This book is basically an ode to a brother. It is the tale of someone dying, Louis, and their brother is the narrator recollecting the last moments of their life plus the odd anecdote of their earlier life.
Louis is introduced as someone who "looked like a wild man, like one of those rough sleepers you feel part sorry for, part afraid of, and part repelled by." Really he is someone who has had a tumour removed from their brain and is in his dying days. His brother has traveled across from England to be him, Louis having emigrated to Australia.
Louis was the elder brother. He achieved academic success but never stuck with a decent job, "the bohemianism was in his soul." But then at the end, he had the terminal illness and his brother had to cope with it.
Some bits are funny, but not necessarily "achingly funny" as the blurb says.
There is plenty of contemplation too. "Life just seems like a big party sometimes, at which we all gradually get edged towards the door, and then we are out in the cold."
The last section of the book, "The origins of This is the Life," explains that the book was inspired by the authors own brother as he died from a terminal illness. I think the author's brother would have been pleased and proud of this book.
Publication date: 27 Feb 2014
Amazon UK link: This is the Life
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