Review: Cadaver by Jonah Ansell

CADAVER by Jonah Ansell
Release Date: February 1, 2013

A cadaver wakes up to say a last goodbye to his wife, but discovers a truth in death he didn’t know in life.

CADAVER isn’t just any old love story. It is a cinematic poem. Literally, it rhymes. Inspired by the wit of Shel Silverstein and the wisdom of William Shakespeare, it is a 21st century love sonnet that seeks to awaken the hopeful romantic within even the harshest cynic.

Synopsis from Goodreads.

 I love this book so much! It's the adult equivalent of a picture book, but with a slightly more twisted plot than what you'll find on your kid's shelves. While it is, in its strictest essence, a love story, it is about so much more.

The illustrations are absolute gorgeous! The detail was enough to give me chills, without making me nauseous, as corpses have a tendency to do. It felt a little strange to not be reading a picture book to my kids, but I like sleeping, and I think that if I read this to them, I probably wouldn't be sleeping for quite some time. Not because it's scary, because it's far too beautiful to be scary, but simply because the thought of this roaming corpse might give kids pause. Or maybe the realization that people are cut open after they die. I'm not ready for THAT conversation!

It is written in poem format, and I have to give kudos to Ansell for some of his choices of rhyming words. The synopsis compares Ansell to Shel Silverstein, and I couldn't agree more. This is the type of poetry that I grew up on, so it felt entirely natural for me to be reading this book.

For those of you who are interested in other media, it began as an award-winning animated short. While equally brilliant, I felt that the book left more room for imagination. My own mind added dramatic pauses, where I felt they were lacking in the film.

A huge thank you to Netgalley for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.