Life in the Land of the Living

by Daniel Vilmure

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0070674590
• ISBN13: 9780070674592
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies

Customer Reviews

Late night excursion...

Daniel Vilmure takes a slice from his own youth to pen a fantastic tale of two boys trekking through the nighttime realm of their Florida town. Modeled on some aspects of his own life growing up in Tampa, Florida, Vilmure's work is the first novel to reach the mainstream. I find the conversations between the protagonists to be convincing, while some of the adult characters appear a bit more styleized. The story at times seems whimsical and yet there is an underlying darkness to the entore tale. One wants to hear the next phase of the boy's life and the promise of Vilmure's work is delivered in subsequent works. I found the story to resonate with me personally. It is a tale which does provide some good insight into the thinking of middle class adolescents, growing up in the late 70s and early 80s. The book may be viewed as a window into a brief time and place of our American culture. It would not be too much to compare the work to a modern Catcher in the Rye. With the boys playing out the modernised role of Holden Caufield. You will enjoy this first taste of Vilmure's growing prose.

An interesting read.

Life in the Land of the Living lacks the interwoven luster of Vilmure's second book, Toby's Lie. "Life" explores the too often uncharted and largely ignored (at least in contemporary fiction) fraternal relationship of two nameless boys "living" in Florida. Estranged from their adulteress mother, and neglected by their alcoholic father, the boys take to the streets of their small town, in a will to survive and on a run to find their own willful justice. The novel, unfortunately, does anything but thrive. The protaginistic narration of the story becomes unclear at several key junctures throughout the story. Rather than a novel, this book would have made a splendid basis for a screenplay. Although character development is virtually non-existent, its absence is a strangely refreshing paradox, and in this case, not necessarily a liability. Instead, it is craftily used as a textual parallel to the boys' transient, sketchy, and confusing world. The novel, in true `Vilmure' form, introduces the reader to what seems to be the middle of an existing situation. The reader, as a result experiences developments and complications as they arise, in unison with the book's characters. Overall, the main themes of life and death are explored and handled exceptionally well, and in outstanding poetic form, with dashing and intriguing introspective. Considering the relative young ages of the narrators, this element should be especially noted. A pleasant read.