My Author Is Dead


Fiction - General
334 Pages
Reviewed on 10/27/2016
Buy on Amazon

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Author Biography

Michel Bruneau is an author at the mercy of left and right sides of the brain fighting for control of the keyboard. The entertaining and thought provoking novels engendered by this conflict have won a number of awards (such as the Grand Prize Next Generation Indie Book Awards and the ASCE George Winter Award). Most fortunately, Michel Bruneau is not a dead Author—yet.

Michel Bruneau’s blend of deadpan humor and keen eye for the nonsensical side of human nature underlie his original perspective on contemporary existence.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Faridah Nassozi for Readers' Favorite

Growing up, Adam Chad Kilroy hated everything about his life and his community, but even he never imagined it would get this bad. Now in court facing a mob of angry villagers, Adam took a minute to look back on his life, to reflect on the path that got him to his current situation and how everything got so messed up. Adam's troubles begun when he was just seven years old, instigated by the little village troublemaker named Cassandra. After the trouble that turned everyone against him, life seemed to get back to normal for the next few years - well, as normal as could be in his village of 'idiots.' But little did he know that his problems would follow him into the future. The day Adam turned fifteen, ghosts from his troubled past were awakened and, shortly after, while on a mission with his father, Adam encountered a ghost from his childhood past, bringing with it sweet memories created in a forest a lifetime ago. In an attempt to rekindle a forbidden love, Adam landed himself in the worst kind of predicament with no apparent way out. This is the story of a society divided by a wicked belief system, and the boy who defied the rules.

My Author Is Dead by Michel Bruneau is a deeply gripping Kafka-esque story that explores social divisions and injustices, love, and defying the rules. The story's opening is a sure way to draw the reader in, eagerly waiting to see how Adam landed in his current dilemma. The central character's unique take on the way of life around him and beyond is one of the story's main hooks. Even in his darkest hours, Adam's unique look at things never fails to lighten the mood for the reader. Michel Bruneau used an engaging sense of humour and cynicism to infuse some light into the gloom that formed the general mood of the story. The narrator's words paint a good picture of what he was up against, perfectly capturing the settings and emotions, and making it effortless for the reader to visualise it all.

Charles Remington

Adam Chad Kilroy was born in a village of idiots. We meet him first at the beginning of My Author Is Dead by Michel Bruneau, in the midst of a public trial where his life hangs in the balance. Cassandra Dew Hawkins is a twerp, the bane of his life and largely responsible for our hero’s predicament. And so the story commences, narrated in retrospect by our hero, a particularly nervous, inept individual who stumbles through the first part of this book, getting deeper and deeper into trouble with various groups and religions, which include Authorians, Kafkaists and Illiterantes among others. He is helped at times by his curmudgeonly but hugely likeable grandfather who tries, but ultimately fails, to prevent our erstwhile hero from falling foul of the strict rules of Authorianism and landing himself in gaol.

A simple love story is woven into a complex narrative which seems to delve into the absurdities of religious belief and the resulting rules and catechisms that bind the adherents. As the story makes its return to Adam’s trial, a public riot breaks out and, before sentence can be pronounced, our hero is knocked unconscious to awaken dazed and confused in the author’s study – he being a surly drunkard who spends some considerable time berating Adam for being a weak and ineffectual character, albeit one of his own creation. The story re-commences after some disturbing scenes in the author’s home and our hero continues on his haphazard way through the last part of the book, encountering some unexpected twists and turns along the road to a final satisfactory conclusion.

My Author Is Dead is a strange book which carries with it some unsettling, though thought provoking, concepts. The Authorians and Kafkaists believe (in their own separate ways) in an omnipotent, eternal author engaged in writing a never-ending story which describes our daily lives. The Authorians have a book of rules, ostensibly written by the author himself, which governs their heavily restricted society. I suppose if one were to call the author ‘God’ and the book of rules ‘the Bible’ one could consider Michel Bruneau’s book an allegory on the nature of faith and belief. But I think the book’s convoluted narrative goes a little beyond a simple allegory. Cleverly crafted, it pokes and prods at the very basis of perception and reality while spinning a charmingly tangled love story. I would recommend that you read this book with no preconceptions and an open mind.

Kim Anisi

Don't let the connection to Kafka put you off reading My Author Is Dead by Michel Bruneau. Some people love Kafka, some people hate him. But in this novel, being a Kafkaist takes on a new level. Adam, the main character of this unique novel, is seen as a rather weird person - but weird is relative considering the world he lives in. It is not seen as proper to interact with Kafkaists. After all, there is that issue with cockroaches. And other weird issues. Adam needs a plan because he wants to set things right in his world.

The characters in My Author Is Dead definitely do have an unusual outlook on life. This will lead to many surprises for readers. Initially, I have to admit, I was not quite sure where the book was going and what it really was about. I assume this initial confusion of the reader is no coincidence but done on purpose. The more you get into the story, the more you get drawn in, so it does pay off to stick with it - even if you don't quite get it right from the start. I am glad that I stuck with the book!

While I am not much into politics, I enjoyed how some of the current political problems can be found in the story; not obvious, but in a very well done way that makes you think (a lot). This book is a strange read - but also strangely compelling. I would not recommend it to lazy readers, but to readers who enjoy a challenging book that becomes rather entertaining once you get into it. It is an unusual book, but in a world where so many books are the same, this is a very pleasant surprise!

Samantha Dewitt (Rivera)

For Adam, the world as he knows it has never been ideal. He has never seemed to fit in and only seems to be making his life even more complicated. It all starts with a girl named June when he’s seven years old, but when he meets her again six years later, it results in amazing changes in his life, including challenges to the beliefs of his entire world. Is the Author real? And is it really possible for an Authorian to find happily ever after with a Kafkaist? It’s a question that Adam is struggling to answer with the help of June, Theodors, Zayne and many more in My Author is Dead by Michel Bruneau.

This book is interesting and unique. It looks at the idea of religion from a completely different side of things, but that’s definitely not the focus of this book. There’s plenty going on and there’s some romance and some action at the same time. The cyclical style of the book is great as well because it puts you right into the story before taking you back to get the background information you need in order to really understand what’s going on. My Author is Dead is a book that I will be recommending to others. I liked the characters and felt that I could easily relate to them, as I think anyone would be able to do. Michel Bruneau really hit a big one with this story.