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The Brief History of the Dead

111 statements
20 feature instances
9 referencing feature instances

The Brief History of the Dead	type	TVTItem
The Brief History of the Dead	label	The Brief History of the Dead
The Brief History of the Dead	page	TheBriefHistoryOfTheDead
The Brief History of the Dead	comment	The Brief History of the Dead is a 2006 fantasy and adventure novel by Kevin Brockmeier.Once Upon a Time, in a land far, far away... really far away... there existed a city. It had no name, and nobody knew exactly where it was. It was just called The City. Its unnatural lack of an actual label and location in the world may be due to the fact that it's not even found in the world. It is an afterlife of sorts, but it's not the kind of heaven or hell that most people would expect. It is simply a place where the souls of the dead wind up after departing the Earth.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_1'); })But unlike the typical depictions where people spend the rest of eternity lounging around in the afterlife, it turns out that the souls only stay in The City as long as there are people alive who remember them. Once everyone that ever knew them dies off, their soul ends up blinking out of The City, and it is unknown where these souls go. But lately, it seems that something is happening in The City. People seem to be vanishing more quickly than usual...Cut to Antarctica, where a trio of researchers for Coca-Cola are trying to discover methods of using the polar ice in the manufacture of soft drinks (since the cap was already melting anyway). These three were Laura Byrd, Michael Puckett and Robert Joyce. The expedition was supposed to last only six months, but disaster struck when their communication arrays got busted. A while passed as they waited for Coca-Cola to re-establish contact with them or send a rescue team, but no such thing came along.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_2'); })Eventually, they figured they needed to get out of this mess themselves, so Puckett and Joyce set out to find another station of researchers, these ones studying the migratory habits of emperor penguins. However, they had not returned to Laura for weeks after they departed, so after much sulking about on her own, Laura resolved to go out on her own to find the station, and hopefully Puckett and Joyce as well...As the story goes back and forth between The City and Laura's exploits, the situation becomes clearer and clearer: a highly lethal virus has been spreading far and wide, and thanks to the severe increase in death rates, people in The City, of course, are starting to pop out as well. Eventually, Laura is the only person left alive on the Earth, and it is due to her absurdly spatious memory that there are still thousands of people left in The City. Now she must somehow endure the harsh trials of Antarctica, for once her death comes around, The City and everyone inside it will completely vanish.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_3'); })
The Brief History of the Dead	fetched	2023-02-02T22:42:20Z
The Brief History of the Dead	parsed	2023-02-02T22:42:20Z
The Brief History of the Dead	processingComment	Dropped link to TheJourneyThroughDeath: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
The Brief History of the Dead	processingComment	Dropped link to ThePlague: Not a Feature - ITEM
The Brief History of the Dead	processingUnknown	The Journey Through Death
The Brief History of the Dead	isPartOf	DBTropes
The Brief History of the Dead / int_1f6983f7	type	Ambiguous Situation
The Brief History of the Dead / int_1f6983f7	comment	Ambiguous Situation: Even the characters aren't entirely sure what's about to happen at the ending.
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The Brief History of the Dead / int_2c7416bb	type	Acting Unnatural
The Brief History of the Dead / int_2c7416bb	comment	Acting Unnatural: A Corrupt Corporate Executive, the last of the Coca Cola execs left in The City, decides to destroy the memorandum where they agreed to keep their part in The Plague a secret, realizes that there are no shredders in The City. Long story short, he ends up wandering around carrying a trashbin, then having to break a hole in an iced-over river to shove the dustbin through. He is entirely aware of how ridiculous and shady he must look.
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The Brief History of the Dead / int_2dbc1855	type	Ghost City
The Brief History of the Dead / int_2dbc1855	comment	Ghost City: Aside from the obvious pun one could make about The City, The City becomes this early on when a huge number of people die from The Plague. Part of the plot from there is the last remaining people running into each other, and the handful of new arrivals, and trying to figure out what happened.
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The Brief History of the Dead / int_393a1e86	type	But What About the Astronauts?
The Brief History of the Dead / int_393a1e86	comment	But What About the Astronauts?: What about the researchers in Antarctica?. Turns out, they manage to catch The Blinks and die too, due to bringing Coca Cola with them.
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The Brief History of the Dead / int_4b52ff08	type	May Contain Evil
The Brief History of the Dead / int_4b52ff08	comment	May Contain Evil: The Plague was spread by contaminating the syrup at a large Coca Cola bottling plant.
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The Brief History of the Dead / int_4e3d253b	type	Downer Ending
The Brief History of the Dead / int_4e3d253b	comment	Downer Ending
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The Brief History of the Dead / int_4e887103	type	The Aloner
The Brief History of the Dead / int_4e887103	comment	The Aloner: Laura Bird
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The Brief History of the Dead / int_5fdf73bc	type	Photographic Memory
The Brief History of the Dead / int_5fdf73bc	comment	Photographic Memory: Laura appears to have this, and it ends up saving thousands of people from popping out of existence, at least temporarily.
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The Brief History of the Dead / int_6ac3af76	type	Divorce Is Temporary
The Brief History of the Dead / int_6ac3af76	comment	Divorce Is Temporary: Sort of. Laura's parents meet again in the afterlife and rekindle their relationship.
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The Brief History of the Dead / int_6d332aea	type	Driven to Suicide
The Brief History of the Dead / int_6d332aea	comment	Driven to Suicide: Several characters, for various reasons. One character did so after his family was killed by a landmine. He was thus reunited with them in The City.
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The Brief History of the Dead / int_91e894b4	type	Apocalypse How
The Brief History of the Dead / int_91e894b4	comment	Apocalypse How: Class 3a.
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The Brief History of the Dead / int_959cb9aa	type	One Degree of Separation
The Brief History of the Dead / int_959cb9aa	comment	One Degree of Separation: Pretty much the entire plot.
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The Brief History of the Dead / int_ad22fa80	type	Apocalyptic Log
The Brief History of the Dead / int_ad22fa80	comment	Apocalyptic Log: The diary Laura finds at the research station.
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The Brief History of the Dead / int_adfd3165	type	For the Evulz
The Brief History of the Dead / int_adfd3165	comment	For the Evulz: No clear reason is theorized or outright stated as to why whoever created the virus even did it. They just... did.
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The Brief History of the Dead / int_c3c18143	type	Hope Spot
The Brief History of the Dead / int_c3c18143	comment	Hope Spot: Laura finally finds the research station after much trudging through the harsh weather for several days, and she can finally contact civilization. Too bad there's no civilization left on the other end.
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The Brief History of the Dead / int_cbe687ab	type	Corrupt Corporate Executive
The Brief History of the Dead / int_cbe687ab	comment	Corrupt Corporate Executive: The Coca Cola executives, including the one who hired Laura to go on the expedition. They're actually not directly responsible for The Plague and its spread, but they do agree (after having a board meeting in the Afterlife) to keep it a secret.
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The Brief History of the Dead / int_cd2cf2e3	type	Typhoid Mary
The Brief History of the Dead / int_cd2cf2e3	comment	Typhoid Mary: Nobody really finds out the culprit, but it turns out they used Coca-Cola as the distribution nexus for the virus by mixing it into the syrup tanks. Everyone who drank Coke, and anyone who got near them, would be infected and killed quickly. This is how all the researchers in Antarctia got infected in the first place; they took Coke as part of their rations. Incidentally, this is how Laura survives so long, since she has an aversion to drinking Coke.
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The Brief History of the Dead / int_d57f4a99	type	The Nothing After Death
The Brief History of the Dead / int_d57f4a99	comment	The Nothing After Death: Played with. The departed souls of people end up in the afterlife in The City. It's after their time in The City when it's implied this happens.
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The Brief History of the Dead / int_e294a0be	type	Our Souls Are Different
The Brief History of the Dead / int_e294a0be	comment	Our Souls Are Different
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

The Brief History of the Dead	hasFeature	Acting Unnatural / int_bb867420
The Brief History of the Dead	hasFeature	Dead to Begin With / int_bb867420
The Brief History of the Dead	hasFeature	Everybody's Dead, Dave / int_bb867420
The Brief History of the Dead	hasFeature	May Contain Evil / int_bb867420
The Brief History of the Dead	hasFeature	Mundane Afterlife / int_bb867420
The Brief History of the Dead	hasFeature	One Degree of Separation / int_bb867420
The Brief History Of The Dead	seeAlso	The Brief History of the Dead
The Brief History of the Dead	hasFeature	The Journey Through Death / int_bb867420
The Brief History of the Dead	hasFeature	The Last Man Heard a Knock... / int_bb867420

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