Death with Interruptions
English

Death with Interruptions

by

literature
fiction

Do you know when a book warms your heart like a cup of coffee, quiets your soul like a Sunday morning, and cozy your mood like a warm live room in a rainy day? That was my favorite comfort book in 2020. When the pandemic began, and I was trying to fill my days with something that could make me feel in a different world, I came across Death with Interruptions by José Saramago. Everything just fall into place. The right book for the moment.

The book has two different parts. In the first one, the Death (yes, with a capitalized D) just get fed up with so much work to do (I know ma'am, I understand) and decided taking a break. Because of that, nobody could die anymore, even if you had your head taken off during a car crashing. What seemed to be a blessing at the first glance, winds up as a terrifying chaos. Despite the awkwardness of the situation, Saramago is able to make you laugh in the face of the absurd.

THE FOLLOWING DAY, NO ONE DIED. THIS FACT, BEING absolutely contrary to life's rules, provoked enormous and, in the circumstances, perfectly justifiable anxiety in people's minds

If the first part paints a big picture of a world without death, the second one portrays the Death in an intimate manner. You meet a personal character, with personal motivations and human (or almost human) emotions. I don't want to spoiler your reading experience, so I will just say that I can't recommend this book highly enough, specially if you like Bach as much as I do.

What you call mysteries are often intended as protection, some people bring armors, some people bring mysteries
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