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I hate the idea of being kept in a box. I have always had a creative flair and delight in quilting, writing, and occasionally dusting off my flute. Over the past decade, I’ve served my clients and community as a family law attorney. I genuinely love serving, but being devoted to others can often leave one feeling drained and unfulfilled.
In 2019, a mind shift happened. I decided to unchain myself from my desk and nurture my need to create. I stopped living the life others expected of me and started chasing my dreams. In September of 2019, my first book, Woke Up Dead, will be available for purchase. It is an amusing, tongue-in-cheek novella about a young woman who wakes up at her own funeral, to the shock of those in attendance, and soon finds that getting back to life as normal is nearly impossible.
In my spare time, you can find me traveling, creating, attending concerts, and drinking my sorrows away after the latest Buffalo Bills loss. I also attend as many P!nk experiences as I possibly can. (She does not do concerts … she creates bucket list experiences …).
Reviewed by Vincent Dublado for Readers' Favorite
Not that author Nadia Gilkes is preoccupied with death as much as Woody Allen, but something in Woke Up Dead will make us ponder on the lessons of dying that will make us appreciate life more. This lighthearted novella is not a zombie story, but rather a magnified look at the celebration of being alive and a rational foundation on accepting death by the time it knocks on our door. Picture this: Hope “Ham” Allison is a brilliant statistician who, by some twist of fate, fell into a coma and has been declared deceased. Mayhem ensues when she wakes up at her own funeral. As she tries to put her life back in order, she discovers how her family and relatives have accommodated the event of her passing. They cleaned out her apartment, her credit card is over the limit, and her pet piranha is missing. Her resurrection is captured on YouTube and that makes matters worse. There is no support group for the descendants of Lazarus.
This novella effectively addresses the deepest truths in the fewest words and in ways that will make us shed tears of laughter. Ms. Gilkes is a highly original story-weaver who offers us the premise that rebuilding our life can be complicated as it hinges on the old existentialist adage that hell is other people. Life may be beautiful, but it entails plenty of responsibility. As the protagonist’s “To Do List” increases, we understand that a new lease on life would prove challenging. In the long run, the story makes us reach the sordid truth that we are the only ones who will genuinely care for ourselves, and that we must learn not to depend on anyone. This is a story that does not deal with a supernatural afterlife, but it is about a surreal, absurd existence. If Woke Up Dead leaves you smiling or nodding your head in assent after reading, then Ms. Gilkes has done her job.
