Book Club #2: Death with Interruptions

This is the second in a series of book club posts. For the first post on Erased, go here.

I didn't realize this cover had a skull on it until just now...

Jose Saramago's Death with Interrutions is the story of death (with a lowercase d) who is female. Well, after a few hundred pages it is. This book is actually written in two very different halves. Some people like the first half better, some like the second. But, for me, neither half works without the other and together they work.

This post contains spoilers, so don't read if you don't want to know some of the plot points of this novel.

************Spoilers Follow************

Almost everyone at my book club (except for me) didn't like this book. I would say that made for an unusual meeting for me, but it seemed like last month I was the only one who liked the book, too. That time to book was so weird that we all just had fun talking about it.

The first half of the book deals with the social, political, etc. effects of a country where, after New Year's Eve, no one dies for seven months. What would happen to funeral directors, for example, or homes for the elderly. After this half, we get the story of death who, as I said before, is female. She decides to start giving everyone a week's notice before offing them. She sends those who have a week left a purple letter in the mail. One letter keeps coming back, however, so she puts herself in human form to find that person and deliver the letter personally. I liked how she checked into a hotel after buying tickets for two nights at the symphony, and when they asked if she had any luggage, she said she was in town for a week to shop. That sounds like kind of a fun vacation to me.

Anyway, here are the questions. Feel free to leave your answers in the comments.

What was your favorite scene?

Again, I liked her vacation.

Who was your favorite character?

This book did not really have a lot of characters, but I loved when the Scythe started talking.

What were you most surprised at?

The sudden change half-way through the book. Also, the fact that so many people thought no one dying would be a good thing.

What was your least favorite part?

Long passages describing semi-boring political events.

Will you read it again? Sell your book? Keep it? Recommend it to friends?

If I read it again, I will probably just read the last half. I might recommend it to friends, depending on the friends. I will keep it on the shelf I have dedicated to books I have read for book clubs (so far there are three books up there).