Review of We Bury Our Dead Well

[Chimereucheya Okoroafo]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "We Bury Our Dead Well" by Rachael Webb.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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Sometimes, it feels like death revolves around and we can only get used to the pain. We Bury Our Dead Well by Rachael Webb is a book about Amerie Nava and the people close to her, including Nicole Gardner, Seema Romano, and Craig Bellamy. Amerie is a paramedic with a rough past, but she lives even though she no longer knows how to. She has witnessed a family and a friend commit suicide. She believes suicide is for the weak because someone like her has faced worse, but she would never be such a coward.

It's post-Destin's funeral, and the three "friends" (Amerie, Nicole, and Seema) are at the club. Amerie has been avoiding her supervisor's call before she switches off her phone. Nicole excuses herself and leaves Amerie and Seema in their odd relationship. A bit of drama unfolds in this time, but most of the time is silence, which Amerie uses to tell us about her past, revealing truths and secrets about herself and society. We follow the life of the characters according to the character whose name serves as the title of the chapter. What brutal past does Amerie have? What horrible lives do these characters live?

We Bury Our Dead Well is a beautiful title, and this book consists of 36 chapters and about 1,115 pages. From my understanding of the title, it describes how the dead are treated much better than the living. People come to funerals, acting as if they care and showering gifts when they never helped while the individual was alive. I love the book cover too. This story is inspiring and revealing, yet puzzling at first. Amerie is a good person at heart, and it's understandable why she would love death, but one would wonder why she dislikes everything about Seema.

Society truly sucks so badly. The way people get away with evil acts, such as human trafficking and rape. The health system only thinks of making profits, not saving lives. No one cares unless they're in need. The characters play their roles well, identifying as peculiar members of society. Amerie is the traumatized girl who hates the world but tries to get by every day, Nicole is the understanding person who never judges and Seema is the rich kid who gets whatever she wants but is still unsatisfied because it doesn't seem enough. Then, Craig is the poor, handsome guy who gets the rich girl but has doubts because he knows he can't offer her much.

Sadly, We Bury Our Dead Well is not professionally edited. There were numerous punctuation errors, which affected the flow of the story. Apart from the punctuation errors, I dislike nothing else in this book. I can see life from the aspect of these characters, and it doesn't look good. There is excessive use of alcohol and drugs, as well as strong dark sexual tones.

I rate this book, We Bury Our Dead Well, four out of five stars. Rachael Webb has done marvelous work and written a heartfelt story. Mental and emotional struggles will lead to depression and suicide if we don't tackle them seriously. I recommend this book to older teenagers and young adults to teach them about life and the toxic effects of drugs and bad company.

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We Bury Our Dead Well
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[Psalm Okoroafo]

Society can be quite sad. The thibgs people do to each other is very demeaning. Anyway, I loved reading your review. This book is quite bulky but I'll try to look into it.

[Ogechi Okonkwo]

This is a marvellous and captivating review. I do love that it captured or focused on different aspects of life. I would really love to try out this book. Thank you for this wonderful review.

[Egenti Ignatius Chimaobi]

Rape and other evils of society are addressed by this book. The fact that health care is no longer what it was before is also brought up. I enjoyed reading your comprehensive account of what happened in the book.

[Mhiz Vyi Vyan]

The ills of our society are well narrated in this book and I’m eager to know the contents. Nice review.

[Kizito Shelby]

There's no man that can say that he's not experienced the pain of death before, even if it's the death of a favourite character in a book, or a movie. Nice review.

[Jerry Spencer]

Such a lovely story. I've always frowned at human trafficking and rape. The act disgusts me. I'm really interested in these characters. They really have a lot of past that might be intriguing. The author put her heart into writing this book. Nice review.

[Charles Babbage]

We Bury Our Dead Well by Rachael Webb is a fiction book written by Rachael Webb. I've not read this book but your review seems quite interesting.

[Stephanie Runyon]

So many people are living to die instead of taking advantage of today and life. I've walked in the same shoes of suicidal ideation. This is a interesting review regarding mental health issues. Great job!