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`a genial mix of satire, fantasy and the comically prosaic'. --The Financial Times
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`I wish more novelists writing exhibited this much intellectual ambition, and this much humanity and elegance in realising it'.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This appears to be the third of a series of books in which Saramago's fictional city comes to terms with the effects of some implausible but brilliant affliction. In the first - blindness - we see the city struck down with an inability to see; The second - seeing - sees the city's inhabitants unanimously cast blank votes in th general election, and here, the city is now in the grip of death's abscence, literally unable to die.
Saramago's gift is the way in which he uses these events to explore the consequences in a society set up to deal only with the inevitable. In this latest, the abscence of death holds huge problems for the church's theologising, the government's ability to govern (for what of endless pension payments?!), the hospitals' intake and the funeral homes' sudden insolvency. The book is riddled with small snapshots of the effects on ordinary people, nicely juxaposed with the government's reaction on a larger scale.
Saramago commands his prose beautifully, and his ability to constantly both engage and involve the reader (we are reminded throughout that this is all taking place on the page) is credit to his ability; if you haven't read any Saramago yet, begin with The Double (still his best) and then if not this series, then this particular book. Wonderful.
Saramago's gift is the way in which he uses these events to explore the consequences in a society set up to deal only with the inevitable. In this latest, the abscence of death holds huge problems for the church's theologising, the government's ability to govern (for what of endless pension payments?!), the hospitals' intake and the funeral homes' sudden insolvency. The book is riddled with small snapshots of the effects on ordinary people, nicely juxaposed with the government's reaction on a larger scale.
Saramago commands his prose beautifully, and his ability to constantly both engage and involve the reader (we are reminded throughout that this is all taking place on the page) is credit to his ability; if you haven't read any Saramago yet, begin with The Double (still his best) and then if not this series, then this particular book. Wonderful.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
My first Jose Saramago, and probably my last.
I picked up this book because it had the most brilliant storyline, I thought it was going to be an excellent read for sure. Sadly, it wasn't. The premise of the book was very unique with death pretty much going on strike, but the execution was highly lacking.
The story had the potential to be incredible, with sarcasm and wit and humour coating the pages. It was neither witty nor sarcastic nor funny. It was rather boring. Page after page after page after page of boring text, that just went on and on and on. I never thought I'd see the day where I'd actually miss punctuation! I hated the format of the book, yes it was quite interesting at the beginning, but after the first couple of chapters I just wanted it to stop! He spends the better part of the book describing and explaining things in boring detail without presenting us with any real characters or solid interpretation of his amazing idea, that it just killed the story for me.
Yes, one can say it was quite the philosophical book, but so was Ayn Rand's Fountainhead, and yet she was able to create a proper storyline to interpret and convey her philosophies. That being said, one can also say that this is just his style, and that is fair enough, but it's just very disappointing that such a great idea has gone to waste due to this being "his style".
It takes us half the book - and that's saying something, since the book is pretty small - to get to the core of the story, and that is death herself. Her decision at the end was very anti-climatic and quite silly to tell you the truth, it just made the whole book seem that much more implausible for me.
I also really got tired of the many repetitions throughout the book - I didn't know how many more times I could take his theory about God and death being opposite sides of the coin!! Not to mention his habit of listing all the synonyms of one word, i.e "mime, gesture, pantomime" - p.104, "features, attributes and characteristics" - p.118 - just to name a couple.
Sometimes, his style of writing reminded me of Lemony Snicket's series of unfortunate events books, but those were overflowing with sarcasm, wit and humour, and Daniel Handler actually pulled it off wonderfully in his series!! (unlike Saramago - who only succeeded in boring me)
To be fair though, once I started reading this story, I would always stop and question one thing or another, with everyone not dying and so on, I'd think why can't they leave for instance? And the next chapter he introduces the idea of people leaving to the border to die, and then I'd think why are the animals dying? And the next chapter he would explain how animals had another death figure. Therefore, I do appreciate the fact that he pretty much tried to think of everything and answer all the questions. It still didn't make it interesting enough for me. This small book took me a week to finish, I couldn't believe how much it dragged.
All in all...great and interesting idea, not so much the execution, and I don't see myself reading another Saramago.
I picked up this book because it had the most brilliant storyline, I thought it was going to be an excellent read for sure. Sadly, it wasn't. The premise of the book was very unique with death pretty much going on strike, but the execution was highly lacking.
The story had the potential to be incredible, with sarcasm and wit and humour coating the pages. It was neither witty nor sarcastic nor funny. It was rather boring. Page after page after page after page of boring text, that just went on and on and on. I never thought I'd see the day where I'd actually miss punctuation! I hated the format of the book, yes it was quite interesting at the beginning, but after the first couple of chapters I just wanted it to stop! He spends the better part of the book describing and explaining things in boring detail without presenting us with any real characters or solid interpretation of his amazing idea, that it just killed the story for me.
Yes, one can say it was quite the philosophical book, but so was Ayn Rand's Fountainhead, and yet she was able to create a proper storyline to interpret and convey her philosophies. That being said, one can also say that this is just his style, and that is fair enough, but it's just very disappointing that such a great idea has gone to waste due to this being "his style".
It takes us half the book - and that's saying something, since the book is pretty small - to get to the core of the story, and that is death herself. Her decision at the end was very anti-climatic and quite silly to tell you the truth, it just made the whole book seem that much more implausible for me.
I also really got tired of the many repetitions throughout the book - I didn't know how many more times I could take his theory about God and death being opposite sides of the coin!! Not to mention his habit of listing all the synonyms of one word, i.e "mime, gesture, pantomime" - p.104, "features, attributes and characteristics" - p.118 - just to name a couple.
Sometimes, his style of writing reminded me of Lemony Snicket's series of unfortunate events books, but those were overflowing with sarcasm, wit and humour, and Daniel Handler actually pulled it off wonderfully in his series!! (unlike Saramago - who only succeeded in boring me)
To be fair though, once I started reading this story, I would always stop and question one thing or another, with everyone not dying and so on, I'd think why can't they leave for instance? And the next chapter he introduces the idea of people leaving to the border to die, and then I'd think why are the animals dying? And the next chapter he would explain how animals had another death figure. Therefore, I do appreciate the fact that he pretty much tried to think of everything and answer all the questions. It still didn't make it interesting enough for me. This small book took me a week to finish, I couldn't believe how much it dragged.
All in all...great and interesting idea, not so much the execution, and I don't see myself reading another Saramago.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The book suffers due to its length. The premise is straight forward; what happens if death takes a break and people don't die. Then if death returns portrayed as an earnest, committed female skeleton, what happens when having been given more free will the people refuse to accept their fate. These are presented as profound philosophical questions laced with stick dry humor. Over the length of the book though their impact is weakened by an overly detailed explanation of plot without -dare I say this- any of the characters being really fleshed out. In summary I thought it was a great idea but too similar in style to his other books so becomes annoying rather than enlightening. A disappointing read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
"death" with a small d and a book both lose their way
I was sucked into this by the interesting premise of what would happen if, in just one country, everyone stops dying. Read more
Published 2 months ago by P. J. Dunn
The day when people stopped dying
I love the premise of this book. One day, in a particular country, people stop dying. They still get old, get sick, get mangled in car accidents, etc., but they can't die. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Andrew Blackman
Pretentious and trite
For all that this book is marketed as a "magical realist take on a fresh subject by a Nobel laureate", it just isn't very good at all. Read more
Published 17 months ago by J.
An executive summary of a novel, but not a novel.
So, I found myself on a Portuguese island recently. I strolled into a bookshop, and had a look at the English language section. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Federhirn
Nice idea but how dull do you have to be.
This is a great book written badly.
The idea is superb but it's ponderous and wordy presentation meant I gave up. And I like slow books. Read more
The idea is superb but it's ponderous and wordy presentation meant I gave up. And I like slow books. Read more
Published 23 months ago by M. Sunderland
Very enjoyable although not one of Saramago's best
The basic premise of this book that death takes a year's holiday in a certain land-locked country - this leads to initial rejoicing but then the problems emerge. Read more
Published on 26 Mar 2010 by Aquinas
good, but not great
I think the idea for this novel was very good- what happens if death decided not to kill anymore? I don't think This brilliant idea was realised to its full potential, I found the... Read more
Published on 13 Feb 2010 by S. Croft
Death at Intervals
At first rather a confusing style - long sentences, interminable sub clauses - but then a witty and sometimes profound book with a delightful ending. Read more
Published on 25 Aug 2009 by James H. Witham
Saramago by numbers
Death by Intervals is fairly entertaining, but not his best work. The satire on how people, politicians and clergy react to the new death-free world is rather uninsightful and... Read more
Published on 16 May 2009 by Peter Gordon
My new favourite author.
I heard about this book about a year ago on the radio and cannot believe I waited so long to read it. Read more
Published on 8 April 2009 by K. HARRIS
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