Edited Synopsis from Amazon: Fifty-seven year old Robert Malone is the CEO of a successful clothing store chain and married to a former model. When his doctor tells him he is dying of cancer, he chooses cryonics. His frozen body will be stored in liquid nitrogen for the next seventy-five years, and then he'll wake up in the future. That is, if technology develops a way to bring him back. What he doesn't realize is that he won't lie in some dreamless state all that time. His soul will be very much awake. As Robert begins a new kind of life outside his physical body, he discovers that he can ride in the cockpit with the pilots, but he can't turn the page of a magazine. He can sit in the oval office with the president, but he can't prevent a child from dashing in front of a car. He doesn't work, or eat, or sleep. He can't smell, or taste, or touch. These obstacles make it difficult to experience love, and virtually impossible to reconcile with the living. Over the next several decades, Robert Malone will have plenty of time to figure out The Ups and Downs of Being Dead. 

My thoughts:

This is a strange, imaginative and different take on being dead. Funny (ha ha) at times, thought provoking and serious at other times, and a little tedious in places as well.

This is NOT serious science fiction. So if you're looking for that, don't disappoint yourself (as a few reviewers have commented). This is the story of how one person evolves into a better person even though he's dead. 

SPOILER ALERT!

Near the end I lost some of my suspension of disbelief. I personally don't believe the world will ever reach a state of nirvana, meaning no crime, no death -- things like that. And, sorry if this offends anyone, but I don't believe we should get to the point where there is no death. I believe we are suppose to move on to other experiences. No death would be the opposite of what we as people should strive for. It would be hell. 

Anyway, in terms of this book, if the world did get to that point where there was no illness, no death, no crime, then why would old-men in prison be left to suffer and die with all the worst bodily happenings of old age? It just wouldn't be that much of a hardship or cost to at least keep them from being in pain. I didn't buy it.

I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads. 

Have you ever heard the word 'Ekphrstic' before? I certainly hadn't. Ekphrstic Poetry means poetry inspired by art. I learned that today at the High Desert Branch of the California Writers Club (HDCWC) meeting. Our speaker was one of our members, Mary Langer Thompson.  

I have to say, I'm not big on poetry, but I truly enjoy Mary's. Her work has been published in lots of journals and magazines. It can also be found in our club's anthology Desert Gold. 


She gave everyone at the meeting (and there had to over seventy people in attendance) a small picture of one of Van Gogh's paintings along with an observation worksheet. The worksheet had us list words that came to mind when looking at the artwork. We jotted down what was happening in the artwork, who or what the subject was, what the mood was, what sounds, smells, feelings or tastes came to mind, and how the artwork connected with us personally.  After we completed the worksheet, we each wrote our own poem. I'm not a poet, but here is what I wrote based on Van Gogh's painting, Portrait of a Woman in Blue.


This woman is thinking.
I can't crawl inside her head.
Are her thoughts as dull as she looks?
Or would she surprise me?
I think the later.


Some people wrote beautiful and moving pieces. I just had fun. People are going to submit their poems to our newsletter editor and she will publish some. Next month, when the Inkslinger comes out, I'll share a few here.