A beautifully written book. It's both lyrical and melencoly. I think it resonated much more with me today (at 65) than it would have 20 or 30 years ago. ( )

Stewart's third book, after his cyberpunk Passion Play and wry fantasy Nobody's Son, begins his series of novels involving our present world with a bit more magic added than is typical for magical realism. The first few pages make clear that this is an alternate reality where JFK was assassinated by RFK was not, thanks to the intervention of a soothsayer. The opening begins with the main character, Dante, doing an autopsy on his own dead body. Unlike the much later novel "John Dies At the End", the presence of the body is unexplained but not surprising to anyone. Everyone in this alternate present have had to become used to weird things happening, especially to an angel -- whatever that means. Even Dante is not sure what he is, nor is his sardonic shadow twin Jet, to whom something happened at birth to cause his aunt to scream and turn away from him.

What makes the book work is Stewart's prose and imagery. Dante may be the main character, but he is a bit of a stick. My favorite passages are those where Jet describes various black and white pictures he has taken. Black and white because you see important things when not distracted by the color of reality.

Stewart for the most part refuses to give info dumps. He does well imparting a lot of information along the way, but what the world is like outside Dante's family is never clear. Steward did a better job, with a lot more space, in his next book, The Night Watch, and then learned to do it cleanly and compactly in Mockingbird and Galveston. I would recommend reading all of those first, and then turning to this warmup novel.

Still, highly recommended. ( )

This is a hard one to review. On one hand, it is a creepy book about a seemingly happy family. It starts with a dissection. Which is just creepy. And, its hard to follow, frustratingly so. Its not necessarily a bad thing - it makes a reader pay very close attention. It also introduces the three siblings that form the core of the story. Angsty Dante, cool and aloof Jet, and Dumpy sister Sarah.

As the secrets of the family slowly unfold, we find out about this new world (with obligatory Star Wars Reference, for the win!) and how the family changed to accommodate.

At times the story sits at the edge of annoying angst - it never goes cross the boundary of annoying (well, maybe a little). I suspect that this book will drive some readers crazy due to the "woe is me" attitude that seems to plague this book. But, the writing is excellent, the characters, intriguing, and the story, an excellent addition to genre of Gothic storytelling (Creepy house included). ( )

This was hard for an arachnophobe to read. I put it down and picked it back up several times, but I'm glad I persevered. As always, Stewart does a matchless job of following intricate and often tortured relationships on the path of life and death. ( )

http://speculiction.blogspot.com/2011/09/review-of-resurrection-man-by-sean.html ( )