Death with Interruptions

Nov 16, 2012 Nataliya rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: excellent-reads, favorites, 2011-reads, 2012-reads

The dream of immortality has always fascinated humanity. The dream of eternal life has founded religions that changed the shape of the world. What if it were true?

"The following day, no one died."

So begins José Saramago's Death with Interruptions. In an unnamed small European country without any explanations people have stopped dying - an eternal dream come true, right?

What else can we want now, once the threat of unavoidable demise has been removed seemingly forever, once the unstoppable Grim R...more
The dream of immortality has always fascinated humanity. The dream of eternal life has founded religions that changed the shape of the world. What if it were true?

"The following day, no one died."

So begins José Saramago's Death with Interruptions. In an unnamed small European country without any explanations people have stopped dying - an eternal dream come true, right?

What else can we want now, once the threat of unavoidable demise has been removed seemingly forever, once the unstoppable Grim Reaper seems to have retired?

"Having lived, until those days of confusion, in what they had imagined to be the best of all possible and probable worlds, they were discovering, with delight, that the best, the absolute best, was happening right now, right there, at the door of their house, a unique and marvelous life without the daily fear of parca’s creaking scissors, immortality in the land that gave us our being, safe from any metaphysical awkwardnesses and free to everyone, with no sealed orders to open at the hour of our death, announcing at that crossroads where dear companions in this vale of tears known as earth were forced to part and set off for their different destinations in the next world, you to paradise, you to purgatory, you down to hell."

Well, once the celebrations died down, it quickly becomes obvious that this paradise on earth comes at a price. Immortality is not eternal youth, and ultimately what we have is hundreds and thousands of people suspended on the edge of dying, in the in-between state, neither dead nor alive, caught on the borderline.

"...One must admit that the prospects are not just gloomy, they're terrible, catastrophic, more dangerous by far than anything even the wildest imagination could dream up."

And slowly it sinks in that before long it's not only the undertakers and gravediggers who are out of jobs; not only religion that becomes obsolete as its greatest reward - resurrection - is no longer a big deal (seriously, Saramago's distaste for religion is very prominently underscored and explained in this book); not only the philosophical schools left pointless and speechless; it's generations and generations in "this society torn between the hope of living forever and the fear of never dying" who will have to dedicate themselves to caring for the millions of not-quite-dead; it's the country unprepared to care for the citizens who are no longer free to enjoy the certainty of death.

Life itself has quickly become the burden - oh how the tables have turned!

"If we don’t start dying again, we have no future."

And all of this is delivered in Saramago's unique rambling narration, with margin-to-margin solid text uninterrupted even by dialogue marks, jumping from topic to topic, zeroing on details and mundane, running in the clustered run-on sentences. It's all delivered in the voice that is both dry and witty, detached yet flourishing, both mocking and serious. It's not an easy style to read, especially in this book, with meandering narration only underscoring the absence of easily definable plot, the absence of characters who we can follow and love and root for.

It's like an introduction, a leisurely essay stretching for 64% of the book - the story that somehow, despite (or maybe because of!) all this kept the magical charm over me, grounding the most improbable of the storyline in the firm reality anchored by human folly and bureaucracy and greed and crime and incredulity.

***

And then, almost two-thirds into the story, the mood shifts, the narration abruptly changes, and the new plot emerges, folding violet letters into violet envelopes, confidently raising its head and wondering, Have you missed me? I came to steal your heart. And the strangest love story begins, having nudged the meandering weary satirical narration out of the way.

It's death, the female noun in so many languages, whose whim led to such perturbances in the function of the state and religion and philosophy. It's death, who is surprised at the audacity of a mediocre unremarkable middle-aged musician who refuses to die. It's death, a stranger to failure, who sets out to investigate and to set the matters right, unprepared for what is waiting for her.

*

"Due to some strange optical phenomenon, real or virtual, death seems much smaller now, as if her bones had shrunk, or perhaps she was always like that, and it's our eyes, wide with fear, that make her look like a giant. Poor death. It makes us feel like going over and putting a hand on her hard shoulder and whispering a few words of sympathy in her ear, or, rather, in the place where her ear once was, underneath the parietal."

It's where Saramago's prose, his entire narration undergoes a fascinating transformation. No, his style does not change. We still have solid blocks of text and meandering ramblings and endless strangely punctuated sentences, but the slow shift in the mood and the feeling subtly creeps up making you look up from the book and wonder - am I still reading the same story? And why do I have those pesky tears glistening in the corners of my eyes? And why can't I stop myself from sighing and quietly saying, "Aww...." at the end?

You know why? Because the guy who wrote this book has received a Nobel Prize in literature for a reason. Because he is brilliant, that's why. And because he decided to play around with this story, leaving us - or at least me - unable to resist its pull. And so I stand by my 5-star rating from a year ago, and begin a desperate hunt for more Saramago books.

"For the first time in her life, death knew what it felt like to have a dog on her lap."

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Oct 06, 2011 Angus rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nobel-laureates, reviewed-and-blogged, 5-stars

Original post at Book Rhapsody.

***

Intro

I still recall that day when the newfangled, recently opened, and biggest book store in my hometown started shelving Jose Saramago’s books. There was Seeing, The Double, The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, and this book, Death at Intervals. Or Death with Interruptions, which I think is the more popular edition. I didn’t realize that my fawning of the covers of these Vintage editions would lead me to my fascination of Saramago’s works and my ultimate adora...more

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Mar 05, 2013 Piperitapitta rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: autori-portoghesi, letteratura-portoghese, premio-nobel, romanzo, gruppi-di-lettura

La morte si fa bella.

La perfezione è circolare e passa per due punti, la vita e la morte, o forse per la morte e per la vita, questa in effetti è cosa da stabilire e a pensarci bene forse i punti sono tre.
Se fossi appena un po' più esperta di musica classica potrei paragonarlo a una sinfonia, anzi quasi quasi osare, oso, dicendo che ha un'ouverture da brividi, un movimento lento che caratterizza la prima metà che poi, all'improvviso, lascia il posto a quello che a noi spettatori, distratti e dis...more

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Jan 31, 2013 Lourdes rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Desmemoriados incapaces de recordar nombres de personajes y enemigos de la puntuación.

Shelves: novelas

Un día, en un país sin nombre, la muerte deja de matar. Ése es el punto de partida para esta novela de Saramago, que muestra, con humor, el absurdo humano de anhelar la inmortalidad (la muerte es necesaria, después de todo, para regular la existencia) y los inconvenientes, prácticos y de los otros, de la vida eterna. Sucede que, tras la inesperada huelga de la Parca, la sociedad de ficción que el libro construye se degrada y se corrompe, tanto en el plano corporal como en lo moral y estructural.

...more

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Oct 27, 2008 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Saramago's wonderful novel takes the old motif of death taking a holiday and breathes new life into it. Stylistically challenging for the reader with its run-on sentences and eschewing of capitals other than those that are initial, the work demands concentration. For those willing to put some effort into it, however, it becomes an experience very much like thinking the author's thoughts with him. As he leads us through the narrative, Saramago takes time to criticize government, business, religio...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Julia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people who like magical realism and satire

Shelves: magical-realism, literature-fiction

I just finished the last half of the book in one sitting and have a myriad of post-it flags to review. I simply offer the Washington Post commentary, since it expresses just how much I was affected by this slim novel by the Portuguese winner of the Nobel Prize in 1998. His more famous work, BLINDNESS, was made into a movie, but I sincerely hope no one ever tries to make this enchanting, amusing, thoughtful volume into one. Saramago's sentences are a waterfall of words, so don't plan on reading t...more I just finished the last half of the book in one sitting and have a myriad of post-it flags to review. I simply offer the Washington Post commentary, since it expresses just how much I was affected by this slim novel by the Portuguese winner of the Nobel Prize in 1998. His more famous work, BLINDNESS, was made into a movie, but I sincerely hope no one ever tries to make this enchanting, amusing, thoughtful volume into one. Saramago's sentences are a waterfall of words, so don't plan on reading this in small sections--have to get used to the flow. I would say he combines Vonnegut's satirical view with Faulkner's love of run-on sentences :-)

Here's the Post commentary from Amazon, and it says all I'm feeling.

"No matter how deadly serious his subjects, there's always been something essentially childlike at the heart of José Saramago's work -- that eagerness to consider simple, outlandish what ifs: What if the Iberian Peninsula broke off and floated away? What if everybody suddenly went blind? What if most voters cast blank ballots?

Like Franz Kafka, his literary ancestor, the unrepentant Portuguese communist and winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize for literature frequently focuses on the way people react to absurd situations. In Death with Interruptions, there's even a goofy touch of Woody Allen's "Don't Drink the Water," but this may be Saramago's most cosmic novel...; his new book asks us to imagine a cessation of "the most normal and ordinary thing in life": dying.

The story opens at the start of a new year in a small, unnamed modern country. As is typical of the allegorical universalism in much of Saramago's work, we never get a precise location or time period. The frenetic, amiable narrator refers to characters only by each one's generic function: e.g. prime minister, mother, editor. All of them are confronting the most unusual nonevent in human history: "No one died. . . . New year's eve had failed to leave behind it the usual calamitous trail of fatalities, as if old atropos with her great bared teeth had decided to put aside her shears for a day."

Initially, this "death strike" seems like "humanity's greatest dream since the beginning of time," but the horrible ramifications quickly become apparent: Traffic accidents still leave people mangled; illness strikes with the same ferocity; old age continues to ravage.

The first section of the novel describes "the ditherings of the government" trying to deal with this calamity. No writer since Orwell has zeroed in with such precision and vigor on the language of self-serving administrators, and DEATH WITH INTERRUPTIONS contains some of Saramago's best satire about government corruption, military jingoism and media hysteria. Whole pages of this novel seem lifted from the recent news about our own economic crisis. The prime minister takes to the airways to make a statement "whose very incomprehensibility was intended to calm the commotion gripping the nation."

Religious leaders come off no better, reacting to the situation with a flurry of obfuscation and sophistry: "The church has never been asked to explain anything," the cardinal assures the prime minister. "Our specialty, along with ballistics, has always been the neutralization of the overly curious mind through faith." As the crisis grows more severe, the clergy "organize a national campaign of prayer, asking god to bring about the return of death as quickly as possible."

Much of this section focuses on the political and economic upheaval caused by eternal life, as the country tries to adjust to living bodies piling up, "one on top of the other, like the leaves that fall from the trees onto the leaves from previous autumns." Various industries -- life insurance, hospitals, undertakers, retirement homes -- lobby aggressively for government relief. But there are scenes of real pathos here, too, amid the gallows humor: the personal costs of caring for so many desperately sick relatives, the horrible choices faced by burdened families, the nasty bargains they're forced to make with organized crime.

Halfway through, just as the satire is getting a little tedious, the novel shifts away from its national scope to concentrate instead on the Grim Reaper in disarmingly personal terms. It turns out that death (lowercase "d," she insists) is a discreet, elegant woman, if you can get past the skeleton and the sheet. She's conscientious and efficient, but still uses fine stationery rather than e-mail. "It has the charm of tradition," she tells her scythe, "and tradition counts for a lot when it comes to dying." The duty of dispensing with so many people day after day is "not exactly a killingly hard job," but it can grow tedious. "Death did indeed work her fingers to the bone," the narrator notes, "because, of course, she is all bone." Who could blame her for taking a little time off? If this sounds campy, it is, but Saramago is always ten steps ahead of us, subverting clichés, interjecting ancient philosophical concerns into his gags and scattering grenades of bitterness among the laughs.

After death's seven-month vacation, she devises a new scheme to dispense with human beings: She'll send people a letter on violet paper, announcing that they have a week left to live, "to sort out their affairs, make a will, pay their back taxes and say goodbye to their family and to their closest friends. In theory, this seemed like a good idea." But of course, in practice it raises all sorts of complications for the "preposthumous."

The real surprise, though, is death's. When one of her violet letters -- to a middle-aged cellist -- is returned unopened, she's alarmed, then intrigued. "How on earth am I going to get out of this fix," she wonders. "Poor death." And here Saramago catches us off guard once again, turning from the straight-faced absurdity of the novel's first section to a poignant romance. How can the most tender relationship that Saramago has ever written involve death as a nervous lover? This is a story that can't possibly work or affect us, but it does, deeply, sweetly. It's a novel to die for."
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Sep 11, 2012 Tony rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: portugese

I began reading this shortly after Jack White’s Love Interruption hit the charts with a bullet. Couldn’t get the song out of my head. (It will win a Grammy. You heard it here first).

Oh, the book? Another parable from Saramago. And not one of my favorites of his. Took me three months (with interruptions). Still I never pitched it. death, with a small 'd', comes and goes, and finally confronts a cellist. Play something for me, she says. So he plays Bach's Sonata # 6 for Unaccompanied Cello. Which...more

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Feb 21, 2009 Yuelio Menendez rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Además de la delicia de leer a Saramago, con una técnica que no da a espacio a detener la lectura hasta que termina el capítulo, tenemos una historia con la que reflexionar.
No es sólo la visión hipotética del mundo dónde se hace reprimenda a los que codiciamos la vida eterna, sino un vistazo a la convivencia entre caos y armonía de la euforia y depresión humana. Cómo quién dice nadie esta de acuerdo con lo que suceda.
Ahora profundizando un poco en dos personajes y entrando a terreno que puede...more

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Oct 28, 2012 Muhammad Khaled rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: i-own

الإنتقال من الحدث العام للحكاية كانت سيئة جدا. و يبدو ان الباب اتقفل قدامه في استكمال السرد الواقعي للحكاية فقال يالا نقلب فانتازيا. النصف الاول للرواية كان ماشي كما اعرف ساراماجو و كنت منتظر لحظة ال Turning point
لقيته دخل في حكاية تانية خالص شايفها منفصلة.
الجزء التاني لم يعجبني بالمرة، والنهاية كانت تليق بالافلام العربية !، حتى السرد و الحوار لم يحمل فلسفته المعروفة في الكلام ففقد بريقه، و بقي الملل.

جزء كبير من نقمي عليها لانها خيبت امل كبير كنت حاطه في الرواية :)

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Feb 08, 2009 Erin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Gracias to my dad for recommending this book. Certainly one of the most clever books that I've come across. The novel encourages thought about immortality and the ramifications of such a notion. We would love to live forever if the living means that we are in our most perfect state indefinitely. Saramago makes that a possibility in a country where death (without a capital d) takes a break and stops letting people die. The problems that arise are quite entertaining, yet very real.

For me, one of t...more

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Mar 31, 2012 ميّ أحمد rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: روايات

كيف ممكن أن لا أقع في غرام هذا الكاتب وفي كل مرة
منذ أن أنهيت الرواية وأنا أسيرة تلك الحكاية قد يبدو الأمر في الجزء الأول متشابها مع روايته العظيمة العمى
أعنى ذلك الوباء الذي يصيب مدينة ما لكن الأمر في جزءه الثاني تطور إلى أشياء لم
تخطر في بالي لقد تحول مسار الرواية تماما ومن هنا وقفتُ احتراما لهذا الكاتب العظيم
إن ساراماغو قادر ببراعة على أن يفعل ذلك دون أن تشعر حتى

الرواية تدور حول الموت وفلسفة الوجود ماذا لو قرر الموت أن ينقطع عن مدينة ما ماذا لو حدث ذلك ما هي الأشياء التي ستشغل أمور الناس صنع...more
كيف ممكن أن لا أقع في غرام هذا الكاتب وفي كل مرة
منذ أن أنهيت الرواية وأنا أسيرة تلك الحكاية قد يبدو الأمر في الجزء الأول متشابها مع روايته العظيمة العمى
أعنى ذلك الوباء الذي يصيب مدينة ما لكن الأمر في جزءه الثاني تطور إلى أشياء لم
تخطر في بالي لقد تحول مسار الرواية تماما ومن هنا وقفتُ احتراما لهذا الكاتب العظيم
إن ساراماغو قادر ببراعة على أن يفعل ذلك دون أن تشعر حتى

الرواية تدور حول الموت وفلسفة الوجود ماذا لو قرر الموت أن ينقطع عن مدينة ما ماذا لو حدث ذلك ما هي الأشياء التي ستشغل أمور الناس صنع ساراماغو المشكلة ولعب بخياله الواسع في الكيفية التي سيتقبل بها البشر هذه الأمر ماذا لو تخطى الموت كبار السن وماذا لو عجت المستشفيات بمن يجب أن يموتوا حالا لكن الموت لا يأتي
هذه الفنتازيا التي تحمل سخرية لاذعة لم تتوقف عند هذا الحد هذا الجزء بالمناسبة هو الجزء الصعب أعني الجزء البارد الجزء الذي لم تكن به شخصيات تتفاعل معها وتتأثر بها وتنتج تلك العلاقة الدافئة بين القارىء وبين الشخصيات التي لم تكن موجودة إلا لتوضيح الفكرة كان الأمر يبدو مكيكانيكيا سردا خاليا من المشاعر
لكن ساراماغو ليس كأي كاتب عادي إنه ذلك الكاتب الذي يحمل لك المفاجئات الكاتب الذي يحقق لك الدهشة !
إن ظهور شخصية موت صاحبة تلك الرسائل البنفسجية هو الجزء الأكثر إبهارا في الرواية ، موت تبدو جلية واضحة كما هي الحياة
لن أحكي لكم كيف وصف ساراماغو موت وكيف كان وصفه شائقا للدرجة التي عجز عنها خيالي المتواضع أن يتصورها كما أراد وإن كنتُ اجتهدت !

تبدو أجواء الرواية سوداوية أليس كذلك لكنها لم تكن تخلو من الظرافة المشهد الذي وضع الرواي يده على كتف الموت البائسة مثلا أو تصرفات موت بحد ذاتها لا أدري كيف
زاوج ساراماغو بين الموت وبين تلك الظرافة
لكنني أحببت هذه الرواية الرواية التي تشغل بالك الرواية التي تجعلك تفكر الرواية التي تدهشك فكرتها هي تلك الرواية العظيمة التي ستخلدها ذاكرتك

هذا الكاتب البارع من يلومنا إن لاحقنا مؤلفاته !
كتبتُ في توتير : الكاتب الذي كتب إنقطاعات الموت الذي سخر من الموت
ترى كيف استقبل الموت !

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Apr 21, 2013 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

I can't believe I finished this book in time for the discussion (which begins in half an hour). I can't remember the last time I read so much in one day.

It wasn't my favorite Saramago. I hate to say I was a little bored by a lot of the beginning. The first 70 or so pages were just tedious. I'm still not really sure these pages really add anything to story, but I'll think more on it.

Once the main character was introduced, it became much more exciting and reminded me, as so many of my favorite b...more

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Oct 22, 2012 Giovanna rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: portogallo

Anche questo romanzo di Saramago inizia con un fatto strano e inspiegabile, del quale dobbiamo prender atto, senza una spiegazione delle cause nè presentazione degli antecedenti. Ci resta soltanto di proseguire nella narrazione,sperando nel buon cuore dell'autore e confidando nel fatto che chi inizia a raccontare un fatto ne desideri anche raccontar la fine, o almeno lo svolgimento!
Naturalmente non verremo delusi e potremo felicemente proseguire nella lettura del romanzo che,a mio modesto e del...more

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Nov 11, 2011 s.penkevich rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone with an imagination

Shelves: nobel-prize-winners, death, love

Out of the half dozen Saramago novels I have read, this is actually my favorite. It may have been due in part that I devoured most of it while seated upon the sun soaked banks of a river this past July, but this short little work really struck me. It is so unique and imaginative and this book was just a really fun read. Despite it's focus of death and all, it isn't quite as heavy as most of his novels and will make you laugh at the dark abyss of death as most of this novel is actually darkly hum...more Out of the half dozen Saramago novels I have read, this is actually my favorite. It may have been due in part that I devoured most of it while seated upon the sun soaked banks of a river this past July, but this short little work really struck me. It is so unique and imaginative and this book was just a really fun read. Despite it's focus of death and all, it isn't quite as heavy as most of his novels and will make you laugh at the dark abyss of death as most of this novel is actually darkly humorous. There is no traditional plot for the first two thirds of the novel as Saramago displays his story with a broad shot that encompasses all facets of his deathless phenomenon.

The first part of the novel is more or less Saramago's imagination exploring all sides of his idea. Saramago takes something most people would view as a great joy - to live forever - and puts it on an ugly display as a terrifying curse. Namely, just because you live forever doesn't mean you don't suffer bodily harm. He tells of people with their guts spilled out somehow living on and other horrific conditions to a similar effect. He goes on to explain how this also practically ruins the economy and brings about the maphia (who choose this with a 'ph' to separate themselves from the regular mafia) who create more undying corpses if you don't bow to their wishes. Wow. What a disaster of a world is made in the first 100 pages.

In the second section of the novel, Saramago zooms in and shows this event on a small scale; his major focus is on death herself and how she relates to the world. Saramago's death character was fascinating and different than any traditional image of death (speaking of tradition death, there is a funny bit where the government takes all the traditional images of death and uses technology to see what these skull images would look like with a human face) and he actually manages to make death a likeable, empathizable character. I won't go into the plot and spoil what happens in case you have not yet read this, but I never thought I'd read a book about Death as a main character and describe it as 'cute' and like it for that. Saramago once again does the impossible and all I can say is that after the last page you can't help but say "aww".

As a note of caution, Saramago has a unique style that tends to turn people away and this slightly bothers me. It is NOT difficult to read, give it a few pages and I promise you will grasp it. It flows surprisingly well. Also, Saramago has a very distinct voice that I can't get enough of. He speaks directly to you as a reader and he talks at his characters in a very fatherly, loving fashion that lets you see how proud he is of his own creations. He has a very good way of telling a story, often justifying his reasons for why he chose to tell it the way he does in a funny, unique manner. I would highly recommend this to any Saramago fan, and to anyone new to this Nobel laureate's works although I think Blindness might be a better starting point.
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Dec 26, 2011 Mohammed Al-Garawi rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

New review:
I gave it another shot and finished after a long struggle. I still stand by my opinion.

----------------------------------------------------------

Old review:
This is one of the worst books I've ever read in my entire life. In fact, this is the first book I gave up on. What's sad is that the premise behind the book is brilliant and mind blowing, but it's just not flexible to be contained in 200 pages. The book might strike you as a short easy read, but it's definitely not. The punctuatio...more

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Jul 26, 2012 York rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Las intermitencias de la muerte es una novela definitiva. Hay pocas formas de describirla sin omitir algo de lo que la vuelve una obra imprescindible.

El libro es una pelea, una pelea de un escritor anciano por intentar justificar hasta las últimas consecuencias que sería algo ideal la ausencia de la muerte, la inmortalidad humana, topando contra si mismo, contra la lógica, contra su propia concepción del orden en cada página, como luchando por creer, para no tener que renunciar, ya no a su vida,...more

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Sep 30, 2011 Charles Blanchard rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A strange phenomenon. At the beginning of Death with Interruptions, the narrator tells us that at the stroke of midnight the people of a certain country that is never named will be saved from any life threatening injuries or illness. Death in essence has refused to take them. As a result all people will live.

The novel with an impossible plot is imaginative and well written.
It is divided into two parts.

The first half proceeds to unfold a brilliant telling on how the world would respond to such...more A strange phenomenon. At the beginning of Death with Interruptions, the narrator tells us that at the stroke of midnight the people of a certain country that is never named will be saved from any life threatening injuries or illness. Death in essence has refused to take them. As a result all people will live.

The novel with an impossible plot is imaginative and well written.
It is divided into two parts.

The first half proceeds to unfold a brilliant telling on how the world would respond to such an event. There is a sense of pride from the public that they have somehow cheated death. There is an interaction between the church and state. A cardinal and a prime minister argue on how best to handle the situation. When the prime minister broadcasts his interpretation of the possibility that God has empowered the population with immortality, the cardinal is upset as the prime minister has failed to note that without death there is no resurrection. Nevertheless, the media embraces what has happened with joy. There are detractors of course as complaints come from undertakers and funeral parlors on the sudden downturn in business; Insurance companies are paying out to people on “permanent” disability; hospitals are overcrowded as all their patients have an indefinite stay. One solution is to arrange a case by case study for those patients well enough to be turned over to their families’ care, with the hospital continuing to treat the patients by having a nurse or doctor visit their home.

There are many philosophical points in the story - a debate as to what is worse, a person with a permanent debilitating illness that cannot be cured or the prospect of dying; another is that death is as individualistic as the individuals to whom it impacts; another is that human life plays second fiddle to economic prosperity.

A twist in the plot is that death is still active across the border in a neighboring country, also unnamed. Family members pay the “mafia” men a fee to assist them in taking their sick loved ones across the border to die peacefully.

Saramago’s writing style eliminates any quotations marks or indentations and takes a bit getting used to. In the first half, what the style lacks in warmth, if you will, is more than made up with a well-researched concise presentation of the events, like an essay.

The second half is much more to my taste as the appearance of death is personified as a woman. She leaves a violet covered envelope; my imagination pictures the envelope as velvet violet, and mysteriously places it on the desk of the director general of the local television station who no doubt broadcasts its contents to the world. The letter is signed “death” and it states that she will resume her function and begin killing once again at midnight. Another rather macabre twist is that she will send her victims the same violet colored envelope and when they open it they will see a letter telling them that they have one week to live. The government is relieved as are the nursing home and funeral parlor directors.

It turns out the main reason death transformed itself into a woman was to meet a handsome cellist, who for some reason she cannot kill. He has evaded receiving the letter she mailed to him and she goes to personally deliver it and reverse this setback to her routine. She floats through the walls of his apartment and notes the layout of the rooms, the dog that he lives with, the music sheets all over the place, his cello, and a glass of water. She wonders what water tastes like as she is not really human. She wants to know more so she buys a ticket to one of his concerts, the lethal letter in her hand to give to him. When she meets the cellist, she cannot deliver the fateful envelope. She has experienced the most human of all attributes and the most pleasant, to fall in love.
(less)

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Feb 01, 2011 Joana rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: autores-portugueses-e-lusofonos

Este é um livro maravilhosamente original. A história começa quando, num determinado país, após a passagem de ano, ninguém morre. No primeiro dia do ano o facto causa estranheza e, nos dias seguintes, quando se confirma, provoca a euforia da generalidade da população. Apesar de a imortalidade ser desde sempre um dos sonhos da espécie humana, o autor mostra-nos, desde logo, a preocupação e mesmo aflição que assaltou alguns grupos da sociedade.
O governo do país começou logo a prever os enormes pro...more Este é um livro maravilhosamente original. A história começa quando, num determinado país, após a passagem de ano, ninguém morre. No primeiro dia do ano o facto causa estranheza e, nos dias seguintes, quando se confirma, provoca a euforia da generalidade da população. Apesar de a imortalidade ser desde sempre um dos sonhos da espécie humana, o autor mostra-nos, desde logo, a preocupação e mesmo aflição que assaltou alguns grupos da sociedade.
O governo do país começou logo a prever os enormes problemas com que se veria a braços se a morte cessasse definitivamente a sua actividade. A Igreja entrou imediatamente em pânico, uma vez que era na morte que assentava todo o seu “negócio”: sem morte não haveria ressurreição nem medo de morrer e sem estes não haveria religião. Antecipou, assim, a perda da influência que detinha no país, pois, como Saramago colocou na boca do próprio cardeal, “A Igreja, parecendo governar o que está lá no alto, governa o que está cá em baixo”. Outros grupos que sobreviviam graças à morte não tardaram a apresentar os seus protestos ao governo, nomeadamente as agências funerárias e as seguradoras. A estas juntaram-se os hospitais e os lares, cujo funcionamento assentava na rotação entre os que morriam e os que chegavam. Não houve outra solução, para aliviar a sobrelotação destes, que enviar os doentes a quem já nada poderia ser feito nos hospitais, aqueles que estariam a morrer, se houvesse morte, para casa, para que as suas famílias cuidassem deles. Estes rapidamente se tornaram num transtorno imenso para os seus parentes e, ainda por cima, um transtorno eterno. Deste modo, as pessoas rapidamente perceberam que o facto de não haver morte não era tão bom como parecia no início. Esta situação levaria também à falência da Segurança Social, havendo uma multidão sempre crescente de idosos, que o trabalho dos mais jovens não conseguiria suportar muito tempo.
No entanto houve grupos que aproveitaram o caos reinante para tirar benefícios, como sempre tem havido nas situações dramáticas. Um deles foi o dos Republicanos (o país era uma Monarquia Constitucional) que utilizaram a situação para argumentarem que os contribuintes não poderiam sustentar uma multidão de reis que se iam sucedendo uns aos outros mas que nunca morriam. Outro destes grupos foi a máfia, que ofereceu os seus serviços às famílias para levar os seus doentes a morrer à fronteira, o que se tornou numa moda que a todos beneficiava.
Ao longo da obra acompanhamos também a personagem principal – a morte, isto é, uma das mortes. Esta surge-nos de múltiplas formas, nomeadamente na de um esqueleto coberto de um lençol preto e acompanhada de uma gadanha, como tem sido retratada inúmeras vezes. Apesar do seu poder ilimitado no que toca a dispor da vida humana, a morte apresenta emoções que a apresentam dos seres humanos.
Além de uma história interessante e muito curiosa, é uma reflexão acerca sobre o sentido da vida e da morte. Comporta ainda uma crítica social bastante vincada, ao pôr a descoberto as relações entre o poder político, a máfia e a Igreja, bem como a falta de valores que muitas famílias revelaram. Um dos aspectos que marca todo o texto e que me fascinou, a par da originalidade, foi a escrita genial a que Saramago nos habituou, a forma como inclui o leitor na obra e a ironia certeira de algumas passagens. Em suma, eu adorei este livro.(less)

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Apr 20, 2010 Sarah rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: general-fiction

This is a strange and difficult little book. Set in a small Catholic land locked fictional country, death decides to stop killing at the first of the year. Locals celebrate at first, but after a few months weary of the growing number of sick, elderly and injured who can not die. Death is a possibility in other countries, so some take their forever-dying relatives across the border (often with the aid of the maphia). The first half of this book is about how the government, maphia, church and roya...more

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Nov 16, 2008 Ab rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crazyness-mind-blowing-whoa

This book was really amazing. Saramago asks the most intriguing philosophical questions and then builds a novel around them. I have Post-It flags sticking out all over the book where there are things I'd never thought of about immortality vs. death, descriptions and comparisons put so wonderfully that I need to write them down.

What would happen to a society if death took a break? If science was as it was, no major break-throughs yet, and people suddenly could not die? The people who are wasting...more

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Apr 14, 2008 Maria rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Situaciones imposibles que vuelven a darse en 'Las intermitencias de la muerte', cuyo comienzo no puede ser más sorprendente: 'Al día siguiente no murió nadie', y eso es lo que sucede en la novela: de la noche a la mañana, los habitantes de un país sin nombre dejan de morir y consiguen la ansiada inmortalidad, aunque, eso sí, quien estuviera muy grave o a punto de morir, se queda igual porque su salud no mejora.

En la primera parte de su novela, que en España e Hispanoamérica publicará Alfaguara,...more

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Apr 13, 2009 Danika rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is classic Saramago. Totally brilliant and compelling, but also hard to read. I find the author's style (very little punctuation, LONG sentences and paragraphs) to require a lot of concentration. But as usual, it pays off with a clever story full of nuance.

The premise of this novel is that one day, death stops visiting. In other words, everyone is suddenly immortal, regardless of how sick or injured they might be. There follows joy and exuberance, then chaos and all manner of strange situat...more

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Oct 05, 2008 John rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A very good answer to the question - 'why does God let people die?'. It is a thought provoking fable, which touches on religous, social and even economic consequences of death (and non-death). But it is the pschyological effects that linger in the mind, not just for the humans involved (the first part of the book), but for Death herself (the second part).

My only gripe is the style of writing. In certain parts (normally when people are speaking) punctuation, paragraphs, capital letters etc. are l...more

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Sep 14, 2012 Muhammad Osama rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

هناك صلة قوية بلا شك بينهما, الا انه يمكن اعتبار الرواية قصتين منفصلتين :)
اسلوب ساراماجو فريد جدا, و فترة عمله كصحفي تركت أثرها عليه, ليس عبارات مختصرة مباشرة كهيمنجوي, بل اثر اكثر شبها بالصفحات السياسية و ما يتخلل عباراتها من شروحات.
لا يولي ساراماجو اهتماما كبيرا للمنطق الذي تسير وفقه الأمور في هذا العالم , رغم ذلك لا يشعر القاريء بأنه يقرأ قصة غير واقعية بطريقة تنفره, بل يعيش القاريء الأحداث و يتفاعل معها.
و كذلك تتضح للقاريء ما تبد انها صفة ملازمة لكتابات ساراماجو و هي مداعبته فضول القاريء ما...more

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Oct 19, 2012 Debra rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

Very interesting tale about what would happen if death stops calling. It's not a good idea, as much as we THINK we'd like to live forever. There are good reasons why we all eventually die. Definitely worth the read.

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Jan 13, 2008 Claudia Perisse rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Claudia by: a friend

I didn't want this to be my first reading of Saramago. But as a friend left his book with me, I decided I would read it before I returned.

It's great! How can someone imagine a place where death no longer happens and how it rearranges the entire society! And also with a sense of humor.
I really like it.

The only thing I don't like is that the authot rarely uses period!!! You can have an entirely page with only one paragraph, one hundred commas and no period! hahaha Not even between dialogues.
Anyway...more

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Mar 18, 2009 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is my first time being de-flowered by Mr. Saramago and man can this 86 year old put on the moves. I have a feeling that after I read more Saramago this book will succumb to, what I call, the "Toni Morrison" effect. This is when the oeuvre begins to lay its shadow over individual works, so that the lesser books seem even lesser (Love anyone). In a fit of narcissism, I named the effect after my first encounter with it.

If you're still reading, then I must declare this book (with its inherent...more

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Apr 01, 2013 Faith Brown rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is worth a read for Saramago's characterisations of Ms. Death and her daily grind , as well as the political management of an immortal society under the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, the book has almost no punctuation at all. A quick online search suggested this was not a horrible mistake; the translation and editing were reflective of the run-on original. The author has been quoted as suggesting punctuation 'gets in the way' of the reading experience. However, without the containmen...more

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Nov 23, 2012 Suad Shamma rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own, 2011

My first Jose Saramago, and probably my last.

I picked up this book because it had the most brilliant storyline, I thought it was going to be an excellent read for sure. Sadly, it wasn't. The premise of the book was very unique with death pretty much going on strike, but the execution was highly lacking.

The story had the potential to be incredible, with sarcasm and wit and humour coating the pages. It was neither witty nor sarcastic nor funny. It was rather boring. Page after page after page afte...more My first Jose Saramago, and probably my last.

I picked up this book because it had the most brilliant storyline, I thought it was going to be an excellent read for sure. Sadly, it wasn't. The premise of the book was very unique with death pretty much going on strike, but the execution was highly lacking.

The story had the potential to be incredible, with sarcasm and wit and humour coating the pages. It was neither witty nor sarcastic nor funny. It was rather boring. Page after page after page after page of boring text, that just went on and on and on. I never thought I'd see the day where I'd actually miss punctuation! I hated the format of the book, yes it was quite interesting at the beginning, but after the first couple of chapters I just wanted it to stop! He spends the better part of the book describing and explaining things in boring detail without presenting us with any real characters or solid interpretation of his amazing idea, that it just killed the story for me.

Yes, one can say it was quite the philosophical book, but so was Ayn Rand's Fountainhead, and yet she was able to create a proper storyline to interpret and convey her philosophies. That being said, one can also say that this is just his style, and that is fair enough, but it's just very disappointing that such a great idea has gone to waste due to this being "his style".

It takes us half the book - and that's saying something, since the book is pretty small - to get to the core of the story, and that is death herself. Her decision at the end was very anti-climatic and quite silly to tell you the truth, it just made the whole book seem that much more implausible for me.

I also really got tired of the many repetitions throughout the book - I didn't know how many more times I could take his theory about God and death being opposite sides of the coin!! Not to mention his habit of listing all the synonyms of one word, i.e "mime, gesture, pantomime" - p.104, "features, attributes and characteristics" - p.118 - just to name a couple.

Sometimes, his style of writing reminded me of Lemony Snicket's series of unfortunate events books, but those were overflowing with sarcasm, wit and humour, and Daniel Handler actually pulled it off wonderfully in his series!! (unlike Saramago - who only succeeded in boring me)

To be fair though, once I started reading this story, I would always stop and question one thing or another, with everyone not dying and so on, I'd think why can't they leave for instance? And the next chapter he introduces the idea of people leaving to the border to die, and then I'd think why are the animals dying? And the next chapter he would explain how animals had another death figure. Therefore, I do appreciate the fact that he pretty much tried to think of everything and answer all the questions. It still didn't make it interesting enough for me. This small book took me a week to finish, I couldn't believe how much it dragged.

All in all...great and interesting idea, not so much the execution, and I don't see myself reading another Saramago. (less)

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Oct 26, 2012 Lucia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Nella sua punteggiatura buttata lì a caso (mi è stato detto tipico di Saramago, è il primo libro suo che leggo), in un unico titolo son racchiusi ben Due romanzi, o più.
Saramago non abbandona mai il ruolo di narratore, ricordandoci ogni tanto che di questo si tratta, di un racconto. Non facendoci mai immedesimare e proibendo così quel processo di catarsi che tanto adoro.
Racconto pieno di digressioni e riflessioni che, stranamente, non annoiano ma se ne stanno lì come piccole perle.
Nella prima p...more

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Death with Interruptions (Blindness #3)

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