I loved Poore so much, I even read the acknowledgements and swooned a little. He guides us as the readers through the universe as he sees it. He has a strong moral compass when it comes to social justice and compassion, and that is what drives Milo and the entirety of Reincarnation Blues. He has a clear point of view on the important things in life. He is fluid in his writing and his ideas are strong. He is smart, and unsentimental, and witty, and flip, and emotional, and wise, and direct, and all the things that make a book like this resonate. Then I got to the last 100 pages and was back in again. Then at about page 150 I was wanted to quit (and only held out because I’d heard good things, and had committed to covering it on the podcast). I was 50 pages in telling my sister-in-law this is a must read. My feelings about this book changed wildly as I read it. As darkly enchanting as the works of Neil Gaiman and as wisely hilarious as Kurt Vonnegut’s, Michael Poore’s Reincarnation Blues is the story of everything that makes life profound, beautiful, absurd, and heartbreaking. Or Suzie, as he calls her.īut Reincarnation Blues is more than a great love story: Every journey from cradle to grave offers Milo more pieces of the great cosmic puzzle-if only he can piece them together in time to finally understand what it means to be part of something bigger than infinity. But all Milo really wants is to fall forever into the arms of Death. If he doesn’t make the cut, oblivion awaits. Milo has had 9,995 chances so far and has just five more lives to earn a place in the cosmic soul. Ten thousand lives to “get it right.” Answer all the Big Questions. If you’re not familiar with Reincarnation Blues by Micahel Poore, check out a little bit about the book hereįirst we live. There are spoilers on the episode (there are none in this review), so I suggest you read the book before you listen. You can listen to our full conversation about the book, its themes, and who we think should star in the TV series of our minds, right here. This week on The Stacks podcast, Lauren Fanella and I discussed Reincarnation Blues as part of The Stacks Book Club.

Reincarnation Blues by Michael Poore