I See You've Called in Dead

A Novel

De: John Kenney

Narrado por: Sean Patrick Hopkins

The Office meets Six Feet Under meets About a Boy in this coming-of-middle-age tale about having a second chance to write your life’s story.

Bud Stanley is an obituary writer who is afraid to live. Yes, his wife recently left him for a “far more interesting” man. Yes, he goes on a particularly awful blind date with a woman who brings her ex. And yes, he has too many glasses of Scotch one night and proceeds to pen and publish his own obituary. The newspaper wants to fire him. But now the company’s system has him listed as dead. And the company can’t fire a dead person. The ensuing fallout forces him to realize that life may be actually worth living.

As Bud awaits his fate at work, his life hangs in the balance. Given another shot by his boss and encouraged by his best friend, Tim, a worldly and wise former art dealer, Bud starts to attend the wakes and funerals of strangers to learn how to live.

Thurber Prize-winner and NYTimes bestselling author John Kenney tells a funny, touching story about life and death, about the search for meaning, about finding and never letting go of the preciousness of life.

©2025 Zibby Publishing (P)2025 Zibby Publishing

Great premise

Very humorous but thoughtful book! Well written and thought provoking. Enjoyed very much! Recommending to all my friends

Characters were genuine, narrator hit the nail on the head

I really liked Bud right from the beginning, even though he’s a bit of a mess. The story was unique and Bud’s evolution within all of his relationships is touching. Narration was top notch!

Good Book!

There were laugh out moments but more importantly, lots of heart. He touched on different aspects of life and society without hitting you over the head with it. Clever work. Enjoyable!

Hilarious

This book was really funny. I laughed throughout. I enjoyed it. It was a nice surprise!

Sweet story about examining a life.

The story was interesting. The characters were well developed and real. I will think about this after I am done.

Oof. Going to be thinking about this one.

Beautifully written, the author will take you through a wide range of emotions in this story. And you’ll laugh. The narrator was wonderful. Great timing, tone, and easy to understand. Like he was telling his own story.

The book is a story about a man who works as an obituary writer that posts his own obituary one drunken evening and the things that happen afterwards. The real meaningful part, though, is what he experiences. It’s worth a read. This is going in my 6 star pile of “I’ll read that one again.” Enjoy!

So much better than what I was expecting

Please give this book a chance. It’s funny. It’s sweet. It’s sad and it’s heartfelt. I loved it.

Deeply meaningful!

Absolutely loved the humor, the insight the love of life, all presented like a normal day! Hooray for a book well written!

Great performance

This is an unusual, humorous and entertaining bit of fiction. The reader performances is extraordinary. He delivers every line as the author must have imagined, not a small feat for many sarcastic droll lines.

The humor

one of my favorite books of all time - particularly good in audio. Sweet funny poignant.