#1 Issue: Death and Purple Letters

Hello and welcome to the first official issue of A Story for the Week!

The story of the week is none other than Death with Interruptions, a novel by Nobel Laureate, José Saramago. 

When I first started reading this book, I didn’t have the faintest idea that it would end up being featured in the first issue of my newsletter. I’m always, and I mean always, so cautious with which book I’ll read next, but when the book started with “The following day, no one died,” I was, admittedly, intrigued. And so, one thing led to another, and by the end of the book, I got one and the same why-did-it-ever-have-to-come-to-an-end feeling.

But what’s so special about this book? Why is Death with Interruptions so enchanting?

Well, it’s a book about death, except there’s no death. One day, out of the blue, there are no deaths, no deaths at all, and the people of this distant unnamed land, have to learn how to live with that fact and adapt. Throughout the book, you have a feeling as if Saramago is playing with a magnifying glass since he’s in one moment zooming in on a particular character and in another, he’s detailing the consequences of the absence of death on society with a witty, absurd tone that you can never mistake with another writer. Besides that, at the end of the book, for the last 20 pages, you’ll find some of the wittiest and funniest dialogues you’ve ever read. 

When you start reading, if you start reading, bear in mind that this man despises full stop, and sometimes you might read through a few pages without stopping, since, apparently, you’re not allowed to stop reading. That was probably intentional since Death with  Interruptions is written almost as a full-blown stream-of-consciousness book that attempts to translate thoughts directly into words. But there isn’t a single word too much.

Clearly, the book is sprinkled with elements of magical realism, where surreal events and creatures leak into our reality, and no one asks “Why,” either because it isn’t necessary or it’s quite self-explanatory. This book, in short, takes you on a trip, to an alternate reality, and shows you how our precious society, our precious civilization could easily crumble beneath our feet after one little change. We’re all fickle—you, me, the society, the system we tried so hard to build, and whatever we worked for so hard could just be gone at the snap of one’s finger. 

Essentially, Death with Interruptions teaches us how small and insignificant we actually are, even with all our dreams, successes, legacies, jobs, and ideas. But, but, it’s not all so gloomy—there are other forces at work too, something like love we all carry in our pockets. 

I’ll leave you with a couple of quotes from Death with Interruptions that will, hopefully, give you a glimpse of what could be waiting for you:

“The prayers had taken nearly eight months to reach heaven, but when you think that it takes six months to reach the planet mars, then heaven, as you can imagine, must be much farther off, three thousand million light-years from earth, in round numbers.”

“It could be seen as a display of sadistic cruelty, like so many others we see every day, but death has no need to be cruel, taking people’s lives is more than enough.”

“Apart from the matter of pensions, Apart from the matter of dearth, sir, if we don’t start dying again, we have no future.”

Once again, thank you for subscribing to my newsletter and helping me achieve my dream of becoming a stay-at-home writer. Your support means the world to me and, honestly, it gives me a reason to continue doing this. 

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