Death is always an unpleasant topic – and even the word unpleasant is not enough to describe the overall experience. It is rather self-explanatory when the words associated with death, as well as the afterlife, are overtly negative, i.e. grief, sadness, shock, depression and so on. Reading about it even in literature might not be everyone’s cup of coffee, which is exactly why it would be good to have books that interestingly approach this topic.
A handful of authors have put their creatively wild ideas about death and the afterlife and given it a fictional spin. These books, you would realize, presents one of the final moments in a person’s life in a subdued way, filled with many different elements and not focusing on the gut-wrenching sadness that comes with it. The books, though belonging to a variety of genres, are strung together by the fact that they make reading about death and the afterlife really interesting!
Before I Fall – Lauren Oliver:
You might have experienced the feeling of being stuck to your thoughts all day long, at least once– but being stuck in a day of your life over and over again? And that coincidentally (or not?) happens to be the day you die? Only Sam Kingston could relate. Before I fall is one such brilliant novel – penned by Lauren Oliver –exploring the intricacies of intertwined lives humanity leads. On a day that is one of her favourites, Sam’s car runs off the road and crashes, killing her instantly.
However, with the knowledge of her own death, she opens her eyes to face the same day… for a week! Her entire journey is filled with trial-and-error, secrets and newfound love, as she strives to find why she’s in this terrifying loop in the first place. The book is also funny in some places, which adds a new dimension to how people usually perceive death, making it a fresh read!
Thirteen Reasons Why – Jay Asher:
Who doesn’t know Thirteen Reasons Why? Thanks to the popular series of the same name, many people rediscovered Jay Asher’s novel. The novel’s protagonist is Hannah Baker, a freshman who commits suicide for unknown reasons. The reasons – thirteen, to be exact – behind her suicide comes to light with the help of seven cassette tapes recorded by her. Clay Jensen, the narrator who also receives the cassettes, soon realizes that every side of the tape talks about the person who indirectly played a part in her suicide. It is hauntingly beautiful to see how Asher visualizes the aftermath of a suicide; death is always sad, but listening to Hannah’s reasons, readers have left experience the pain in Hannah’s life.
The Midnight Library – Matt Haig:
People always claim that books are the gateway to different cities and universes. For Nora Seed – the protagonist in Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library – however, it becomes uncomfortably real, as she tries to commit suicide and finds herself stuck between life and death. This space is an actual library, with millions of books and novels there. The catch? Each and every book contains stories of her life if she had made her decisions different than her current life; now it is up to Nora to see which life would she love to live through. It’s really fascinating to see how differently Haighas perceived death and its experience and went a step forward to provide a way for the protagonist to redeem herself.
The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold:
The notion that your loved ones, when not present in your life in the flesh, will always watch you from the heavens has been around forever. Alice Sebold, in The Lovely Bones, explores this concept through the protagonist, Susie Salmon. Susie is raped and murdered by a much older man, thus making her soul reside in her personal Heaven. She looks over her family and friends from there, observing how they cope with her sudden loss as well as indirectly trying to help in getting her murderer caught.
What makes this novel a beautiful read – despite having a really gruesome death and that too of the protagonist – is how it strengthens the hope in readers that their loved ones always look after them. And what’s better than this kind of reassurance?
Elsewhere – Gabrielle Zevin:
Since the concept of the afterlife is so murky, writing about it becomes way easier, as there are so many possibilities an author can explore. Gabrielle Zevin does just that, writing about her own version of the afterlife in Elsewhere. The protagonist, Liz, is just 15 years old when she gets hit by a taxi. She wakes up to find herself aboard a ship, which is taking her – and other dead people –to an island named ‘Elsewhere’.The peculiarity of the island is that everyone there ages backwards until they become a baby and are sent back to Earth. Liz then tries to cope with this experience as she waits to rejoin Earth.
Even though the novel takes a common topic, Zevin has spun it into an exciting read, laced with realism, emotions and the ominous atmosphere around death and the afterlife!
The Five People You Meet in Heaven – Mitch Albom:
Mitch Albom’s The Five People You Meet in Heaven is also based on death and life after death, but with a very interesting twist. Eddie, an 83-year-old man, dies on his birthday while tackling a maintenance problem in the amusement park he works at. When he wakes up again, he is encountered by ‘the Blue Man’, who explains how he would meet five people in different levels of heaven; they would either be significant in his life or him in theirs. Every person he meets gives him important nuggets of wisdom, making Eddie understand and cope with regrets and his sudden death. This novel reads more like an inspiring narrative than the usual after death horror – which is very much needed to assure the readers to not be too scared about something so inevitable.
These novels are beautiful in their own way, of course, but imagine how death, the scariest thing, inspired the authors to come up with (un)pleasant and unique narratives! The biggest purpose of these books, I feel, is that it makes reading about a topic so heavy and drowning in negativity easy and light. The readers are left with a profound sense of calm in their hearts – and a whole lot of pain concepts in their minds!
