Death with interruptions
by José Saramago · first published 2008
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2014–2025first – last mentioned
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"On the first day of the new year, no one dies. This, understandably, causes consternation among politicians, religious leaders, funeral directors, and doctors. Among the general public, on the other hand, there is initially celebration - flags are hung out on balconies, people dance in the streets. They have achieved the great goal of humanity: eternal life. Then reality hits home - families are left to care for the permanently dying, life-insurance policies become meaningless, and funeral directors are reduced to arranging burials for pet dogs, cats, hamsters, and parrots. Death sits in her
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…has some accessible but interesting sci-fi (recommendations: Consider Phlebas, Use of Weapons), and it's hard to go wrong with anything Jose Saramago wrote (recommendations: All the Names, Blindness, Death With Interruptions).
on “Ask HN: What should I save for offline reading during 5 weeks without Internet?” ↗I also recommend "Death with Interruptions" by the same author. I too was blindsided by how it was written but once you get used to the style it just flows.
on “Short Little Difficult Books” ↗…Nocturnes - Kazuo Ishiguro * After the Quake - Haruki Murakami * The Girl in the Flammable Skirt - Aimee Bender Longer Form (but all still quick reads): * The Buried Giant - Kazuo Ishiguro * Death with Interruptions - Jose Saramago * The Whispering Muse - Sjon
on “Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?” ↗> and from then on, people stopped dying. Which turned out to not be a blessing. This bit seems very close to Saramago's novel Death with Interruptions [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_with_Interruptions
on “Carlo Rovelli on the ‘greatest remaining mystery’: The nature of time” ↗