It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over

I don't usually write reviews with my star ratings but I loved this book so deeply I had to rave a bit about it. I was hooked from the opening paragraphs, which are about the best opening paragraphs to a work that I have read in recent memory. The author immediately places you in a world that is both strange and unsettling, and yet familiar.

It Lasts Forever and Then Its Over is only ostensibly a zombie story. There are zombies and the protagonist is a zombie, and yet these are really only a lens through which to observe loss and grief, and question the concepts of endings and beginnings. It is these human elements that are the core of the novel and the considerable emotional impact of the story is strengthened through its nonhuman framing, allowing the reader to see the familiar with new eyes.

The writing is beautiful, both spare and at times, dense and philosophical. Both atmospheric and unsettling, and grounded deeply on the same ground we walk upon.

It Lasts Forever and Then Its Over is ironically a short novel that could be read in a day, but I knew immediately after the last page that I would read it again at least once to delve deeper into its meaning and imagery. The book is like a powerful film that has left me thinking about it days after viewing.