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As Intermitências da Morte by…
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As Intermitências da Morte (original 2005; edition 2009)

by José Saramago, Editor: Leya (Editor)

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3,0801054,384 (3.71)76
"On the first day of the new year, no one dies. This, understandably, causes consternation among politicians, religious leaders, funeral directors, and doctors. Among the general public, on the other hand, there is initially celebration - flags are hung out on balconies, people dance in the streets. They have achieved the great goal of humanity: eternal life. Then reality hits home - families are left to care for the permanently dying, life-insurance policies become meaningless, and funeral directors are reduced to arranging burials for pet dogs, cats, hamsters, and parrots. Death sits in her chilly apartment, where she lives alone with scythe and filing cabinets, and contemplates her experiment: What if no one ever died again? What if she, death with a small d, became human and were to fall in love?"--jacket blurb.… (more)
Member:ruiesteves
Title:As Intermitências da Morte
Authors:José Saramago
Other authors:Editor: Leya (Editor)
Info:Editor: Leya (2009), Paperback, 240 pages
Collections:Your library
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Death with Interruptions by José Saramago (Author) (2005)

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» See also 76 mentions

English (84)  Spanish (8)  Dutch (5)  Italian (3)  Portuguese (Brazil) (2)  French (2)  German (1)  All languages (105)
Showing 1-5 of 84 (next | show all)
The beginning of the book was rather dull considered it was written by Nobelprize winner Jose Saramago. It was mostly a very extensive description of the setting. Of course, the setting is absurd and humorous, and Saramago writes awesome satire, but it was a bit too dry to my taste. However at the end of the book, the plot transformed into a beautiful but twisted love story. In my humble opinion the book is worth four stars because of the last 50 pages. ( )
  jd7h | Feb 18, 2024 |
There are some books that defy description, that have to be experienced. Saramago’s Death with Interruptions is one such book.

The thesis is intriguing. One day, people stop dying. At this time of pandemic gyrations, the convulsions of the government and churches forced to deal with the fallout from this lack of dying are both wickedly wise and so funny I laughed out loud. The Church is sent for a spin- if no eternity, then what do they have to use to persuade people to follow them? The government has no idea what to do with all the undying, including the Queen Mother- because, though people don’t die, they don’t exactly live, either. They hang, fixed in time, unable to do either.
There are those who immediately find ways to make money out of such a situation- undertakers plead financial ruin and are reduced to government-insisted buryings of pets; organized crime dips in in a variety of ways; governments cut deals; and one family figures out a solution that destabilizes life even more.

It’s odd to read this at the same time that some States in the US are hinting that old people should get Covid-19 and just die, take one for the team as it were. The context seems so parallel...

Saramago’s prose is written in tremendously long twisting sentences, but each is like a garden path, with pleasing asides popping up throughout. Every phrase is a gem. Many sentences turn around and snap a funny vision at the end that took me by enough surprise I burst out laughing.

How does the situation work itself out? Ah, that I can’t reveal, except to warn you to avoid and lavender coloured envelopes in the mail.
( )
  Dabble58 | Nov 11, 2023 |
✩✩✩

"That's how life is, what it gives with one hand one day, it takes away with the other."

let me just say this was hard to understand as this Jose guy can make a sentence last for pages. comma comma comma comma ( )
  orderofthephoenix | Oct 22, 2023 |
This was wonderful. I'm so glad that Heather wrote about this book on her blog or I would probably never have known about it.

Beautiful writing, some very funny moments, and some very heavy philosophical questions. A really terrific book. ( )
  beentsy | Aug 12, 2023 |
Un gran libro, lleno de filosofía y guiños del autor que nos provocan sonrisas; dos historias en una y un final que cautiva y, al mismo tiempo, deja con muchas interrogantes. No es fácil leer a Saramago y como siempre he insistido, debemos llegar a él con buena disposición para poder disfrutarlo y entenderlo, en mi caso, me tomó varios años para poder volver a sus historias plagadas de su habitual rebuscamiento y filosofía, y sí, disfrutar mucho este libro que no puedo más que recomendar. ( )
  uvejota | Jul 26, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 84 (next | show all)
Elke roman van José Saramago opent met een paukenslag.Op de eerste bladzijden introduceert hij een hoogst ongewone toestand, die vaak door een even abrupte als absurde ingreep van hogerhand wordt geforceerd.
Zo'n openingszet, die alles op scherp zet en de lezer elektrocuteert, is een geraffineerde variant op het 'er was eens' van het sprookje. Dan is de moraal vaak niet ver weg meer. Dat is soms even slikken, juist bij zo'n geharnast moralist als Saramago. Hier is het dat niet: daarvoor is het verhaal te goed verteld, te geestig ook - en het verlangen dat erdoor gefileerd wordt, het anti-doodsverlangen, te vitaal.
 

» Add other authors (6 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Saramago, JoséAuthorprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Costa, Margaret JuliTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Gauld, TomCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kort, Maartje deTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pàmies, XavierTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Rio, Pilar delTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
We will know less and less what it means to be human.
- Book of Predictions
If, for example, you were to think more deeply about death, then it would be truly strange if, in so doing, you did not encounter new images, new linguistic fields.
- Wittgenstein
Saberemos cada vez menos o que é um ser humano.
Dedication
For Pilar, my home.
First words
The following day, no one died.
No dia seguinte ninguém morreu.
Quotations
This fact, being absolutely contrary to life's rules, provoked enormous, and in the circumstances, perfectly justifiable anxiety in people's minds, for we have only to consider that in the entire forty volumes of universal history there is no mention, not even one exemplary case, of such a phenomenon ever having occurred, for a whole day to go by, with its generous allowance of twenty-four hours, diurnal and nocturnal, matutinal and vespertine, without one death from an illness, a fatal fall, or a successful suicide, not one, not a single one.
At most, it might push them toward the place where death presumably was, but it would be pointless, futile, because at that precise moment, as unreachable as ever, she would take a step back and keep her distance.
One cannot be too careful with words, they change their minds just as people do.
By the way, we feel we must mention that death, by herself and alone, with no external help, has always killed far less than mankind has.
it makes no difference because everything will have but one ending, the ending that a part of yourself will always have to think about and which is the black stain on your hopeless humanity.
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Wikipedia in English (1)

"On the first day of the new year, no one dies. This, understandably, causes consternation among politicians, religious leaders, funeral directors, and doctors. Among the general public, on the other hand, there is initially celebration - flags are hung out on balconies, people dance in the streets. They have achieved the great goal of humanity: eternal life. Then reality hits home - families are left to care for the permanently dying, life-insurance policies become meaningless, and funeral directors are reduced to arranging burials for pet dogs, cats, hamsters, and parrots. Death sits in her chilly apartment, where she lives alone with scythe and filing cabinets, and contemplates her experiment: What if no one ever died again? What if she, death with a small d, became human and were to fall in love?"--jacket blurb.

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Book description
Nobel Prize-winner Jose Saramago's brilliant new novel poses the question -- what happens when the grim reaper decides there will be no more death?

On the first day of the new year, no one dies. This of course causes consternation among politicians, religious leaders, morticians, and doctors. Among the general public, on the other hand, there is initially celebration—flags are hung out on balconies, people dance in the streets. They have achieved the great goal of humanity: eternal life. Then reality hits home—families are left to care for the permanently dying, life-insurance policies become meaningless, and funeral parlors are reduced to arranging burials for pet dogs, cats, hamsters, and parrots.

Death sits in her chilly apartment, where she lives alone with scythe and filing cabinets, and contemplates her experiment: What if no one ever died again? What if she, death with a small d, became human and were to fall in love?

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