A Life Eternal

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The development of Rob Deakin from broken ex soldier to adventurer, doomed man, loving husband and finally, wise soul is cleverly and convincingly written. However, a chance encounter with a mysterious stranger will change the course of Rob’s life forever… Not only has he been healed, but he cannot die, and he will never age.

We follow Rob through the decades and watch as he passes through the twentieth century into the twenty-first. Reading his adventures is like reading a fun history book. We see Rob through the bootlegging nineteen twenties in New York. We see him in Berlin during the rise of Hitler. He begins to feel apart from humanity, and this affects his mind and his judgement. What follows is a cursed journey through a century of incredible change, seen through the eyes of a man immune to death, while he searches endlessly for the answers to what makes him so unique.What you have to remember, Bill, is that life is a currency. A currency of time that has no worth, and yet is priceless. Without it we do not learn, we do not grow. Without time, how does the new born baby learn how to hold, how to grasp, how to stand, how to walk? Without time how does the tree grow, the seasons change, the years pass?’ Before reading it, the idea of living forever, not growing old and not having to think about the inconvenience of dying seemed like it would be a perfect existence.

The writing style is solid and again, very much like reading a first person interview. It reminded me of "Interview with the Vampire" by Anne Rice, in its style, but Rob’s unburdening of self is less story and more ‘police report”...”I did this, and then I did that, and then I went here…”.A riveting and heart-breaking tale, simply and elegantly written in the first person, which puts a new spin on the classic themes of the immortality tale. This story is a philosophical journey into the nature of humankind and the quality of (the possibility), of an eternal life. Richard Ayre's A Life Eternal is a book that poses so many dilemmas. If you were able to live forever, how would you feel? Is it something to treasure or resent, the power of immortality. Okay, that’s not entirely true. There are probably readers out there who’ll enjoy this book, but they certainly aren’t reading the same things I am.