This week’s reading of Jose Saramago’s Death With Interruptions definitely interrupted my daily thoughts. I listened to this book via the audiobook online as to appear mysterious listening to the philosophies of death while gazing at the various forms of life around me (the only accurate way to read this book in my opinion). This book started off very interesting to me when discussing the political, and religious aspects of a nation without death, and the family taking the grandfather and the baby across the border, but then slowly started dragging along more with the discussion of the Maphia and the border soldiers. However, for me, it picked back up again when death made her cameo again.
I was definitely annoyed at some parts of this book because truly sometimes the suspense was very frustrating and repetitive. It felt like so many of the plot points would set up something climactic like with the Maphia’s tactics about charging to take people across the border and then bringing them back to get buried, and then also the whole ordeal with the mysterious violet letter showing up to the Director General of television’s office. I understand the need to build up suspense and tension but honestly, these felt like they dragged on quite a bit. But regardless I did still enjoy this book (I realized over the span of this course that it doesn’t take much for me to enjoy a book, I think I am impressed quite easily. Except with The Time of the Doves, I wish death would interrupt my thoughts about that damn tapeworm.). It felt like quite a different dynamic to the books we have read about upbringing, yet still touches on themes like family dynamics, politics, and religion.
The use of flags was also very notable in this story for me. Flags start off as this sort of nationalistic representation as people initially post them in front of their houses reveling in the fact that they have now unlocked eternal life. However, upon hearing that deaths are going to begin to reoccur, flags go on to represent a mark for doctors to arrive at certain houses and announce the dead. death herself is a very interesting character in a world where dying became not only a crime but also a miracle to those suffering. Whether writing her note of return on violet-coloured paper or writing another letter as to correct everyone on the proper capitalization (or perhaps lack thereof) of her name, was pretty girlboss behaviour. She still gets called heinous names as she tries to carry out her job but is still romanticized as this beautiful young skeleton. And yet, she even finds love and her smile while experiencing a lot more shenanigans along the way. She had civilians, politicians, religious actors, and practically everyone else in her grasp. But perhaps that’s just life. Does death have us in her grasp too, regardless of whether she is here or not?
My question for this week would be as follows: Does death have you in her grasp? Or perhaps like Saramago possibly suggests, have you escaped her with love?