everyone, but Henry Baum has a way with words that will impress anyone who loves words. This review is the first of a three part series. Part two will be a review of The American Songbook of The Dead, in which Mr. Baum has employed his song writing skills to create original songs for each chapter of The American Book of The Dead. The final instalment will be an email interview with Henry Baum. If you have any questions you would like to ask him, please email them to me.
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