Having a dead person tell the story is not an entirely original concept. This has happened in “The Book Thief,” where Death narrates the tale. It also happens in “Epitaph of a Small Winner,” where the protagonist narrates his death, funeral, and journey to the afterlife. But has that ever tired me of continuously reading books with similar themes, ideas, and storylines in them?
Absolutely not. What truly matters is the execution, after all.
Personally, I’m impressed with how much information about Ana María’s life was condensed within a relatively short amount of pages. Ana María may have been dead, but her spirit still watches as people she know come and look at her corpse. She can still think and feel, and uses the time to reminisce on her life with a new sense of insight death can provide. Now that her life is over, time can’t go back. There’s nothing she could change even if she has any lingering regrets. As a result, it is fascinating to see how Ana María’s change to her thoughts on love and everyone she has ever loved – ranging from the children she raised and first love Ricardo to her best friend Fernando and her very eventful marriage with Antonio. She also regrets having initially been cold towards her husband, as it had altered the course of their relationship where she experiences plenty of emotional pain.
Though, it is interesting to see how fresh of a perspective death could bring about life. After all, we tend to waste a lot of our time focusing about trivial matters. But Ana María doesn’t do this on her deathbed. Rather, she only focuses on her most important memories. In other words, time is best spent living and laughing in general. We do only get to walk the earth for a few decades before returning to dust.
And even then – even if death happened the next day – you still existed. You are a concept that the laws of the universe allow to materialise. All the beauty that is you is cemented into the fabric of reality. You will die, everyone that knew you will die, humanity will die, the earth will die, the sun will die, the universe will die. But no amount of time will ever negate the fact that your life was real.
So this does bring me to my question: how different do you think Ana Maria’s thoughts about her life would be if this was set in a different moment (ex = when she’s on the verge of dying)?