Death

July 14, 2008
Pendle turns out a wicked satire of death in this faux autobiography. Death, the spawn of Sin and Satan, begins his story at the dawn of creation, before the beginning of God's newest project, Earth. With only a bit of “the Darkness from the deepest depths” as a keepsake, Death and family travel to the freshly minted Earth, where Death's father takes advantage of the gullible animals (prior to Satan's arrival, the T-Rex was a vegetarian). It isn't until Death accidentally kills a unicorn that he realizes his calling, and soon he recounts his role in some of the most celebrated deaths in history, including Cain's murder of Abel, Socrates' suicide and the resurrection of Jesus. However, Death's profession is demanding and solitary, and at the urging of his only human friend, he begins to dabble with Life to relieve stress. He forms a “physical dependency on Life,” and after a 10-day period in 1582 when nothing dies, Death is forced into rehab and begins his painful recovery. Pendle's coruscating wit is a great match for the material, and he makes the most of it.

September 1, 2008
First-time author Death offers his side of the story in this tell-all memoir. This jerky, quirky, and allusive tale begins even before the beginning, with Death admitting he comes from a mixed background; his ancient father is Satan, and his mother is Sin, a heavyset lady, the size of a small mountain. They also happen to be brother and sister, which complicates those infrequent family get-togethers. Moving quickly along, Death reveals that, contrary to what you read, God isn't omnipotent and that Hell is that drawer that everybody has where string and useless kitchen implements accumulate. Along the way, Death manages to fall in love with Maud, which compromises his work. If Monty Python worked the Catskills and wrote a humorous book about death, the result might be something like this work by Pendle ("The Remarkable Millard Fillmore"). The image on the cover of a scythe-carrying robed figure and the abundant wittily captioned paintings and drawings lifted from Latin readers and old histories of the world should insure that copies will catch the attention of a younger crowd all too able to find the specter of Death funny; recommended for all public libraries. O Death, where is thy shtick?Bob Lunn, Kansas City P.L., MO

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