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.