A Life Eternal

What kind of trouble would you get into if you were immortal? Rob is a soldier in WWI and suffers injuries fighting that should have killed anyone, but when he’s on the verge of death, a strange man touches him, and Rob recovers fully. Doctors are baffled. Sooner or later it becomes obvious that Rob isn’t aging. What’s going on?

We follow Rob through the decades and watch as he passes through the twentieth century into the twenty-first. Reading his adventures is like reading a fun history book. We see Rob through the bootlegging nineteen twenties in New York. We see him in Berlin during the rise of Hitler. He begins to feel apart from humanity, and this affects his mind and his judgement.

This is a psychological study as well as a journey through the ages. It’s a sociological study as well. Rob’s experiences change him, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. It’s interesting to follow along and to wonder what turn he’s going to make next. It makes one wonder what they would do in his situation.

This story is full of twists and turns, and Rob’s relationships are telling and insightful. It is well written and sure to offer readers surprises and elicit various emotions. It is a good read, one worth checking out. I was given a complimentary copy of the book by Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

My blog: https://traveltheages.blogspot.com/2023/06/review-of-life-eternal-by-richard-ayre.html

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288 pages

5 stars

This story is a philosophical journey into the nature of humankind and the quality of (the possibility), of an eternal life.

British Sergeant Robert “Rob” Deakin was mortally wounded during a firefight that occurred on the Somme in WWI. He was placed in a death ward in a local church. He was visited by a medic one night. He miraculously recovered from his mortal wounds.

It wouldn’t take him long to discover that the medic he met had imparted eternal life to him. He would never age and he would never die. He emigrated to America where he was involved in running rum during prohibition. He knew that he must keep traveling to hide his condition. He saw that people kept their distance from him. He pretended that it did not bother him and pretty soon, he began to realize that it really did not bother him. Through the years, he saw much of the world. He did many jobs. He learned several languages. He found lust and he found love.

He searched for the medic who bestowed upon him what he began to believe was a curse. He began to realize that he despised humankind. Their pettiness irked him and he seemed jealous of their happiness. Humans were a lost cause to him.

Only after many years did he come to realize the truth. The truth about himself and his unique condition. He finally found the medic. The medic had become an old man. He was dying. How had that happened?

Rob has an epiphany.

My undergraduate degree is in philosophy, so this book spoke to me. What is the nature of humankind? Of death? We humans want to live more than anything. What if we were gifted (?) an eternal life? How would our lives change? Would we descend into darkness as Rob did? I, of course, cannot predict, but the thought occupies my time.

I don’t know if this is what Mr. Ayre intended with his novel, but it affected me greatly. The book reads quickly. It is well written and the plotting keeps moving along. Mr. Ayre portrays Rob’s angst beautifully. I really felt for him and kept willing him to higher thoughts.
I will be reading more of this author’s work.

I want to thank NetGalley and Burning Chair for forwarding to me a copy of this very good book for me to read, enjoy and review. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.

Endless Youth or Burden of Time?

When I have conversations with my friends or my kids about what superpower I would pick if I could pick any from the list, I always and without pause say “I’d live forever”. I’ve always responded this way, and I continue to stick by this response because while I recognize that so many negative things could and probably would come from that (losing said family and kids to time being the main one), I still don’t ever want to stop experiencing the world. My husband has always asked why I wouldn’t choose to be invisible, or be super fast, or read people's minds and I deny those options for the chance to live and see it all …see what happens, see where we go, never stop observing and learning. I also want endless time to absorb all the history, the development, the invention, the art, the music, and of course the BOOKS of each new age. Endless and ever changing knowledge and experience is fascinating to me.

The primary theme of "A Life Eternal' is as much a philosophical reflection on humanity and the sometimes sordid, sometimes mundane details of living, loving, and dying as it is a rote recital of events and people from a seemingly disengaged and disinterested main character.

This fascination with endless life is what drew me into this story, and it was what kept me reading when I became a little weary of the main character. Rob Deakin is equal parts everyman and no-man, but is ultimately generally unlikeable and his “glass half-empty” personality made the times he lived through, and the people he interacted with more ‘history textbook’ and less ‘historical novel’. Rob comes off as mechanical and emotionless even before he is changed by his mysterious interaction with The Medic.

The writing style is solid and again, very much like reading a first person interview. It reminded me of "Interview with the Vampire" by Anne Rice, in its style, but Rob’s unburdening of self is less story and more ‘police report”...”I did this, and then I did that, and then I went here…”.

The positives for this story are in its secondary character development and in the direct foreshadowing offered as occasional bridges between scenes, characters, and time periods. I also found the historical period details and descriptive recounting of certain scenes and locations where the story takes place, very satisfying. The sense of place is consistently strong, and that always earns points.

As always, I appreciate the opportunity afforded me to have an early read by netgalley.com and burningchairpublishing.com . The opinions in this review are expressly those of ButIDigressBookClub and are intended for use by my followers and friends when choosing their next book as well as the publisher of the work.. #butidigress #butidigressbookclub #ALifeEternal #netgalley #burningchairpublishing