Being Dead

{ NOV 2021 - Verified ebook for complete book description, cover, table of contents, separation of book (front/ back matter, parts, and chapters), and epub format error checking. } Paperback, 224 pages Published: 1999 Edition: Picador (2013) National Book Critics Circle Award Fiction (2000) A couple lie naked in the dunes at Baritone Bay, at the spot where, almost thirty years before, they had first had sex as students. Nostalgia has sent Celice and Joseph back to their singing stretch of coast, but in the seeming calm of the afternoon they meet a brutal and unexpected fate – one which will still their bodies but not their love, and certainly not their story. Their corpses lie undiscovered and rotting for a week, prey to sand crabs, flies, and gulls. Yet there remains something touching about the scene, with Joseph's hand curving lightly around his wife's leg, "quietly resting; flesh on flesh; dead, but not departed yet." From that moment forward, "Being Dead " becomes less about murder and more about death. Alternating chapters move back in time from the murder in hourly and two-hourly increments. As the narrative moves backward, we see Celice and Joseph make the small decisions about their day that will lead them inexorably towards their own deaths. In other chapters the narrative moves forward. Celice and Joseph are on vacation and nobody misses them until they do not return. Thus, it is six days before their bodies are found. Crace describes in minute detail their gradual return to the land with the help of crabs, birds, and the numerous insects that attack the body and gently and not so gently prepare it for the dust-to-dust phase of death. 'A work of near-genius' Literary Review 'A swirling symphonic celebration of the glory of the natural world' The Times 'Intensely imagined and deeply felt' Hilary Mantel, Sunday Times 'One of the most haunting books I read this year' Carol Shields, Guardian 'An extraordinarily moving love story' Observer Winner Of The National Book Critics Circle Award. A Couple Lie Naked In The Dunes At Baritone Bay, At The Spot Where, Almost Thirty Years Before, They Had First Had Sex As Students. Nostalgia Has Sent Celice And Joseph Back To Their Singing Stretch Of Coast, But In The Seeming Calm Of The Afternoon They Meet A Brutal And Unexpected Fate – One Which Will Still Their Bodies But Not Their Love, And Certainly Not Their Story. Winner Of The National Book Critics Circle Award A Couple Lie Naked In The Dunes At Baritone Bay, At The Spot Where, Almost Thirty Years Before, They Had First Had Sex As Students. Nostalgia Has Sent Celice And Joseph Back To Their Singing Stretch Of Coast, But In The Seeming Calm Of The Afternoon They Meet A Brutal And Unexpected Fate – One Which Will Still Their Bodies But Not Their Love, And Certainly Not Their Story. Lying in the sand dunes of Baritone Bay are the bodies of a middle-aged couple. Celice and Joseph, in their mid-50s and married for more than 30 years, are returning to the seacoast where they met as students. Instead, they are battered to death by a thief with a chunk of granite. Their corpses lie undiscovered and rotting for a week, prey to sand crabs, flies, and gulls. . . From that moment forward, Being Dead becomes less about murder and more about death. Alternating chapters move back in time from the murder in hourly and two-hourly increments. As the narrative moves backward, we see Celice and Joseph make the small decisions about their day that will lead them inexorably towards their own deaths "Their bodies had expired, but anyone could tell - just look at them - that Joseph and Celice were still devoted. For while his hand was touching her, curved round her shin, the couple seemed to have achieved that peace the world denies, a period of grace, defying even murder. Anyone who found them there, so wickedly disfigured, would nevertheless be bound to see that something of their love had survived the death of cells. The corpses were surrendered to the weather and the earth, but here were still a man and wife, quietly resting; flesh on flesh; dead, but not departed yet."--BOOK JACKET. Lying in the sand dunes of Baritone Bay are the bodies of a middle-aged couple. Zoologists Joseph and Celice returned to the site of their first lovemaking to rekindle the flame thirty years into their marriage, only to be battered to death by a thief with a chunk of granite. Their bodies lie undiscovered and rotting for a week, prey to sand-crabs, flies and gulls, and yet there is something touching about this scene, as it comments on the leavings of death more than the state of death itself. 1999 The author ponders the redemptive power of secular love in this novel. Their bodies had expired, but anyone looking at them could see that Joseph and Celice were still devoted, the couple seemed to have achieved a peace the world denies, a period of grace, defying even murder. They were still man and wife, quietly resting, dead but not yet departed Baritone Bay, Mid-afternoon. A Couple, Naked, Married Almost Thirty Years, Are Lying Murdered In The Dunes.--jacket. Jim Crace. An unflinching meditation on love and death from Booker shortlisted author Jim Crace