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Some of the Dead Are Still Breathing: Living in the Future
In more than a dozen groundbreaking books and many articles, Charles Bowden has blazed a trail of fire from the deserts of the Southwest to the centers of power where abstract ideas of human nature hold sway â and to the roiling places that give such ideas the lie. He has claimed as his turf "our soul history, the germinal material, vast and brooding, that is always left out of more orthodox (all of them) books about America" (Jim Harrison, on Blood Orchid).
In this seminal book, Bowden turns his fearless gaze toward the future, the future we can feel hurtling toward us as fuel reserves dwindle, species die out, terrorism flourishes, the Earth warms, and our ability to be fully awake â alert and impassioned in our lives â wanes. Weaving together natural history, memoir, reportage, and sheer virtuosic writing, he takes us on a furious tour of our emerging reality, his observations from the borderlands â of nations, laws, species, and desire â all the more searing for his refusal to be our scourge.
Bowden has always had the gift of prophecy, but Some of the Dead Are Still Breathing is proof that the times have caught up with his vision. We need that vision now more than ever.
(20090315)
In this seminal book, Bowden turns his fearless gaze toward the future, the future we can feel hurtling toward us as fuel reserves dwindle, species die out, terrorism flourishes, the Earth warms, and our ability to be fully awake â alert and impassioned in our lives â wanes. Weaving together natural history, memoir, reportage, and sheer virtuosic writing, he takes us on a furious tour of our emerging reality, his observations from the borderlands â of nations, laws, species, and desire â all the more searing for his refusal to be our scourge.
Bowden has always had the gift of prophecy, but Some of the Dead Are Still Breathing is proof that the times have caught up with his vision. We need that vision now more than ever.
(20090315)
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
About the author
Charles Bowden
68 books187 followersCharles Bowden was an American non-fiction author, journalist and essayist based in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
His journalism appeared regularly in Harper’s GQ, and other national publications. He was the author of several books of nonfiction, including Down by the River.
In more than a dozen groundbreaking books and many articles, Charles Bowden blazed a trail of fire from the deserts of the Southwest to the centers of power where abstract ideas of human nature hold sway — and to the roiling places that give such ideas the lie. He claimed as his turf "our soul history, the germinal material, vast and brooding, that is always left out of more orthodox (all of them) books about America" (Jim Harrison, on Blood Orchid ).
His journalism appeared regularly in Harper’s GQ, and other national publications. He was the author of several books of nonfiction, including Down by the River.
In more than a dozen groundbreaking books and many articles, Charles Bowden blazed a trail of fire from the deserts of the Southwest to the centers of power where abstract ideas of human nature hold sway — and to the roiling places that give such ideas the lie. He claimed as his turf "our soul history, the germinal material, vast and brooding, that is always left out of more orthodox (all of them) books about America" (Jim Harrison, on Blood Orchid ).
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
April 7, 2009
This is a serious book. It's also something of a train wreck.
Author Charles Bowden is a mix of Henry Miller, William S. Burroughs, and Cormac McCarthy, with a touch of an amphetamine addled writing style, (whether on not he uses I don't know,) and a high-flying ego. Mr. Bowden's stylistic indulgences make for difficult, and not always interesting reading, but when he gets a grip he's both interesting, and compelling. To coin a phrase: when he's good he's very good, when he's bad he's awful.
The book bears the full title: Some of the Dead are Still Breathing: Living in the Future, but I think it would have done well without the colon and etc. Mr. Bowden gives us characters that are spiritually dead, highly symbolic animal life - cardinals, rattlers, elephants, and whales on the verge of extinction or coping in an unfriendly world- has his own brushes with crises of faith, and emerges battered, and not quite whole. Looking at the non-human world to see the state of things works very well; drawing any larger conclusions of humanity based on his fringe characters works less well; and using himself as both Virgil and Dante works even less well. The book functions as memoir, and writing of the past does not work as a look at the future, as much as a mirror to Mr. Bowden's present.
When he does "get a grip" on both style and story we get reportage from the dark night of the soul - his and his characters', and the reportage is brilliant. His reflections and ruminations on the animal world can scare you into thinking we're witnessing the end of the line, if not the end of time, and his look at the humans in his orbit also make us wonder for the future of humanity - not humans, humanity - and it's depressing.
I'm giving it two stars, though it's a very uneven book that bumps down to two and up to four.
Author Charles Bowden is a mix of Henry Miller, William S. Burroughs, and Cormac McCarthy, with a touch of an amphetamine addled writing style, (whether on not he uses I don't know,) and a high-flying ego. Mr. Bowden's stylistic indulgences make for difficult, and not always interesting reading, but when he gets a grip he's both interesting, and compelling. To coin a phrase: when he's good he's very good, when he's bad he's awful.
The book bears the full title: Some of the Dead are Still Breathing: Living in the Future, but I think it would have done well without the colon and etc. Mr. Bowden gives us characters that are spiritually dead, highly symbolic animal life - cardinals, rattlers, elephants, and whales on the verge of extinction or coping in an unfriendly world- has his own brushes with crises of faith, and emerges battered, and not quite whole. Looking at the non-human world to see the state of things works very well; drawing any larger conclusions of humanity based on his fringe characters works less well; and using himself as both Virgil and Dante works even less well. The book functions as memoir, and writing of the past does not work as a look at the future, as much as a mirror to Mr. Bowden's present.
When he does "get a grip" on both style and story we get reportage from the dark night of the soul - his and his characters', and the reportage is brilliant. His reflections and ruminations on the animal world can scare you into thinking we're witnessing the end of the line, if not the end of time, and his look at the humans in his orbit also make us wonder for the future of humanity - not humans, humanity - and it's depressing.
I'm giving it two stars, though it's a very uneven book that bumps down to two and up to four.
April 20, 2010
very free-flowing. very male. very poetic. somewhat inaccessible (yet sexy) to me. completely self-indulgent.
March 28, 2010
This is a strange and intense book.
The library had it filed as a novel; the publisher called it travel writing; but it seems to me more a series of ramblings about the author's uneasy relationship with just about everything.
And we're back into the territory of "truth". How many of these stories are true? It's not presented as being autobiographical, really, even though it's totally self-centered. So it probably doesn't matter. In his mind, Bowden has lived many different lives. And it seems the workings of his mind are more real to him than what goes on outside. He samples, uses, dismisses, watches, but never really connects.
Which is odd in a way, because he seems to be obsessed with merging into some kind of universal consciousness, something he calls "saying yes." Sometimes it seems a Zen-like quest, but he has a lot of anger which does not seem Zen-like at all. He elevates animals but degrades women. He tries to block out the world, but not by merging with it. I never could quite figure out what he meant to convey.
Still, there's a lot of good writing in the book, sharp and thoughtful observation. His animal obsessions include snakes, elephants, cardinals, and Moby Dick. He correctly sees that our symbolic preoccupations with other species have nothing to do with them, and everything to do with our own fears and desires. We cannot pretend to really know them. They "cannot be superior or lesser". They do not live by rules, by explanation, by question.
Bowden would like to experience that way of being. Or something close to it. I think he finds it more pure, truer to life.
"...there is never a promised land because we are already in the land, the only land."
Sound a lot like "Be Here Now". Except Bowden hasn't quite figured out how to "be" and where "here" is.
The library had it filed as a novel; the publisher called it travel writing; but it seems to me more a series of ramblings about the author's uneasy relationship with just about everything.
And we're back into the territory of "truth". How many of these stories are true? It's not presented as being autobiographical, really, even though it's totally self-centered. So it probably doesn't matter. In his mind, Bowden has lived many different lives. And it seems the workings of his mind are more real to him than what goes on outside. He samples, uses, dismisses, watches, but never really connects.
Which is odd in a way, because he seems to be obsessed with merging into some kind of universal consciousness, something he calls "saying yes." Sometimes it seems a Zen-like quest, but he has a lot of anger which does not seem Zen-like at all. He elevates animals but degrades women. He tries to block out the world, but not by merging with it. I never could quite figure out what he meant to convey.
Still, there's a lot of good writing in the book, sharp and thoughtful observation. His animal obsessions include snakes, elephants, cardinals, and Moby Dick. He correctly sees that our symbolic preoccupations with other species have nothing to do with them, and everything to do with our own fears and desires. We cannot pretend to really know them. They "cannot be superior or lesser". They do not live by rules, by explanation, by question.
Bowden would like to experience that way of being. Or something close to it. I think he finds it more pure, truer to life.
"...there is never a promised land because we are already in the land, the only land."
Sound a lot like "Be Here Now". Except Bowden hasn't quite figured out how to "be" and where "here" is.
June 21, 2018
this book blooooowwsssss
June 9, 2018
3.5 stars.
Bowden’s style here is extremely fragmented. It reads like a chopped and screwed Henry Miller.
There are passages about rattlesnakes. Passages about dead bodies disposed in the desert, the courtship rituals of cardinals, the dying ocean, and sex, lots and lots of sex.
At its best it approaches the level of visionary fever dream. At its worst it reads like the exaggerated machismo of an aging man.
My favorite portion comes toward the end where Bowden details his time aboard an anti-whaling ship captained by an Ahab-esque fanatical environmentalist. At one point they ram a Japanese fishing boat and a confused Japanese captain comes on the radio and says he thought environmentalists were supposed to be peaceful. To which the captain responds; we’re not that kind of environmentalists.
Bowden’s style here is extremely fragmented. It reads like a chopped and screwed Henry Miller.
There are passages about rattlesnakes. Passages about dead bodies disposed in the desert, the courtship rituals of cardinals, the dying ocean, and sex, lots and lots of sex.
At its best it approaches the level of visionary fever dream. At its worst it reads like the exaggerated machismo of an aging man.
My favorite portion comes toward the end where Bowden details his time aboard an anti-whaling ship captained by an Ahab-esque fanatical environmentalist. At one point they ram a Japanese fishing boat and a confused Japanese captain comes on the radio and says he thought environmentalists were supposed to be peaceful. To which the captain responds; we’re not that kind of environmentalists.
August 10, 2009
OK, Chuck Bowden, I love your writing, but I don't care about your sex life. The essay about snakes in this book is excellent, but I tired of the representations of the women he has sex with, and put this book down a little over half way through....
April 4, 2010
I really wanted to like this as I loved Blood Orchid. when I read it years ago. I quickly grew tired of Bowden's constant description of his sex life, the trail of women he left in his wake and the hallucinatory feeling of the text.
June 23, 2011
I wish Charles Bowden would get out of my head. This man has a way with words that cannot be rightfully described with words. He lives on the dark side, but transforms it to something you don't mind discovering through his poetic and poignant writing.
October 23, 2010
Loved all the stuff about rattlesnakes, but would've been happy with way less motel sex.
December 16, 2019
It just seemed so dark...not sure I want to get into all of this right now, but I did really like most of what I read. May need to go back to this when in a certain mood.
December 30, 2020
I really enjoyed this book. Would recommend for sure.
March 10, 2021
unreadable
December 23, 2020
My thoughts while reading:
Chapter 1: Oh no, did I pick up one of those really pretentious books that's going to be all stream-of-consciousness and virtually incomprehensible? This is what they mean by "writer's writer," isn't it? I shoulda known since it was my literary-mag friend who recommended it! Aww, I don't think I'm going to be able to keep reading if it's like this. . . Oh well, this chapter is short -- I'll just check out the next one to see if it's more of the same.
Chapter 2: Phew, much better. Sentences shorter than half-pages. Still a little vague and opaque, but at least I can follow it. Ooh, what's this? Page 41:
Chapter 3: Ok, snakes huh? I can dig. . . Oh wow, this is even better than last chapter. . . This is actually good. . . Really good!. . . How have I not heard of this guy before now?. . . Kind of like Edward Abbey but more poetic, or maybe Derrick Jensen but more grounded . . . I'm gonna have to check out more of his stuff!
Chapters 4-6: Ok, so maybe "Serpent" was the book peaking early, but this is still readable. Some important points about the flawed ethos of our time, and a poignant delivery as well (if vague). But man, is all that graphic, depressing sex necessary?
Chapter 7: Skim!
Not Bad Reviews
@pointblaek
Chapter 1: Oh no, did I pick up one of those really pretentious books that's going to be all stream-of-consciousness and virtually incomprehensible? This is what they mean by "writer's writer," isn't it? I shoulda known since it was my literary-mag friend who recommended it! Aww, I don't think I'm going to be able to keep reading if it's like this. . . Oh well, this chapter is short -- I'll just check out the next one to see if it's more of the same.
Chapter 2: Phew, much better. Sentences shorter than half-pages. Still a little vague and opaque, but at least I can follow it. Ooh, what's this? Page 41:
Niiiice. . .The numbers of people will rise, the pain of migration will grow, the seas will bark forth storms, the bombs will explode in the markets, and mouths fighting for a place at the table will grow, as will the shouting and shoving. That is a given.
Once the given is accepted, fear is pointless. The fear comes from not accepting it, from turning aside one's head, from dreaming in the fort of one's home that such things cannot be. The fear comes from turning inward and seeking personal salvation. . .
There is an industry peddling solutions, and these solutions insist no one must really change, except perhaps a little, and without pain. This is the source of the fear, this refusal to accept the future that is already here.
In the Old Testament, the laws insist we must not drink blood, that the flesh must be properly drained or we will be outcasts from the Lord. They say these rules were necessary for clean living in some earlier time.
I swallow the blood, all the bloods.
I am that outlaw, the one crossing borders.
The earlier time is over.
Chapter 3: Ok, snakes huh? I can dig. . . Oh wow, this is even better than last chapter. . . This is actually good. . . Really good!. . . How have I not heard of this guy before now?. . . Kind of like Edward Abbey but more poetic, or maybe Derrick Jensen but more grounded . . . I'm gonna have to check out more of his stuff!
Chapters 4-6: Ok, so maybe "Serpent" was the book peaking early, but this is still readable. Some important points about the flawed ethos of our time, and a poignant delivery as well (if vague). But man, is all that graphic, depressing sex necessary?
Chapter 7: Skim!
Not Bad Reviews
@pointblaek
September 18, 2010
I read Murder City first to get the real story on Juarez and liked it more. (Why can't we give half stars?) This title was intriguing. Bowden's definitely a poet. There were parts that I just wanted to end, but the good parts were good. I may even be inspired to read Moby Dick based on how he described it. One thing I could really do without are the sex stories. I'm not a prude, but it irritated me how all the women would ask what they could do for him and the graphic explanations of smells and parts. Random.
December 7, 2011
"How can a person live a moral life in a culture of death?" That's the question Charles Bowden says this book tries to address. It's not an optimistic book, but one of final acceptance of the way things are.
Bowden has a strange and interesting mind, and he looks at things and calls them what they are. The only problem I had with this book is that sometimes Bowden seems too interested in saying, "Look at me, I'm edgy." Then again, it's the truth.
Bowden has a strange and interesting mind, and he looks at things and calls them what they are. The only problem I had with this book is that sometimes Bowden seems too interested in saying, "Look at me, I'm edgy." Then again, it's the truth.
February 13, 2011
I couldn't finish it. Part of that may be due to treating it as before-bed-reading, when it requires more concentration than that. Following Bowden's thread of thought is challenging, and here I am, months later, saying to myself, what was that book about?
October 3, 2011
this book is all over the place... no plot, no character development, no clear themes, no consistent style, no point. i learned a thing or two about rattlesnakes (assuming the author's facts are correct), but i could have done so online.
Want to Read
January 31, 2012Okay, I admit it, I'm shallow. I want to read this because of the awesome title.
January 13, 2013
Pretty uneven book. If you've read his other books, you've read this one, too.
Read
September 16, 2024DNF at 9%. the premise sounded interesting and his writing is pretty but ugh what are you even trying to say and why is most of it ✨sexy descriptions of women✨
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews