Bridesicle, by Will McIntosh

“He told Mira he would see her on Tuesday, and killed her.” [p. 9]

The fact that the author deliberately uses the word “kill” raises couple of issues that leaves me uncomfortable. First, the helplessness of the women in these situations in Bridesicle when they are repeatedly killed until they meet a sponsor willing to pay their body reminds me of a brothel where the prostitutes were ransomed to be bought as concubines. The fact that such establishment has developed seem to reflect on the continuing decline for honoring life as medical technology advances. The lives of these women are seen as commodity, and they become a trophy wife to someone who is able to pay for their body; it seems unlikely that love will actually develop in this atmosphere. Then what happens to unattractive women who would not appeal to anyone? Do they just get discarded and sent to “die?” Second, the word invokes a violent image of murder. People, at least at the Bridesicle establishment, take life so lightly because they can easily revive the dead. They don’t think about the fact that they are killing someone because that someone can easily be revived. Third is the question of what is worse, being dead or staying alive in spirit only inhabiting someone else’s body without being able to do anything according to my ideas? Isn’t the process of being revived due to the dating services more horrid since if one is dead, they do not comprehend that stage as being bad? It is only by returning to the land of living that Mira dreads returning to the state of nothingness but once she is in it, she does not feel anything.

The novel makes me think about what the meaning of life and death are. The hitchers that live within someone else have a body that is physically dead, but they are not considered dead. Are we alive because of our physical body or because of or mental capacity, something that makes us who we are? The story seems to imply that our life comes from our non-physical attributes such as memory and personality, yet puts a heavy emphasis on the importance of the body by showing the desperation of the women to stay alive (or return from the dead).