Self structures most of his works around a central conceit—in this case the possibility of a life after death that is contiguous with the world of the living. He has long been praised for his ability to write extended, complex works based on rather simple, if fantastic, scenarios (in Great Apes, for instance, monkeys control London). When reading How the Dead Live, one should note the ways in which these conceits allow Self to offer political, social, and psychological commentary from unusual perspectives.

Self's prose itself is very worthy of analysis. Like Joyce, Self makes use of puns and neologisms. When a pub explodes early on in the novel, items are cast everywhere in a chaotic mushroom cloud, including "the artworks formerly known as prints" (a nod to one of pop-icon Prince's various incarnations). However, Self is also capable—again, like Joyce—of seamlessly...