Do Not Resuscitate

by Nicholas Ponticello

Description

Jim Frost thinks that when you're dead, you're dead. Gone. Finished. Kaput. But on the eve of his seventy-third birthday, his daughter suggests he have his brain downloaded to a microchip for safekeeping, and Jim is forced to consider what it really means to die--and what it might mean to live forever.Do Not Resuscitate is the firsthand account of Jim Frost, an aging misanthropist who witnessed the rise and fall of the United States as a world power, the digitalization of the planet, the show more advent of the water wars, and the near collapse of the global economy. Yet he remains impervious to it all. Concerned more with his plasma TV, high-speed Internet, and continual supply of hash, twentysomething Jim takes an under-the-table job off Craigslist delivering mysterious red coolers to strangers in cafés in an effort to pay the bills. But when Jim's enigmatic employer asks him to fly to North Korea for a delivery, Jim starts to wonder what he's gotten himself into. show less

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Cheryl_in_CC_NV 15,288 reviews

Written in a sort of memoir/confessional style, but a rough draft thereof, so kinda messy. Even though it's intentional, I'm a bit frustrated. Jim Frost did think to give us a family tree, so keeping track of characters isn't too hard, but the dates are throwing me off entirely. Otoh, some things are told to us several times... but again, that's what a person tends to do while reminiscing.

Chose for the What If and for the older person, as I agree with Jim that when I die I want to be Done Kaput... but What If daughter wants you on the chip, and What If it's become the norm?

I'm also frustrated by the incomplete picture of how hard life is in this post Age-of-Innocence world. I mean, that Age of Innocence, that era of cheap water and show more other plentitudes, is defined as ending in 2034... but even after that people seem to be at least as comfortable as we are now....

I'll keep reading as it's not a real high word-count and I do kinda like Jim, but we'll see....
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Ok done. Ok. Well. Not bad. But, yeah, dissatisfying, and, ultimately, kinda pointless. Or something. Never did get the world-building sorted out; not intended to be SF enough to pay attention to those details I guess. show less

Oct 18, 2024

JeanetteS 46 reviews

I always enjoy reading something a little different to my usual type of reads. This book was certainly different and whilst it was very well written and quite enjoyable, it is the kind of book that I could only read once in a while. I hope to read more books by this author in time to come.

I received this electronic copy via Librarything in exchange for an honest review.