What Happens When Death Becomes A Human Being? The Ultimate, Unlikely Protagonist in Ben Reeves' Debut Novel

Sorry for being depressing at first, but I promise it’ll get more uplifting if you get to the end of the review! Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt releases in the US tomorrow, July 7 and I’m so excited to share this book with you all.

Death, and life, are probably the only two things that confirm our human-ness. And despite death being the ultimate inevitability, it still remains a complete mystery. Beliefs rooted in religion or spirituality still don’t provide the concrete proof on what lies beyond, something that we ultimately seek. Regardless of the inevitability of one’s passing, we rarely discuss death, and adopt a sort of cognitive dissonance around the death of others with degrees of separation from ourselves. Why does it feel so easy to rattle off numbers of thousands of deceased persons from a war, or obsess over a true crime murder case, when the departure of our loved one is soul crushing, traumatizing, and debilitating?

But why don’t we talk about it? Why are we not brainstorming with our girlfriends over a wine dinner all the which ways that we’ll come back or make our presence known to our friends that we’re OK on the other side (I’ll be coming back as a whale FYI). Why do we avoid very necessary and useful end of life planning? Why do we drive like reckless assholes as if operating a machine at 90mph will never have any implications (I’m looking at you Southern California drivers)? Why do we repeat phrases like, “life is short” or “YOLO!”, and subsequently ignore the meaning behind those messages? Why do we continuously get wrapped up in minute inconveniences or crippling embarrassment over NOTHING?

Why? Why? Why? Why?

I had a traumatizing winter. Maybe I’ll share more details one day, but I basically spent several months in complete drowning fear that I’d lose the person closest to me. Although things turned out OK, I still cope with lingering panic. The once quietness of my thoughts are now typically consumed with attempts to understand death. What happens? Will I know before it does? How do I want to go; do I want it to be quick without anticipatory anxiety and grief, do I want months to process, or do I want minutes to reflect? Questions that remain unanswered because the overwhelming truth is that I don’t want to go, especially not yet. It’s naive to believe that we can evade it completely, even if medical advances and precautionary actions prolong lifespans. Everyone we know will die, and one day we will too. It is the way of the universe.

So Ben Reeves wrote his debut novel called Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt completely reimagining our perception of death. Reeves named “death” Travis and gave him jeans, a t-shirt, socks with holes, and an apartment with a curious stray cat. Travis has neighbors who he befriends and helps out with. To the naked eye, Travis is unquestionably human. But instead of participating in normal humanly activities - going to work, making new friends, vacationing - he visits people in their last days, hours, and minutes. Travis’ signaling of death isn’t meant to alarm - although sometimes does - but ultimately to comfort those in their final moments. He restores photos and delivers them to beautiful memories documented in a photo album. He assists patrons in tasks around their homes including folding laundry or making tea. He provides comfort and wisdom, and accepts all emotions that people are feeling in their final moments. He remembers each and every person he encounters, holding their grief close. And although he feels a desire occasionally to change the outcome, he knows that he cannot. And he never does.

Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt is not written in your typical book formatting. There is plentiful dialogue but all without quotation marks. Sometimes the dialogue is separated out onto different lines, other times the dialogue is merely separated by commas in a stream of consciousness. Instead of a linear plot, the novel provides multiple brief vignettes for various people (probably 20+) facing their last days to minutes of life. Readers see a full range of people, and a full range of emotions. Good people and bad people - nurturing grandmothers, children, and abusers - all are afforded Travis’ comfort. Readers observe the anticipation each person feels as they approach their time. A grandmother who has lost her friends and husband patiently awaits her time. A professional athlete makes peace with his terminal cancer and his regrets. A mother barely survives after the sudden passing of her young daughter. These stories are raw and full of humanness: nostalgia, regret, relief, longing, and loving. Not every story ends well, or at a fair time, which is where most of the heartbreak ensues. Reeves writing style is beautifully immersive and he aptly captures human imperfection and emotion. What makes this book so incredibly stunning is the ache in your bones and heart it evokes.

Ok so remember when I promise that this review wouldn’t be entirely depressing? OK right.

The element of my recent trauma that I grieve the most is my ignorance. Ignorance is bliss and there is nothing more blissful than the belief that you’re immune to life’s worth atrocities none other than the fact that you haven’t yet experienced them. But the gift of these experiences afford is the revived outlook on life and choices.

Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt is actually not meant to be a doomsday book. Its purpose is to be a gift to readers, the ultimate reminder that time is available. You won’t get more than you get, but what you have is valuable. Plan ahead, talk about difficult subjects with your loved ones, game plan your haunting agenda with girlfriends, live as fully as you can. If you knew you only had 20 minutes left on this earth who would you call, what regrets would you feel, what nostalgia would you bask in? But maybe you shouldn’t wait until you only have 20 minutes left.

I cried my way through this entire book, yet somehow ended up on the other end feeling a certain wholeness. If Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt sounds like something you may enjoy, I’d highly recommend. This was a five star read for me! Thank you to Avid Readers Press for the gifted ARC; all reviews are my own.

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