I could not finish this book. I had a really hard time making it as far as I did and I don't want to give a review for something I didn't finish. Hopefully the next person loves it!

A novel filled with exciting ideas and concepts perhaps not the best execution for my taste. While grasping with concepts that are opening, they are provoked through small chapters about individuals. This is good in theory however just as you start to understand what is being talked about it moves onto the next chapter. Each chapter is good as small stand-alone pieces of information and gradually mentions something from other chapters, but it does feel a bit like information overload. From the 11-year-old in the first chapter that wasn’t written to feel like an 11-year old’s thinking which was difficult to fully adapt to as it was hard to relate to this 11-year-old as she didn’t seem to be one.
The range of characters included do vary and provide an interesting discussion point however there are that many that the novel jumps between that it can get very confusing. There are multiple references to “The Incredible Lightness of Being” this may be because Denis felt that it works well with the topic but references mentioned I did not fully understand and were lost when reading.
I like the premise of the novel with the discussion of death and topics of the afterlife, but I didn’t find the plot as well planned as I would of hoped and did not get long enough to dwell on the thoughts that were generated.
This novel was written with a good idea in mind however I felt that the execution fell short for my expectations.

Thank you to #NetGallery for the opportunity to read this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Release Date: 6th April 2020
Genre: Young Adult / Fiction


I'm not really sure what I just read - and I mean that in a wonderful way.

'Life is Big' follows an 11-year old girl named Alma-Jane, the happiest girl in the world who is very close to dying dur to a terminal condition and her brother Ayrton a mathematical genius with a cyber alter-ego and very good big brother. Together, the two of them decide to declare war against Death and run away to Oxford to examine the brain of Albert Einstein himself (who apparently, spends his afterlife baking and playing scrabble) At the same time, Death and his own little brother Obituary Man, or O.M. for short, are getting a little bit sick of their jobs and the constant stream of souls needing ferrying off.

This entire book was one giant puzzle that I wasn't sure I'd solved - it read like some type of dreamscape sequence where nothing quite fit together until you figured out one more thing. This was odd, it was unique, and it was most definitely different to many other things I've read.

The blurb itself felt overwhelming, and I was sure I was going to get lost in the noise of this story but it was surprisingly easy to follow, even with the erratic jumping of places and peoples constantly. One of my favourite characters being an immortal jellyfish who jumps in and out of the story to remind people that time is short, love is amazing and life is very big indeed.

Life is hard to describe; and that's also very true of this book. It was full of meaningful reflections on mortality and death, on love, on kindness. It dealt with technology and science and knowlege. But it was also full of what felt like wonderfully absurd nonsense.

If you're happy to have your brain ache for a little while and be patiently waiting for the last few peices of a puzzle, this book is definitely something you should read.



RATING; ⭐⭐⭐⭐



Thank you to NetGalley and Kiki Denis for providing with this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Please note that all opinions contained within are my own.

Underneath Kiki's writings you always find meanings and at some point if not happiness, peace of mind, despite pain and sadness. She writes about feelings and ideas that seem contradictory but running deep into them she'll bring you to the core of life where complexity, sensitivity and intelligence bring you to your humanity.

I'm a bit torn on this as I don't think I was necessarily the target audience for the book. It s well-written and I read it quite quickly but I did find it just a little too absurd for my taste , which runs a bit darker than Kiki Denis writes. Good if you want to read a light-hearted book dealing with serious issues.
Thanks to Kiki herself for following the fact that I was reading it on Goodreads, and to her and the publishers for the chance to read and review

I think if I had to summarise this book in one word it would be 'quirky'; its got a real variety of characters. From an 11 year old, who despite being scientifically proven to be the happiest person alive is also highly likely to die young from a rare disease to Albert Einstein who's busing himself in heaven playing Scrabble to Death and his brother Obituary Man (who was my favourite character). I liked the way we moved from character perspectives throughout the book and each narrator is linked in someway but I just couldn't get into it the way I wanted it. Its not badly written, and despite Death being a character its quite uplifting but sadly not for me

I liked this. It's a little complex and a "thinking" story. I was a bit intimidated by the description, but follow along nicely even though there are a lot of players and a lot going on. This is a talented author with a good imagination. I look forward to her next book.

Thanks very much for the review copy!!

Kiki Denis gives the reader a unique, winding, often surreal experience. At the heart of this book is a profound sense of character that allows the author (and, consequently, the audience) to ask the big questions that the title suggests. A lovely literary read.

Kiki Denis's novel 'Life is Big' contains a plethora of bizarre and imaginative concepts that will excite some and puzzle others. It's a fine example of a book in which the whole is so much LESS than the sum of all its parts. It just bounces about in so many disparate directions, introduces ideas that go precisely nowhere, and then sledgehammers together some coincidences with zero subtlety. When I reached the end I thought "What did I just read?" - but not in a good way.

It starts well with an 11-year-old girl, Alma Jane, contemplating her inevitable demise from a rare genetic disorder, but just as you're getting your head around that - and the concept of websites to challenge war and death - the book detours off to a strange afterlife in which famous and not so famous people create their own hierarchy of worthiness with differing castes of immortality. Einstein plays Scrabble with the inventor of the game whilst a fictional character from Milan Kundera's 'The Incredible Lightness of Being' gets jealous that Albert is more interested in his new friend than in her. I've not read TILOB and don't feel I should have to, just to be able to understand Life is Big. Then we're off to meet death and his brother who writes obituaries (I quite liked those two) then back to the sort of real-world to get to know the girl's brother and an extended class of doctors, computer scientists and people with an interest in both death and perfection.

20% of the way in, I hated it and thought it totally pointless. Around 70% of the way in, when various plotlines started to coalesce and we learned of the genetic breeding of fearless super-mice, I was fairly intrigued, and then it all headed back downhill again.

There's a potentially really good story in here that seems - to me, at least - to have been sacrificed to the gods of 'style' and 'trying too hard to impress'. It's an intellectually snooty attempt to play with the reader's preconceived ideas about death and the need for imperfection in a far from perfect world but for too much of the book, I felt like I was a spectator in somebody else's very strange dream that didn't seem intended to make much sense.

A brave and worthy attempt to be 'different' but ultimately rather a futile one.

I received a free e-copy from Netgalley in return for an honest review.