I discovered Glen Duncan about a year and a half ago, when a friend gave me a copy of I, Lucifer. I, Lucifer is a book about what happens when God gives Lucifer a chance to live the life of a human, redeem himself and perhaps even get into Heaven. Lucifer inhabits the body of Declan Gunn (an anagram for Glen Duncan), a man who recently killed himself and being Lucifer, of course, he runs wild with his new-found freedom. The book is filled with trademark British humor and knocks on religion and humanity alike.
The only thing that Death of an Ordinary Man and I, Lucifer have in common is that they deal with the supernatural, the unlikely and that they were written by the same man. Otherwise, they are polar opposites.
Death of an Ordinary Man is a poignant tale about Nathan Clark, a 47-year-old Devonshire history teacher, who dies and comes back in a ghostly state at his own funeral. Hovering above his casket, he has no recollection of why he died but is privy now to his family and friends innermost feelings and thoughts – some that consequently tear him apart to the core, even if he is a ghost.
It is by no means a fast-paced book. The book jumps from one persons thoughts to another persons memories and you’re introduced to things at the same speed as the character himself. He knows no more or less than you do, and you’re discovering it together. Both he and you are trying hard to figure out why Lois, his youngest daughter is not at the funeral, why your wife is burdened with guilt and why two strangers are at your wake. And of course, why you died.
Death of an Ordinary Man explores humanity and the afterlife. It gives us an intriguing answer when we ask, “What happens if you have unresolved business on earth?” and though not fast-paced, it pulls at such heartstrings. This book is essentially about the soul coming to peace with its own death and unresolved heartbreaks. It is some of the most beautiful prose I’ve ever had the fortune to encounter in modern British literature.
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Filed under: Glen Duncan, Literature Reviews , Alice Sebold, book review, british, British Literature, death, Death of an Ordinary Man, Declan Gunn, Glen Duncan, I Lucifer, Lovely Bones
