The Dead are Gods

An Oprah Daily Spring 2023 Reading List Pick
Zibby Media Award for ‘Best Book For the Griever’ 2023
A Kirkus Best Book of 2023

“…striking a deeply resonant chord for anyone who has experienced the obsessive self-searching that often accompanies a sudden loss.” — Oprah Daily

“A gorgeous, grief-stricken remembrance… a wise reminder that we all must “weather the storm” of loss.” –People Magazine

“Carson captures the pervasive nature of grief with a poetic voice that beautifully resonates.” — Shondaland

“Eirinie Carson’s striking debut, The Dead Are Gods, [is a] fervid outpouring of friendship, grief and love. Carson writes as much to come to terms with a sudden, unexpected loss as to celebrate a transformative, unexpected meeting of two people, a blazing stroke of luck that prevailed. …tender…elegiac, rhythmic prose…” –The Washington Post

“This is raw, heartfelt, beautiful, soul-opening and real.” — Zibby Owens for Good Morning America

“A deeply felt, searching examination of the feelings and memories provoked by the death of a best friend… Carson strikes a deeply resonant chord.” — Kirkus, STARRED REVIEW

“In the early stages of her grief, Carson’s language shines… The memoir ultimately asks us to explore secrets: those that our dearest loved ones keep from us—and the open secrets that are too frightening to acknowledge.” — Booklist

“Cinematic… the book is a portrait of [Carson’s] grief, powerful friendship, and Black love…” — NYLON

“The Dead Are Gods is brilliant and beautiful. It’s a love letter, a time capsule and a celebration of the friendships that shape and save us, again and again. It will also no doubt be a light in the dark for the many of us who must also figure out how to navigate grief and proximity to death. A stunning, stunning debut.” — Beth McColl, How to Come Alive Again: A Guide to Killing Your Monsters

“With ardor and honesty, Carson maps her grief to reckon with complex truths about friendship, including that you cannot fully know anyone no matter how much you care about them.  Written with style and rich with powerful questions and abiding love, The Dead Are Gods will be familiar–and illuminating–to anyone who has grieved.” — Savala Nolan, Don’t Let It Get You Down: Essays on Race, Gender and the Body.

“The Dead Are Gods is a dazzling recreation of a cultural moment in time— the 2000s—one told from the perspective of a hip, young Black kid on a scene that was abundantly white.” — Roberto Lovato, author, Unforgetting
 
“In Eirinie Carson’s beautiful ode to her best friend, she shows that love surpasses death. I witnessed the birth of a relationship between two Black women who created and found homes in each other as they navigated the whiteness of alternative rock and modeling spaces in London.” –– Taylor Crumpton, cultural critic and journalist