# Books whose narrator is a ghost? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 18, 2014, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-whose-narrator-is-a-ghost/701642 "2014-10-18T00:45:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-whose-narrator-is-a-ghost/701642/1 "2014-10-18T00:45:24Z")
I can’t think of a better time for this question than October 🙂 What are some narrators who are ghosts? Obviously these are first person POV. I personally like **Haunted** by Kelley Armstrong and \*\*A Certain Slant of Light \*\*by Laura Whitcomb. And didn’t so much like **Ghost Story** by Jim Butcher. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-whose-narrator-is-a-ghost/701642/2 "2014-10-18T01:37:07Z")
Yeah, Ghost Story was definitely a low point in the Dresden Files. Wasn’t the viewpoint character of The Lovely Bones a ghost? And technically, isn’t Joe in Sunset Boulevard one? Otherwise, how are they telling the story? ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-whose-narrator-is-a-ghost/701642/3 "2014-10-18T01:52:07Z")
The narrator/protagonist of _ **An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge** _ is essentially a ghost. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-whose-narrator-is-a-ghost/701642/4 "2014-10-18T01:53:25Z")
Not a book, but the short story "[Wait it out."](http://bookre.org/reader?file=263911) (If he’s not dead, he’s damn close…) ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-whose-narrator-is-a-ghost/701642/5 "2014-10-18T01:57:50Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Yeah, Ghost Story was definitely a low point in the Dresden Files. > > Wasn’t the viewpoint character of The Lovely Bones a ghost? And technically, isn’t Joe in Sunset Boulevard one? Otherwise, how are they telling the story? Sorry…I missed “book” in the OP. Obviously, SB doesn’t count because of that… ---
**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-whose-narrator-is-a-ghost/701642/6 "2014-10-18T02:01:20Z")
There’s _The Discontented Ghost_ by Scott Corbett (author of the “Trick” books with Kirby and the chemistry set), which is a retelling of “The Canterville Ghost” from the ghost’s point of view. (YA) ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-whose-narrator-is-a-ghost/701642/7 "2014-10-18T02:08:26Z")
Murther and Walking Spirits by Robertson Davies. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-whose-narrator-is-a-ghost/701642/8 "2014-10-18T02:27:21Z")
Well, my own short story, “The Art of Dancing Naked” from [Mortis Operandi](http://www.amazon.com/Mortis-Operandi-Rebecca-Roque/dp/0988749602). Lee Killough’s short story “The Existential Man” ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-whose-narrator-is-a-ghost/701642/9 "2014-10-18T02:36:34Z")
Kurt Vonnegut’s _Galapagos_ is narrated by a ghost who waited something like 20 million years to see the final outcome of the descendants of the castaways ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-whose-narrator-is-a-ghost/701642/10 "2014-10-18T03:19:45Z")
Muriel Spark’s short story “The Portobello Road” begins inimitably with “He looked as if he would murder me and he did.” ETA: Oh, and “The Girl I Left Behind Me” by the same author also has a ghost narrator. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-whose-narrator-is-a-ghost/701642/11 "2014-10-18T04:08:59Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Wasn’t the viewpoint character of The Lovely Bones a ghost? Well, that depends on what you mean by “ghost”. Susie dies early in the book, but her spirit doesn’t haunt the land of the living. She goes to heaven and observes/narrates from there. The OP may want to check out the TV Tropes page “[Dead to Begin With](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeadToBeginWith)” for examples of stories set in the afterlives of the main characters. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-whose-narrator-is-a-ghost/701642/12 "2014-10-18T04:36:11Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > Well, that depends on what you mean by “ghost”. Susie dies early in the book, but her spirit doesn’t haunt the land of the living. She goes to heaven and observes/narrates from there. > > The OP may want to check out the TV Tropes page “[Dead to Begin With](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeadToBeginWith)” for examples of stories set in the afterlives of the main characters. Nope. Almost none of those stories involve ghosts. They’re nearly all just in some sort of afterlife rather than earthbound spirits, which is what ghosts are by definition. **The Brief History of the Dead** by Kevin Brockmeier was interesting, though, if you like afterlife type stories. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-whose-narrator-is-a-ghost/701642/13 "2014-10-18T04:41:00Z")
I guess you could count Palahniuk’s _Damned_. as the protagonist is dead and does some ghostly stuff, thiugh most of the story is set in hell. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-whose-narrator-is-a-ghost/701642/14 "2014-10-18T20:14:34Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Kurt Vonnegut’s _Galapagos_ is narrated by a ghost who waited deleted by me Good pick. I’ve read all of Vonnegut’s published work (as far as I know). Started in 1973. All these years later, I find that my favorite is _Galapagos_. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-whose-narrator-is-a-ghost/701642/15 "2014-10-19T01:32:45Z")
[The Girl from the Well](http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Well-Rin-Chupeco/dp/140229218X/), by Rin Chupeco. It’s an excellent book, too. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-whose-narrator-is-a-ghost/701642/16 "2014-10-19T13:01:54Z")
[Jigsaw Man](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16094450-the-jigsaw-man) by Gord Rollo might qualify. It’s about a homeless man who is approached by a man who offers him $2mil for his right arm, and goes from there.