Book Review: "Death With Interruptions" by Jose Saramago

This is one of my favorite kinds of books--a novel with deep philosophical ideas within it. It's written, though, in a style I haven't encountered before: almost stream of consciousness, but like a report, telling the reader what has happened. And what has happened is that death stopped coming to one particular country. No one dies, but no one really gets well either; they just teeter on the brink of death, unable to make that final passage. The results of life without death are funny, sad, practically challenging, and ultimately tied up in how society handles almost anything. There's plenty of commentary about governmental control, organized crime, and the Church (there's just one, monolithic church in the book's world). But for me the most interesting thing to consider in this novel is the idea of immortality. Actually, the book was recommended to me by a WES member after I gave a platform about (im)mortality almost a year ago. "Death With Interruptions" certainly confirmed my belief that immortality isn't all it's cracked up to be. Toward the end of the novel, too, there is a beautiful look at love and how death and loss interact with love. I recommend it, both for the themes it explores and for the artistry found in the unique voice the author uses.