❝ He had always kind of thought he would go into death like an explorer, in a golden flash of peace and wholeness, and here he was being chewed up like a ham. His last words were "No! Fuck! No!".❞

Reincarnation Blues has to be one of my favorite books I've read this year. It keeps you entertained from beginning to end with all of the amusing, frustrating, and heartbreaking flashbacks of Milo's past lives.

Milo has lived for quite a while and hasn't really taken his journey to "Perfection" seriously. He's always assumed he'd have forever to get it right when he gets a rude awakening and finds out he only has five lives left or else risk becoming nothing.

For the first third of the book, it's mostly Milo remembering his past lives and the lessons he learned. Like the time he became a cricket, saved his village, or was thrown from a catapult. This is the super fun part of the book because even though Milo is planning out his next life and thinking about how he'll achieve perfection the book just lets you enjoy the humor of his human struggles.

This book had me laughing and smiling pretty much from beginning to end. It makes fun of life and the vastly silly things humans waste their time worrying about as much as it pokes fun at death, so if dark humor is your thing this is definitely a book you want to check out!

❝ "Love means being torn in two," he was known to tell young people on their wedding day. You shouldn't say things like that to young people. He had to live a penalty life as a catfish, after that.❞

Romance was a big part of this book, maybe not all of it, but a good chunk. It was about Milo and Suzie finding ways to be together even though everything and everyone wanted to keep them apart.

It's during the second third of the book that the story starts to focus more on specific lives Milo goes through rather than just rushing through different ones. I really liked this change because it felt grounded. It really became about Milo and the voices in his head (his past lives) really trying to find perfection. They gave him advice, helped him along, and even silently disapproved whenever he made costly mistakes.

This is where Milo stops trying to achieve perfection in the way he sees others have, and he really starts to question what it means. He starts to form his own idea of it and starts making some serious progress toward his end goal.

I think Suzie had her own journey to go through as well (although it was a smaller part of the book). Her sections were interesting because of the perspective she brought to it. I loved learning about her first years on the job and how much emotion she could show. She tried her best to learn from and understand humans, even rebelled about the cosmic soul for a while but. in the end, she was held back by fear just as much as anyone else.

I loved how she took a chance halfway through the book, and how she decided to take one last gamble with Milo at the end. It was all or nothing.

Another big plus from the book was how it explored both the best and worst that people were capable of doing onto one another. There were some hints at sexual abuse, violence, and things like that which Milo experienced or witnessed in his various lives. It never went into graphic detail or anything---like I said, it was more alluded to than anything---but it's just something to be aware of.

I'm not going to talk very much about the ending here just because I don't want to spoil whether or not Milo ends up figuring out the whole perfection thing, but I will say that just overall the book was awesome and I highly recommend this one for people who enjoy dark humor.

This amazing book hits the shelves on August 22, so please, please, please go check it out!

I recieved an e-copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review. Unfortunately I picked up this book when I didn't really feel like reading so that may have affected my rating. I know everyone gets that way so I won't go into too much detail about the story.

Did I find the book enjoyable?
Yes

Did I like the concept of the book?
Yes

Would I read more by this author?
Yes

Do I think this book could be one of the best this year?
Yes

Do I think you should read it for yourself and see how you feel?
Yes

Beautiful, unique and touching both in style and substance. I was drawn in to the soul that is Milo as he strives for perfection before he is out of second chances. One of my favorite books of the year. Go. Read. Now.

This is a hard book to choose a star rating for. It reminded me of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, except it makes a little more sense. It's a book that requires suspension of disbelief, but I have had absolutely no problem just going with some of the absurd aspects of the premise, because it is really well written. It's written in an episodic way, and some of the parts where amazing, while others were pretty good.
I think my favourite thing about this book was the descriptions of meditating. As someone who is currently struggling with trying to learn to meditate, this was actually very helpful. Don't worry, it's not a book about meditating, it just comes up in passing.
The book lost one star from me because I felt it could have ended one chapter before the end, rather than finishing as it is.
All in all an interesting read. it would be a good book to read with others - for example at a book club, because there is a lot to think about and discuss.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A fun and engaging book ... highly recommended. While I think it went on a little too long, for the most part I found myself not wanting to put it down, always eager to read what life Milo would be born into next. This book was reminiscent of something that Neil Gaiman might have written. Totally enjoyable.

Reincarnation Blues was sold as a light-hearted look at the reincarnation process and one man's struggle to achieve purity and the release from life. There are many small retellings of some of his attempts and some of them were interesting, though I didn't find them humorous. However, those are just decoys because the only lives where Milo comes close to succeeding are lives where he is raped, tortured, exploited, and many of his companions are maimed and killed. Apparently the only way to enlightenment is through suffering and pain. And (semi-spoiler alert) even after he supposedly is done, he continues to recycle through lives. Many of his lives are not as people, which just seems a cheat: Does a slug really have a chance to achieve a higher level of consciousness? I found this to be increasingly depressing as the book went on. Maybe your definition of whimsical is different than mine, but I was disappointed.

The concept for this story immediately grabbed my attention. I expected to - wanted to - love it, but mostly I felt... meh.

Milo is an interesting guy. He has lived almost 10,000 lives, and only has a few more tries to reach perfection before he fizzles out into nothing. This, for me, is the compelling aspect. I wanted the immediacy and desperation of this struggle. Unfortunately, we don't get much of that because, through most of the book, we are going back and experiencing Milo's past lives. Of course, in each life Milo was an entirely different person, and so we wind up spending time with a whole lot of different Milos. These vignettes are all out of sequence and mostly have nothing in common.

Early on, we're told that time is not linear. Consequently, Milo's other lives encompass ancient history all the way through future times. Many of the lives we explore in-depth are futuristic, with a strong sci-fi feel. This wasn't what I expected, and it's not a genre I have much interest in. That further complicated my ability to get lost in the story.

The humor is fun, though it also makes the content feel more satirical than serious.

I actually found Suzie, otherwise known as Death, more interesting than Milo. Her plight felt more immediate and emotional.

I know that all the past lives were meant as lessons for Milo, and that was the point of us reliving those lives with him. But, for me, the execution felt disjointed, with too much detail on some lives and not enough on others. And the current timeline lost the intensity because of all the bouncing around.

As with any review, my grumbling is all specific to me. If this book appeals to you, ignore me and give it a try.

This was a unique idea and it was nice to read something very different from what I'm accustomed to. For some reason when I was around 50% finished, I started to lose interest and was not as engaged by the ending as I was at the beginning.

This is the love story of Milo and Death, although she prefers to be called Suzie. In the early chapters, I was reminded of the TV show Dead Like Me from 2004. I loved that show and was sorry it only lasted two seasons. The comparison to the book is the dark humor and the juxtaposition of Suzie reaping souls for a living, but otherwise experiencing very human emotions and characteristics. The idea is great and opens up lots of room for imagination, but Reincarnation Blues goes into a few places that went on a little too long for me. Milo is just a regular soul who seems like kind of a slacker and has been reincarnated nearly 10,000 times. Some chapters take place in the afterlife, some follow Mill's experiences after he is reborn. Sometimes he's reborn several centuries after the present day, other lives are what we know as the past. Reincarnation does not follow any chronology. I think this is at the root of why I lost interest toward the end. I enjoy historical fiction, but there are long chapters that take place is dystopian future societies and I have never really been a fan of dystopian fantasy fiction. There are a couple of long chapters that take place in this setting and that's when I struggled with getting through the book. I'm sure there are other people who were as disengaged in the historical fiction chapters as I was in the dystopian. If you enjoy both and aren't put off by variance in chapter length, this may be a perfect book for you! I enjoyed it for the most part, but got stuck in some long chapters that seemed like they would never end. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy for review.

This book isn’t exactly what I would normally pick up, but there was just something about the cover and blurb of Reincarnation Blues that caught my attention and made me want to read it. Reading books out of my comfort zone can go either way, but all in all this novel by Michael Poore turned out to be a little gem. The first thing that stood out when I started reading Reincarnation Blues was the writing style. I fell in love almost immediately with the way this story was told and I found myself completely absorbed into this piece of speculative fiction with a sci-fi twist. This story is about a man called Milo who is reincarnated through many many lifetimes set both in the past, present and future. He is now about to start life number 9.996… Just when he finds out he only has five more lives to get it right and reach Perfection. The chapters are a mix of what happens during these lives, what happens in between and how he fell in love with Death herself. Some lives are told in more detail while others seem less important, but they all help develop his character in a very fascinating way. Basically you can say Reincarnation Blues is a collection of connecting short stories about the different lives Milo lives and how his actions influence his next life. The romance is subtle, very well done and didn’t bother me at all; the wordbuilding of the different world in between fascinating. I personally didn’t enjoy some of the chapters set in the future (for example chapter 14, which is set in a prison in space) as much as the rest of the story, but that could have been just me not being into full-blown science fiction in the first place. The wonderful writing and rest of the story in general mostly made up for those feelings though. Reincarnation Blues isn’t for everyone, but it is a truly fascinating read that I can definitely recommend if you think this sounds like your cup of tea!

Reincarnation Blues is an enchanting tale of a soul trying to achieve perfection despite his very human flaws. I found the tone to be reminiscent of Douglas Adams’ work, and thus greatly enjoyed it (there were times where I couldn’t stop thinking of Arajag and his struggles).
Warnings first: It goes without saying really that there’s a lot of death in this book. Sometimes it’s graphic, sometimes not. Animal violence and death also occur, but at lower frequencies. One of the lives portrayed experiences rape, abuse and slavery (which life it is becomes quickly evident, if that helps).
The title is both fairly accurate and descriptive in this case, as Milo struggles to figure out how to be perfect within the maximum number of allotted lives (ten thousand, for anybody that’s curious). One would think that many attempts would be more than enough, and based on the reactions of others around him, Milo has well exceeded the average attempts it takes a soul. I think that’s the very reason Milo is so relatable – he’s so human and has human flaws, including failure (obviously).
Despite the overall upbeat tone of voice for this story, the material covered at times does make it a bit of a heavy read – after all, in order for Milo to live again he must die, and not all of his deaths are easy (to read or experience, I imagine).
When I first realized I would be reading about multiples lives of Milo, I was concerned about two things: would the constant retelling become tedious (not enough variation, covering the same thing again and again) or would they make the character too different each time? I was surprised, but very pleasantly so, by the way Poore handled things. The perspectives for Milo’s multiple lives changes starting points (usually skipping childhood, unless there’s relevant information there), starting right in on where the character’s relevant events occur (basically, showing us the reason Milo chose that life, and what he was attempting to do with it).
I particularly enjoyed Milo’s last two lives – I won’t go into excessive detail about them, as I believe they are better told in the context of the story. With so many attempts already told, Poore had to present us with final attempts that upped the ante while still being entertaining. He did so with great success, wiping away any concerns I had about the conclusion of the novel.
Up until this point I haven’t mentioned one of the important characters of the novel, Suzie (aka Death, but she doesn’t like that name, so I would advise against calling her that). I felt that Suzie was a perfect foil for Milo. The connection the two of them had with each other was both their strength and weakness. A fact that becomes more and more obvious throughout the book. I think it’s the reason I liked the two of them together so much.
I have not read anything else by Michael Poore, but if Reincarnation Blues is an example of what he comes up with in that brain of his I’m very much interested in keeping an eye on his works from now on.

I enjoyed this book so much. The characters were developed so well that I felt like I was a part of their world. The only reason that this was not 5 stars for me is because at some points it felt a little rushed but that is just me being picky.

Reincarnation Blues by Michael Poole
I knew I would be hooked on Reincarnation Blues before I even started! I was 100% right, because I devoured this book in a day and always wanted to read one chapter more. That’s the kind of book this is.

Summary from Goodreads: A magically inspiring tale of a man who is reincarnated through many lifetimes so that he can be with his one true love: Death herself.
What if you could live forever—but without your one true love? Reincarnation Blues is the story of a man who has been reincarnated nearly 10,000 times, in search of the secret to immortality so that he can be with his beloved, the incarnation of Death. Neil Gaiman meets Kurt Vonnegut in this darkly whimsical, hilariously profound, and wildly imaginative comedy of the secrets of life and love. Transporting us from ancient India to outer space to Renaissance Italy to the present day, is a journey through time, space, and the human heart.

This is a captivating story about deaths, but also funnily enough also about live life in between. I fell absolutely in lover with the story and the themes within this book. Milo is in love with death, but can only spend time with her between his reincarnations – of which has had almost ten thousand. Reincarnation Blues, which is such a superb title by the way, encompasses Milo’s life on Earth, and other planets, and in the afterlife. There is an imaginative and inventive quality about all of Milo’s lives – even those that are only hinted at. Hats off to Poole for the creative and ingenuity of Milo’s ten thousand lives. That alone warrants a round of applause.

But additionally, there’s all these themes about our past lives, fate, and even karma jam packed between the pages. You can easily get lost in the plot that sweeps you away, even if it starts a little slowly. However, you find yourself asking if our past lives enrich us? Make us wiser? Better people? When we have so many of them, what effect does that have on our lives and mentality?

The biggest question that immediately hit me was: if you were going to do something differently, in the next life – like be a more honest person, etc. – what would we choose to change and, ultimately, why not do that now? That’s deep. Poole takes us around the world and everywhere, in time and place. There is a richness to the places we travel to that enriches the story, and doesn’t feel too heavy handed. I especially loved the descriptions and setting of the afterlife.

As we move forwards with the story, we also look backwards at Millo’s past lives. The sense of time here is distorted, and can be tricky to hang onto, but isn’t that one of the points? There is an especially good scene where we are told that the ‘afterlife’ is a myth with reincarnation, because it is not a strict progression of time. It can also be the ‘before’ life. This metaphor is a perfect even than encompasses how time works and flows in Reincarnation Blues.

There are so many fantastic themes: karma, the ‘perfect’ life, the morality of our actions. There are questions about the universes, when is the ‘right time’, who decides these questions of fate and balance. If you thought Reincarnation Blues would be just a mindless story, you’re wrong there. And at the same time Poole does maintain this balance between hard hitting questions about life, the universe, and everything with Milo and Death’s love story.

In this love story, which may be one of my favorites to date, there is a fragility and the same forces that we face in our lives: fate and struggle. Are they going to be together? Is this their fate? Will their love conquer all? This red thread of true love and the struggle to be together runs throughout the storyline behind the scenes. There also exists this fantastic question about what next? If we can live through many lives over and over again, what is next?

Even within the ending there are still these larger questions at hand. Poole continues to offers us questions and ultimately we are the ones who must answer. That being said, there is something entertaining and satisfying about this book that definitely warrants reading Reincarnation Blues. If you’ve ever wondered about reincarnation, or the power of love, I am almost positive you will enjoy this.

I loved it but you would have to be able to handle shifting time lines.

I was very surprised by how much I actually enjoyed the Novel. The life lessons and over all morality expressed in this books is done with enjoyable wit and humor. The idea that the universe doesn't always know what people truly need for perfection of the soul is wonderful done. Anyone who is a fan of Neil Gailman and Prattchet will have a hoot with this book. I love the way it explains how different people need each other, and that we as human beings are constantly learning from out past mistakes.

You get 10,000 chances (lifetimes) to reach perfection, and Milo only has a couple left to get it right. Problem is, he's in love with Suzie (aka Death). Is it worth it to reach Perfection if it means being without the one you love?

It immediately brought "Wristcutters: A Love Story" to mind, a movie based on a short story by Etgar Keret. Reincarnation Blues is an unconventional love story that almost reads like a collection of short stories due to the many lives that Milo lives. There were several of the 'lives' that I didn't particularly care for, but overall, I really enjoyed this book.

Unfortunately this book went over my head, it was interesting, the concept and the story BUT I felt I read similar in the shack. Just not something I got engrossed in and therefore I can't say more on it, good writing but the plot I didn't enjoy so much.

Not sure how I feel about this one. I enjoyed the many lives and stories of Milo and Susie but was left feeling a bit confused with the ending. The cover art of the book is pretty cool though.

This was a fun read! While this book read like a set of short stories to me-it was at times hard for me to stay concentrated on the main story line of the book. The first few chapters sucked me in, and the book continued with lessons on life-some far fetched and some that hit home.
Even with the silliness at times in this book, I had kept rooting for Suzie and Milo the whole time. There are times/topics that were serious as well (the whale especially) like love, loss, and what is "perfection".

I also agree with other reviewers that I felt a sense of Douglas Adams throughout the writing.

Overall, I would recommend this book to everyone wanting a funny and enlightening book.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest opinion. My thanks to Michael Poore and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the opportunity to read and review this book.

The premise of this book totally had my attention. And it did deliver in the beginning. It was funny, it was weird. The chapter titles were a hoot. The writing and plot caught me by surprise - at first, in a good way, and then in a not so good way. It all got too repetitive and dreary. I didn't like Milo. I didn't like Suzie. The storytelling got too crass for me and I honestly just wanted the book to be over, and eventually around chapter 24, I decided to stop investing my time in it. I couldn't bring myself to care about what happened to Milo or his attainment of Perfection or whatever.

The synopsis says this is like Neil Gaiman meets Kurt Vonnegut...umm I don't know about that.