An obituary writer makes a grave error in John Kenney's 'I See You've Called in Dead'

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Books, Arts

4.2 • 671 Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2025

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

John Kenney's I See You've Called in Dead is about an obituary writer named Bud Stanely. One late night after a particularly bad date and too many glasses of Scotch, Bud drunkenly writes his own remembrance – and hits publish. The newspaper where he works wants to fire him, but can't legally terminate a dead person. But the error sets off a change in Bud's life as he begins to attend the funerals of strangers. In today's episode, Kenney joins NPR's Scott Simon for a conversation about the college journalism assignment that sparked the idea for the novel, the author's experience of male friendship, and a nugget of dark humor from Kenney's late brother.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. As a reporter, I've written my fair share
0:07.3	of obituaries, and it's a tough gig. You have to sum up the entirety of a person's life in a single
0:13.4	article, which is impossible, but you do your best anyway. The author on the pod today,
0:19.1	John Kenny majored in journalism and once had to write his own obit anyway. The author on the pod today, John Kenny, majored in journalism and
0:21.5	once had to write his own obituary. The exercise inspired his new novel, I See You've Called
0:27.5	In Dead, about an obit writer who, yes, writes his own obituary, but then he takes it a step
0:33.5	further and actually publishes it, And hilarity ensues from there.
0:38.7	Kenny talked to NPR Scott, Simon about reading obituaries in the Boston Globe growing up and how
0:43.0	thinking about death actually pushes him towards humor.
0:47.9	That's after the break.
0:49.4	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
0:54.3	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.
0:58.8	On our new show, Sources and Methods.
1:00.8	NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,
1:04.6	helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
1:08.4	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:13.8	But Stanley writes obituaries for a living.
1:16.9	He knows you are more likely to be killed by a cow than a shark, among many other
1:21.5	morden facts.
1:23.3	One night he has a disaster of a blind date, gets bad news from his ex-wife, goes home, has too much to drink, and then writes too much.
1:32.8	Bud Stanley, the first man to perform open-heart surgery on himself, died today in a hot air balloon accident.
1:40.2	He was 44. His wife, Miss France, has confirmed the death.
	...

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