The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch, Volume 1

At the Edge of Empire

By: Daniel Kraus

Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne

Length: 22 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

A murdered teen is resurrected to walk the Earth for centuries in this sweeping historical epic in the spirit of The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, from the author of Rotters and Scowler.

Twenty minutes after his murder on the shores of Lake Michigan in 1896, 17-year-old Zebulon Finch awakens, resurrected to suffer an eternity upon the planet. But of all people...why him?

Is it because he was a violent Chicago gangster and this is his chance at redemption?

Is it because he is a modern-day Job whose suffering is beyond human comprehension?

Over the next century - or two - he will try to find out. With a sly, aristocratic voice and a healthy appetite for women and anarchy, Zebulon Finch spins a tale of his travels across a young America, watching the country grow and mature, knowing that his mind and body will never do the same.

Yes, he is witty. He is also vain. Absolutely brilliant, too. And he is always entertaining. But have no doubt - Zebulon Finch has a heart as vulnerable as anyone's. Too bad he doesn't learn to use it till after it has stopped beating....

©2015 Daniel Kraus (P)2015 Simon & Schuster

Something really different

I really enjoyed this book. The story turns in many directions through a well-painted changing world. And the way the protagonist speaks! What an artfully crafted vocabulary. I cared about him even though he's no hero. I'm looking forward to book 2!

A dark tale composed of rich language; captivatin.

Born in a the prison of a statis starved mother ad boy flees too young into the mean streets of the city of the middle 1800s American East. Bitter with his life young Zebulon Finch is sucked into an underworld lifestyle that leads to the violent death of the life he's living.
Dead on a lake bottom his body is dragged up on a dock. He's cold, feels no pain, and a dead body; only he isn't. Zebulon sees, hears, feels touch, his mind works as if he were a living 17 year old...
At first he just goes along as a speachless victim living his almost life in a cage trying to get ahold of his new reality as not living person. In slow measures his almost life adventures unfolds, a dark yet fastenating tale. 17 years old forever unkillably cursed to live; almost worth it as he tries to set his world aright from his beginnings before his murder.

Hothead teen zombie captivates and revolts me

Expertly narrated sweeping tale of a hothead teenage boy who returns from the dead and shares his deprivation, brutal honesty, and serious lapses in character. Finch is a most eloquent zombie, but I don't know if I'm up for volume two now or ever.

Amazing and Original

Among the most unique, imaginative, epic, darkly humorous books I've ever read. Great narrator too. Moving on to the second book immediately.

Great story lnes

You were never really sure where the story would go next but you knew you wanted to be there when it happened.

Zombified Forest Gump.

an interesting tale through the first half of the 1900s. The narrator did a wonderful job painting a picture with words. I would recommend this to friends.

The worst of Daniel Kraus.

This piece is plagued by the same problem that most essays written by boys of Zebulon's age suffer from: great width and little depth. What little dramatic story there is, is dedicated to the same cast of (increasingly unlikely to encounter, yet somehow still found) two dimensional characters.

The book tries to excuse Zebulon's ludicrously bizarre and nonsensical reasoning by laying a foundation of childhood isolation and abuse. It later ignores the impossibility of circumstances and actions by citing a certain factor that prevents Zebulon's growth. This is an excuse to write poorly.

Fantastically interesting events in world history are reduced to hastily shoehorned plot footnotes, all the while Zebulon doesn't once think of any practical use for his never-tiring, never-hungry or thirsty body. DESPITE the text having mentioned literal comic book heroes decades prior to other events.

I feel robbed of my credit. I got it for free but I could have used it for another book.

Horrible

possibly the worst book and a horrible reader. don't waste your time on this book. it almost put me to sleep on the road a few times.