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A review by thebibliophilelibrarian
Reincarnation Blues by Michael Poore
2.0
Before it came out Reincarnation Blues was one of those book that got so much hype and good press, but those book often aren’t all they are hyped up to be. The general opinion I am observing from other Goodreads reviews was that you either really liked or didn’t. I was one of those people that really wanted to like it, but just couldn’t.
Reincarnation Blues is a book about Milo and his seemingly never ending affair with Death (who also goes by Suzie). Milo is in love with death and in order to continue loving her he must continually reincarnate, 9,995 times to be exact, until he reaches perfection. It is also a story about Milo’s own personal journey as he seeks perfection. About how he grows and what he learns. Each chapter is one of Milo’s lives, that the reader is thrust into. We learn and grow as he does as he continues to question what does spiritual perfection look like? Each life is different sometimes appearing as woman, or men, or cyborg and each life is filled with its own unique experiences.
Maybe its not the story itself I have a problem with but just the strangeness of some of the experiences within his lives. His experiences include everything from being a cyborg in space, to a religious prophet figure, to a little girl. The long and short of it is, it was just too weird for me. While I find the concepts of the story itself very interesting, as it does legitimately ask the question how do we find spiritual happiness? The author’s writing style was very different and just to strange for me and the way he goes about answering the question, to me, was not particularly well done. Or maybe it’s the fact that I find the concept of reincarnation not very interesting.
It is definitely a book that is very different, and while I enjoyed picking something up that was not the norm for the types of books I normally read, the author’s dry, to me, writing style, was just not something I particularly enjoyed. Although I liked the basic concept of the story, and I also like how each chapter was a life, almost like reading several novellas within one, it really lost my interest about half way through. That being said, the character development within the character of Milo was one of the most interesting and successful aspects of the story, how as he continued reincarnating his views about life, and his own spiritual experience, changed and grew. Also Poore’s descriptiveness pros, in how he described some of the worlds was particularly I thought well done.
Overall interesting concept, ok execution. If you like books that take you through all corners of time and space, more of a sci-fi feel than fantasy, and you like weird strange stories than I would definitely recommend this book. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Reincarnation Blues is a book about Milo and his seemingly never ending affair with Death (who also goes by Suzie). Milo is in love with death and in order to continue loving her he must continually reincarnate, 9,995 times to be exact, until he reaches perfection. It is also a story about Milo’s own personal journey as he seeks perfection. About how he grows and what he learns. Each chapter is one of Milo’s lives, that the reader is thrust into. We learn and grow as he does as he continues to question what does spiritual perfection look like? Each life is different sometimes appearing as woman, or men, or cyborg and each life is filled with its own unique experiences.
Maybe its not the story itself I have a problem with but just the strangeness of some of the experiences within his lives. His experiences include everything from being a cyborg in space, to a religious prophet figure, to a little girl. The long and short of it is, it was just too weird for me. While I find the concepts of the story itself very interesting, as it does legitimately ask the question how do we find spiritual happiness? The author’s writing style was very different and just to strange for me and the way he goes about answering the question, to me, was not particularly well done. Or maybe it’s the fact that I find the concept of reincarnation not very interesting.
It is definitely a book that is very different, and while I enjoyed picking something up that was not the norm for the types of books I normally read, the author’s dry, to me, writing style, was just not something I particularly enjoyed. Although I liked the basic concept of the story, and I also like how each chapter was a life, almost like reading several novellas within one, it really lost my interest about half way through. That being said, the character development within the character of Milo was one of the most interesting and successful aspects of the story, how as he continued reincarnating his views about life, and his own spiritual experience, changed and grew. Also Poore’s descriptiveness pros, in how he described some of the worlds was particularly I thought well done.
Overall interesting concept, ok execution. If you like books that take you through all corners of time and space, more of a sci-fi feel than fantasy, and you like weird strange stories than I would definitely recommend this book. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review!