Many moons ago (well, 7.85 moons by my math) I put out a call for book recommendations because I had some credits to burn before canceling my Audible membership. At a friend’s recommendation I snagged Reincarnation Blues by Michael Poore and as is my preference I went in blind, researching neither book nor author until after I’d reached the end.
Take a moment to consider the title and you’ll quickly grasp the MacGuffin; Our protagonist, Milo the mediocre white man, is going to be reincarnated and it won’t be all sunshine and puppies. As it turns out Milo is going to be reincarnated a lot, under the premise that you get ten thousand tries (and how very decimal of whatever next-level supreme beings chose that number) to make it right before the universe gives up on you and your soul just sorta fades away.
The reincarnation plot device is a convenient way to cram several barely-related short stories into a novel. We get to experience versions of Milo in centuries past, Milo in sci-fi futures, Milo in the near-present, Milo as a cricket, and so on. Many iterations of Milo are described only in memories or flashback, but we experience his final lives in detail.
The subplot that ties everything together is that each time he dies Milo wakes up in an afterlife world to be greeted by Suzie, his between-lives girlfriend who also happens to be the embodiment of death. Here Milo is able to remember he’s been through this before, many times, and can choose to remain for a while to collect his bearings before once again taking the literal mortal plunge.
I enjoyed this read/listen and it went by quickly. The life-stories were interesting and varied and engaging and of course I was curious what Milo would have to do in his mortal life to “get it right”. My gut reaction is to recommend it. One of my favorite authors apparently concurs, as she gave it 4 of 5 stars on GoodReads.
That said… if you read some of the online reviews you’ll see this is a polarizing book. It definitely hits some potential triggers. Rape, false rape accusation, and the n-word make appearances along with other aspects of human awfulness. Considering the author (like Milo) appears to be a mediocre white man, you could take this in a couple directions. One is “Awful things happen and authors should be able to write about them”. Another might be “Awful things happen, and we know they happen, but if you’re a skilled author you can create something beautiful without using awfulness as a crutch.”
In summary: I thought it was a good ride but you might feel differently, so consider yourself warned.