Saramago's Death

I don't know why this book hasn't been turned into a movie. Maybe it has and I just don't know it. Anyway, if it has, I won't watch it because it can't be better than the book.

I have to admit, I started this book with a huge bias. Saramago was a secular writer, but that's not a problem, I was raised in a hyper-secular environment myself, the problem to me is that he was also an ardent critic of almost everything I believe in, so I started this book with a sigh, wishing I could skip him, but concluding that I must read him more out of a sense of duty than anything else.

Sure enough, the attacks were present from the get-go, but I was drawn in by the premise of the book: Death seemed to have taken a holiday. People quite simply stopped dying. At first, everybody thought it was great, they could live forever, but then the very practical aspects of life took over... If nobody dies, what will happen to the pension system, to healthcare? What to do with grandpa who is not dying and not getting better, either, just laying there in limbo? What to do with the old men and women that will inevitably crowd retirement homes and hospitals, putting an unbearable strain on the state's ability to care for its citizens and overwhelm insurance companies and private health care providers?

This is how the book starts and, even though this is the premise that is followed for a good 2/3 of the book, I say starts because it then takes an unexpected turn and we go from people and the State (most likely Portugal, Saramago's native land) as central characters, to death itself (not Death, but death, this difference is of critical importance) only to sync back with the original story in the very last line of the book.

I don't think I'd ever read anything more imaginative than this book. I recommend you read it, but remember, I'm not recommending it because I agree with Saramago's views about life and morals, but because it is an example of the power of human inventive powers.