Adam Chad Kilroy was born in a village of idiots. We meet him first at the beginning of My Author Is Dead by Michel Bruneau, in the midst of a public trial where his life hangs in the balance. Cassandra Dew Hawkins is a twerp, the bane of his life and largely responsible for our hero’s predicament. And so the story commences, narrated in retrospect by our hero, a particularly nervous, inept individual who stumbles through the first part of this book, getting deeper and deeper into trouble with various groups and religions, which include Authorians, Kafkaists and Illiterantes among others. He is helped at times by his curmudgeonly but hugely likeable grandfather who tries, but ultimately fails, to prevent our erstwhile hero from falling foul of the strict rules of Authorianism and landing himself in gaol.

A simple love story is woven into a complex narrative which seems to delve into the absurdities of religious belief and the resulting rules and catechisms that bind the adherents. As the story makes its return to Adam’s trial, a public riot breaks out and, before sentence can be pronounced, our hero is knocked unconscious to awaken dazed and confused in the author’s study – he being a surly drunkard who spends some considerable time berating Adam for being a weak and ineffectual character, albeit one of his own creation. The story re-commences after some disturbing scenes in the author’s home and our hero continues on his haphazard way through the last part of the book, encountering some unexpected twists and turns along the road to a final satisfactory conclusion.

My Author Is Dead is a strange book which carries with it some unsettling, though thought provoking, concepts. The Authorians and Kafkaists believe (in their own separate ways) in an omnipotent, eternal author engaged in writing a never-ending story which describes our daily lives. The Authorians have a book of rules, ostensibly written by the author himself, which governs their heavily restricted society. I suppose if one were to call the author ‘God’ and the book of rules ‘the Bible’ one could consider Michel Bruneau’s book an allegory on the nature of faith and belief. But I think the book’s convoluted narrative goes a little beyond a simple allegory. Cleverly crafted, it pokes and prods at the very basis of perception and reality while spinning a charmingly tangled love story. I would recommend that you read this book with no preconceptions and an open mind.

Don't let the connection to Kafka put you off reading My Author Is Dead by Michel Bruneau. Some people love Kafka, some people hate him. But in this novel, being a Kafkaist takes on a new level. Adam, the main character of this unique novel, is seen as a rather weird person - but weird is relative considering the world he lives in. It is not seen as proper to interact with Kafkaists. After all, there is that issue with cockroaches. And other weird issues. Adam needs a plan because he wants to set things right in his world.

The characters in My Author Is Dead definitely do have an unusual outlook on life. This will lead to many surprises for readers. Initially, I have to admit, I was not quite sure where the book was going and what it really was about. I assume this initial confusion of the reader is no coincidence but done on purpose. The more you get into the story, the more you get drawn in, so it does pay off to stick with it - even if you don't quite get it right from the start. I am glad that I stuck with the book!

While I am not much into politics, I enjoyed how some of the current political problems can be found in the story; not obvious, but in a very well done way that makes you think (a lot). This book is a strange read - but also strangely compelling. I would not recommend it to lazy readers, but to readers who enjoy a challenging book that becomes rather entertaining once you get into it. It is an unusual book, but in a world where so many books are the same, this is a very pleasant surprise!

For Adam, the world as he knows it has never been ideal. He has never seemed to fit in and only seems to be making his life even more complicated. It all starts with a girl named June when he’s seven years old, but when he meets her again six years later, it results in amazing changes in his life, including challenges to the beliefs of his entire world. Is the Author real? And is it really possible for an Authorian to find happily ever after with a Kafkaist? It’s a question that Adam is struggling to answer with the help of June, Theodors, Zayne and many more in My Author is Dead by Michel Bruneau.

This book is interesting and unique. It looks at the idea of religion from a completely different side of things, but that’s definitely not the focus of this book. There’s plenty going on and there’s some romance and some action at the same time. The cyclical style of the book is great as well because it puts you right into the story before taking you back to get the background information you need in order to really understand what’s going on. My Author is Dead is a book that I will be recommending to others. I liked the characters and felt that I could easily relate to them, as I think anyone would be able to do. Michel Bruneau really hit a big one with this story.