Death with interruptions
By: José Saramago ; translated from the Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa.
Contributors: Costa, Margaret Jull.
Publisher: Harcourt
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Orlando
Language: eng
Number of pages: 238
ISBN-13: 9780151012749
Work titles: Intermitências da morte.
Description: "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.