A brief history of the dead by Kevin Brockmeier

Imagine a city sustained by memories. Not deliberate, clear and lucid memories. But even a mere sighting from the corner of your eye is enough to connect the person to your list of remembered people. This is the basis of "the city" in Kevin Brockmeier's book. They are the recent dead and are in the city because someone who remembers them is alive on earth. In the city they have clear memories of their life and even their death. They remember the people they knew. It is a simple place not at all like heavens and hells that we think of. It feels like any normal city.

The story in the book happens at a time when a virulent epidemic is wiping out the entire human population on earth. So just as people are entering the city is large numbers, they are also leaving in large numbers for the simple reason that the people who remember them on earth are dying away rapidly.

On earth it is a time when the companies have become powerful enough to get a hold of Antarctica for its mineral wealth. The Coca Cola company has sent some researchers to study the place. And by a strange turn of circumstances, Laura Byrd - one of the scientists - becomes the only person alive on earth for a short period of time. So this creates the curious situation that all the people in the city know Laura Byrd and the is the sole cause of her existence in the city. He survival gives these people a chance to look at their past lives and re-evaluate relationships. Her parents who had grown apart on earth grow closer and their love is renewed. A PR person from the Coca Cola company becomes aware of a certain hideous skeleton in his cupboard. One of her co-workers tries to count how many people's lives he had touched. As he does this computation comes to the humbling conclusion that there could have been well over fifty thousand people.

The book brings to the fore the powerful notion that while we go through the business of our life, we could potentially touch a lot of people and leave behind powerful memories. Our mere existence could give people an opportunity to make their lives a little better.