You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

Discussion thread for Death with Interruptions

This is my second book by Saramago, as I recently read Blindness, and I have to say I really enjoy his writing style, and I think he does deal with such interesting concepts that really challenge our view of things and make us thing.

I was rather surprised when the Cardinal called the Prime Minister and accused him of making blasphemous remarks by suggesting that the sudden lack of death may have been an act of God's will. Though the Cardinal explains that if there is no death it would thus deny the Resurrection but at the same time, I would think that if someone was religiously inclined, to suggest that death could be suddenly stopped contrary to the will of God would be considered blasphemous.

It does make me think though, just what would become of the state of religion if one day there suddenly was no death.

It also I think would bring up some interesting difficulties, for on the one hand it might at first seem like a blessing, as most people would probably rejoice in knowing they could not deny, yet on the other hand it certainly would create quite a few problems.

I cannot wait to see just where this book is going to go and how things will manifest.

I love Saramago and have always wanted to read more of him. Kat reading dates are 10/14 thru ?.

One of the things that I found curious was when the people from the Funeral Homes and Morgue were complaining because of how their business was suffering with no one dying, it was suggested they should simply handle services and ceremonies for domestic animals, but this seems to suggest that animals are still dying, even while they people are not. That seemed to me to be an odd inconsistenncy.

What Judy said :)

Great, I'll see if I can squeeze it in!

I just got a copy of this book today. I was wondering about the Prime Minister/Cardinal comments regarding death and resurrection. Is it vital to salvation for people to physically die and be resurrected? Is there anyone who understands Catholic beliefs that can explain the theology? Thanks!!!!

Lori wrote: "I just got a copy of this book today. I was wondering about the Prime Minister/Cardinal comments regarding death and resurrection. Is it vital to salvation for people to physically die and be resur..."

I think the point that the Cardinal is trying to convey is the fact that the Catholic Church is founded upon the idea of the resurrection. It is what their whole religion revolves around, and so if there is no resurrection, then there can be no Catholic church.

Kind of like if you were to pull out the main supporting beam of a building, the whole building would topple down, or having a novel which has no actual words inside.

If resurrection is made null and void, then the Catholic Church cannot survive because the resurrection is the very core of everything the believe in.

Ok, I just started the book so I'm not far enough to comment on the story. However, the very first thing I noticed is Saramango's writing. Very long sentences and lots of commas. Also, no quotations or indentations for speech. He just loves commas! This will take some getting used to.

I will admit to having to get used to the writing style in this book. I don't remember it being quite the same with Blindness when i read that one, but it was a while ago.

The Catholic Church part gave me a bit of a pause as I really had to think about that one for a little bit and how the whole concept works.

I watch a show called Torchwood, and the whole last season of the show was about how one day everyone stopped dying all over the world. The ramifications of that were a lot of things i had never even thought about. This book seems to be so far isolated to one place though......going to keep reading to see what happens.

AmyK I will admit to having to get used to the writing style in this book. I don't remember it being quite the same with Blindness when i read that one, but it was a while ago. ..."

I just read Blindness a few months ago, and it was written in pretty much the same style as this one is.

In reading further along it seems to me the Catholic churches concern was nothing more than their current inability to use their congregations fear of death to keep them religious.

Although I have become accustom to it I still don't like the run-together writing style with no separation between the comments of different people.

Oh run-together styles are hard for me too. Still waiting on my copy to arrive *stares at mailman*

I've seen that episode of Torchwood too, Amy, but to be honest I don't remember that much about it!

Judy wrote: "I got bogged down with this book for the same reason Lori cited...I feel so bad, because I really wanted to like it and finish it, but couldn't. Sorry! :-) I do want to give Blindness a go because ..."

Judy and Lori, I am having the same problem. Getting "bogged" down is a great way to describe it. I should have finished this book by now considering its size. But, bogged down I am. I'm going to keep trying in hopes that my brain will accept it and I will be able to enjoy the story.

I will say, this book does give me a lot to think about.

Spooky, my staring at the mailman apparently worked. Hopefully I can overlook the run on sentences!

I'm going to finish it. It will not be fun; I will not enjoy it; I will not give it a good rating. BUT, I will not let the runtogetherwriting win.

Even without the runtogetherwriting it's been very blah. I was expecting so much more. There is not one character you can cheer for...not even a character you can love to hate.

Lori wrote: "I'm going to finish it. It will not be fun; I will not enjoy it; I will not give it a good rating. BUT, I will not let the runtogetherwriting win.

Even without the runtogetherwriting it's been v..."

I wonder if the runtogetherwriting might have been easier if i had listened to the audiobook.

I am still slogging my way through it, not loving it, but if it takes the rest of the month so be it.

I really did love Blindness though, don't let this book deter you from reading it if you had previously wanted to.

I think that the lack of distinct characters was quite innovative, and I found it rather interesting. In fact I did not even really notice until almost half way through the book. I think that it is done as a way of looking at the bigger picture and the fact that this phenomenon that is occurring is not really about the individual. But it is a border look at society.

I love the way Saramago questions and challenges society, as well as a ideas about identity within his books. I love the way he takes these extraordinary situations and explores what society would do within them, and what that says about who we are, and society as a whole.

The taking of the bodies across the bored in order to let them die was a reflection of debates about assisted suicide. And the emergence of the Maphia to help with the smuggling of the bodies put me in the mind of the Prohibition Era.

I quite enjoyed the conversation between the Philosopher and the spirit upon the nature of death. It did address the question of way it seemed only humans were affected by this absence of death. I thought the idea of there being several different deaths, individuals deaths, and the ultimate death was quite an interesting idea.

Silver wrote: "I think that the lack of distinct characters was quite innovative, and I found it rather interesting. In fact I did not even really notice until almost half way through the book. I think that it is..."

Silver, thank you for your comments. I am having a diificult time as this book is not comng to me as easily as I would like. However , after reading your comments, I am able to look at the book with a different perspective of possibility. I do love Saramango's ideas. The whole idea of there being no death but still aging and disease caused much deep thought. Actually, it was a topic of conversation with my family this past weekend. I'm about 1/3 through the book and I will continue with it.

Question: What if, along with no death, there was also no disease or ailments associated with aging? I suppose, eventually, we would have to fight each other for food. We couldn't "starve to death" but could we starve?

April wrote: "Silver wrote: "I think that the lack of distinct characters was quite innovative, and I found it rather interesting. In fact I did not even really notice until almost half way through the book. I t..."

I rather enjoyed his "realistic" approach to the topic, in the fact that the lack of death does not be default means one also becomes invincible but that indeed disease as "fatal" injuries still exist, the physical body simply doesn't cross over.

It reminded me of the story of Tithonus , a mortal man who fell in love with a goddess and they asked for the gift of eternal life, but forgot to ask for eternal youth, and so now he is miserable because year by year he gets older and more decrepit but can never die.

Death itself is something I have always been fascinated with, and I love view things in different perspectives and from different points of view. I love the questions raised within the book.

The book does get better as you go along. It vastly improves when it becomes strictly narrative.

Two concepts (so far): There are situations that are worse than death and knowing the time of your death is not something humanity can handle well.

I started this one for the toppler. Am loving everyone's deep thoughts. You guys are amazing.

I'm hung-up on the endless-sentence dialogues with commas and only a capital letter to tell you the other person has taken up the thread of conversation. Can you say "annoying?"

Interesting at how unhappy the cardinal was. He arguments about what death means to the church were food for thought. And the funeral homes. Wow! Thousands of businesses facing ruin.

I just got to the point where the announcement of Death's return has been made. I found it interesting that Death without itself as a way of trying to get people to show a bit more appreciation of the necessity of death and show them the folly's of what no death would really mean.

It will be interesting to see now what direction the story takes and how things progress from here. The concept of giving people prior notice for their upcoming death is an intriguing one. Though I am not sure I agree with Death that it was inhumane and curler to take people without any forewarning.

Debra wrote: "I started this one for the toppler. Am loving everyone's deep thoughts. You guys are amazing.

I'm hung-up on the endless-sentence dialogues with commas and only a capital letter to tell you the ..."

Debra, I agree. The writing style is kind of ruining the book for me. I love the idea and the story! Really difficult to get past the style of writing. Well, I'm about 1/2 way through and put it aside to read other things for the toppler. I'll pick it back up later.

Very interesting ideas!

I finished it this morning. Whew! It required a level of concentration I'm not used to because of the writing style. Definitely the dialogue portions could have been handled better; where's the editor when you need him/her?

Liked the way it ended. Won't spoil it for everyone. Glad I read it, overall.

Skimming the comments to avoid spoilers, but so far (page 30), I actually (surprisingly) DON'T hate the runtogetherwriting. It's actually making me read more at a time because I can't stop in the middle of a sentence ;-)

I had a slight giggle at the part about insurance companies freaking out when people try to cancel their life insurance - and the agreement they came to was certainly interesting!

April wrote: "Ok, I just started the book so I'm not far enough to comment on the story. However, the very first thing I noticed is Saramango's writing. Very long sentences and lots of commas. Also, no quotati..."

To have no Upper case letters when expected, to have Upper case letters mid-sentence, to have sentences that continue exhaustively with numerous commas with no period in sight, to arbitrarily switch points of view in the same paragraph, to never designate a speaker’s identity; all this, from my point of view, a view that you do not necessarily need to heed, is to say the least (or not really “least” because that implies brevity), generally bewildering, even though the style, one which the author has apparently used before, certainly moves the reader along without benefit of having the ability to take a breath, thereby making this a quick read!☻.

Silver wrote: "Lori I think the point that the Cardinal is trying to convey is the fact that the Catholic Church is founded upon the idea of the resurrection. It is what their whole religion revolves around, and so if there is no resurrection, then there can be no Catholic church. ..."

what about the concept of The Rapture? Don't people just disappear instead of die?

Debra wrote: "And the funeral homes. Wow! Thousands of businesses facing ruin. ..."

Why couldn't the funeral homes still charge for a memorial service and all the stuff that they do in their parlors (primping, viewing, audience testimonies, etc.), and then sell caskets that would be taken over the border?

Almeta wrote: "what about the concept of The Rapture? Don't people just disappear instead of die? ."

That is a kind of complicated theological question, but generally speaking the Catholic view point on the rapture is that it will occur during the second coming of Christ when the dead are resurrected.

Catholicism does not actually preach the idea of rapture as it is most commonly perceived, in which those that are the chosen worthy will be taken away and as you put it just vanish.

For the Catholics the rapture is an event that occurs as a result of resurrection, and is dependent upon Christ's own resurrection and second coming

Almeta wrote: "April wrote: "Ok, I just started the book so I'm not far enough to comment on the story. However, the very first thing I noticed is Saramango's writing. Very long sentences and lots of commas. Al..."

There is actually a rather interesting and ironic moment in the book in which death writes a letter to the people and the letter is taken to experts to analyze the writing and death's own writing in the letter is actually criticized for exactly the same reasons that many people are criticizing the narrative of the book.

In a way it seems as if the author is in fact pointing fun at himself.

Here is a quote of the statements made about death's own writing:

According to the authorized opinion of the grammarian consulted by the newspaper, death had simply failed to master even the first rudiments of the art of writing......one could even consider this a minor defect considering the chaotic syntax, the absence of full-stops, the complete lack of necessary parentheses, the obsessive culmination of commas....

Silver wrote: There is actually a rather interesting and ironic moment in the book in which death writes a letter to the people and the letter is taken to experts to analyze the writing and death's own writing in the letter is actually criticized for exactly the same reasons that many people are criticizing the narrative of the book. ..."

Oh yeah, I remember that. Pretty funny.

Silver wrote: "Almeta wrote: "April wrote: "Ok, I just started the book so I'm not far enough to comment on the story. However, the very first thing I noticed is Saramango's writing. Very long sentences and lots..."
Hmmmm...makes me think

Hmmmm...makes me think .."

I wonder if in a sense the author here is in fact death. There is some good discussions about the nature of death and the differences between death and Death, and that there are personal, small individual deaths, as well as ultimate Death.

So as the creator of these characters, it is indeed the author who decides if they live and die

I wonder if capital letter Death will step in to right the "wrongs" of little letter death?

I read this book as part of the 24 hour Dewey Readathon that happened last week - did anyone here take part in that?

I wasn't expecting to get through it all in a day, but it was so absorbing I just couldn't stop!

I agree about his writing style, it takes getting used to, but I've read a few of his books by now, and after a while I sort of just got swept up with the whole crazy plot! I wrote a short, sort of gushing review of it.

I'm really glad this was a pick for October, I've had this one for over a year, and something kept stopping me!

Amber wrote: "(view spoiler)[Ok, wait. Death stopped AGAIN?! Ugh. (hide spoiler)] ..."

See what Love does.☻ Maybe we need to speak to Him about addle-brained infatuation!

I know, Almeta! What a shock, eh?

April wrote: "Ok, I just started the book so I'm not far enough to comment on the story. However, the very first thing I noticed is Saramango's writing. Very long sentences and lots of commas. Also, no quotati..."


Ha! Glad you mentioned this - I thought it was some glitch caused when the text was transferred to the Sony Reader ... he really writes with all those commas?

Whew!

Carly wrote: "April wrote: "Ok, I just started the book so I'm not far enough to comment on the story. However, the very first thing I noticed is Saramango's writing. Very long sentences and lots of commas. Al..."

I know! Frustrating!

Silver wrote: "Almeta wrote: "what about the concept of The Rapture? Don't people just disappear instead of die? ."

That is a kind of complicated theological question, but generally speaking the Catholic view po..."

This is answers my question. I didn't know Catholicism depended on the second coming (and subsequent resurrection of the "saints") for salvation. In other words, salvation is not complete.

Not giving this one another moment of my time.

Carly wrote: "Not giving this one another moment of my time."

Not for you, Carly?

I'm still trying to get through it. I took some time away from it and now I' trying to read just a few pages a day. The extra long paragraphs exhaust me!

One interesting little thing I noticed. When death first personifies herself as a woman, she puts on a pair of dark sunglasses to protect her new eyes from conjunctivitis. She is always noted as being rather attractive.

In Blindness there is a woman who is known primarily as "the girl with the dark glasses" that if I recall correctly was recovering from a cast of conjunctivitis who was also known for her beauty.

Silver wrote: "One interesting little thing I noticed. When death first personifies herself as a woman, she puts on a pair of dark sunglasses to protect her new eyes from conjunctivitis. She is always noted as be..."

Silver, I think I read somewhere that Saramango often refers to characters in his his ther novels. Interesting. Good catch!

I finally finished. There are few more of Saramago's books on my TBR list as they are listed on Boxall's 1001. However, it will be awhile before I attempt to read another one of his books. It was strange. I liked the story line! I just didn't care for the author's style of writing. I found it to be exhausting rather than relaxing.