Soon, though, the residents begin to suffer. For several months undertakers face bankruptcy, the church is forced to reinvent its doctrine, and local 'maphia' smuggle those on the brink of death over the border where they can expire naturally.
Death does return eventually, but with a new, courteous approach - delivering violet warning letters to her victims. But what can death do when a letter is unexpectedly returned?
Comment: I brought this book from the library after a friend commented how much she was enjoying it. I had no plans to read it now but since it was available...
In this book, the author creates this magical realism scenario in which death stops happening in one country and how that affects the routines of everything. At first it seems to only cause obvious problems, but the more the situation goes on, the more areas of society are somehow forced to deal with this issue. After many plans and mistakes, people start getting used to this notion of never dying, but will there be any way to get death back or is the country forced to do something about those who are supposed to die but don't?
In terms of writing, anyone who has read this author will expect to find long paragraphs and the sense the story is being told as if it's oral, with minimal punctuation. This is the author's trademark and in some stories, it works well, in others not so much. Here, I feel I'm ambivalent about it, because while I liked the theme and several observations by the author, disguised as plot decisions, but the overall feeling is one of chagrin, kind of, because I think the author could have done better.
The story could be divided into two sections, even though nothing in the text indicates any sort of change: while the country deals with the "death's strike" (so to speak) and then, when death becomes a character and we learn what led it to make that decision. I get it why the author might have chosen this device, but it was rather simplistic and not as emotionally fulfilling as when done in other work by him, when he featured human nature and an impossible scenario.
The first part was quite appealing and I've read it quickly, all those small and then bigger issues which could come following the lack of death in a country. Social and moral issues are probably the ones that come to mind right away, but financially and health wise, it would be too difficult for any country to deal with such a problem. I think the author, in his intent to exaggerate the examples and his own commentary on what might happen, gave this part a certain sarcastic and slightly comedy tone and I wasn't always impressed with this choice, for it made the story feel more like a fable or a caricature and not an actual emotional story I'd want to think about (as he did in Blindness, which used all these elements in a much more achievable manner).
The second part, when death takes central stage, was a little more boring, to be honest, but most readers who liked this say the opposite, that the second half was the good one. I struggled to stay focused on death's whims and reasons because it seemed there was no real goal to what I was reading, why would this POV matter. Or, at least, death's POV didn't seem that interesting after all and I was thinking perhaps the author had really wasted a great opportunity when, suddenly, death starts following a cello player who seemed to be very lonely. It does seem as if the aim was to add a contrast to death's tasks, when someone meant to die, doesn't. Death follows him to understand why he might have been "saved" and the rest of the story presents a sweet but sad reality at the same time.
I think this story wasn't as strong nor as impressive as others by him I've read, and while one can appreciate the fact this isn't a big book and the writing style doesn't seem as difficult either, I still felt a little bored here and there and not as invested in what as happening as I would want and which was so easy with other novels of his.
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