“death” we are told “knows everything about us, and that perhaps is why she’s sad. once saramago introduces us to death, the book becomes something entirely different. up until this point (about 1/2 way), “death with interruptions” is similar to saramago’s earlier novels, “seeing” or “all the names” - very well-written social satire. you can imagine where we’re going.īut then a hand-written letter arrives from death, saying she is calling off her “experiment.” yes, “she” and “her.” death is a woman. the families of the (perpetually) dying, turn in desperation to crime. as people continue to age and get sick and linger, it becomes clear to various bureaucracies that society will be crushed under the weight of the aged and infirm. no death, no need for redemption, no need for religion - uh-oh. the first to realize that eternal life is a problem is the church.

in the beginning, this is cause for celebration among the populace. in fact, from new year’s day on, death fails to take any victims in the small country in which the story is set. “the following day, no one died.” opens the novel. from the first paragraph, “interruptions” is quintessential saramago. the idea of “interruptions” being written by anyone else though, is ridiculous. but because of his history, saramago is held to a higher standard. If it were written by anyone else,”death with interruptions” would be receiving unbridled acclaim. no work of literature written in the last 50 years is more powerful, insightful and disturbing than “blindness.” “the gospel according to jesus christ” – an aggressively (some would say blasphemous) re-telling of the christ story – and “the year of the death ridardo reis” are also works of genius. I’m going on a limb and saying that josé saramago is the best living writer of fiction.

Amazon blindness jose saramago