If you read last Monday’s post, you’ll remember I began last weekend by attending a funeral. This past week opened with announcements by dear friends of three more deaths. Two were somewhat anticipated, one being a terminal illness, the other due to the end of a wonderfully long-lived life. The third was unexpected from a tragic freak accident. The last wishes and rites for each has been as varied as their deaths, all beautiful examples of how we mourn and celebrate the lives of our loved ones.

While death is hard on the survivors, it’s also going to happen to all of us at some point. It’s inevitable and natural.

But what if it wasn’t?

Death with Interruptions by Jose Saramago was going to be this month’s Book Review Monday! feature anyway, but these recent passings gave the book even more reason for consideration. What if the Grim Reaper stopped knocking on our doors? That’s the premise of Death with Interruptions, a humorously droll look at the afterlife … when there isn’t an after.

Residents of a village wake up one morning and no deaths, even those lingering on that threshold, have occurred. None occur the next day. Or the next. And so it continues. It’s as if the Grim Reaper has taken a vacation or simply forgotten his or her ordained responsibility. Saramago doesn’t leave us with zombies or bodies in comas that have other-worldly existences, those close to death simply don’t cross over. (This isn’t a book of sci-fiction or sci-fantasy. It’s literary fiction.) In addition, there are no traffic accidents with fatalities, no surgeries ending with Last Rites, no premeditated murders or suicides.

What we do have is an interruption in all the businesses of death. What do funeral directors do with their stockpile of caskets and pre-need contracts? How can florists distribute their abundance of roses and lilies before they wither, (apparently the death halt doesn’t affect flowers) and where to drape all the silk banners printed with, ‘In loving memory …’? What will insurance companies do with their now worthless life insurance policies that are payable upon death? Even clerics are ringing their hands because with no death, there’s no resurrection–the very point of their business.

There are town meetings with religious, civil, and elected leaders where they discuss and debate how this new situation impacts their community. What’s caused this disruption in the natural flow of things in the first place? Are surrounding villages experiencing the same? (At least one is not.) How much information should the leaders pass along to the residents–who are celebrating the fact their loved ones aren’t dying? Will the Grim Reaper return? The village is in a different kind of limbo.

From the back cover of the book: What if she, death with a small ‘d’, became human and fell in love?

I’m not finished with the book but I’m enjoying it. It does make one think about quite a few things. The humor is often subtle with tongue-in-cheek asides by the narrator, giving a glimpse inside his head while he’s in the center of conversation with others. The one challenge for me in this Nobel Prize-winning novel was getting comfortable with the style of writing. There are no quotation marks, no character attributes to indicate who’s talking, and no paragraph breaks in conversations. After a few pages it wasn’t an issue and I’m hoping to finish reading soon–it’s only 238 pages.

This week wasn’t all about death. On Saturday we joined friends as they celebrated their 70^th – yes 70^th! – wedding anniversary. The groom told us that less than 1 tenth of 1% of couples make it that long. With couples waiting longer to marry, that percentage will no doubt decrease even more. Colonel and Betty looked as happy Saturday as they did in the wedding photos decorating the tables. I didn’t see Betty sit once during the gathering, as she flitted from guest to guest visiting and thanking us for coming, much like I imagine she did 70 years ago. Colonel held court with a receiving line of guests all vying for his attention … and causing his ice cream to melt before he could finish it. At the end of the day, I can picture them back home in their recliners still smiling, grateful for their long marriage and the people who helped them celebrate it. Colonel shares his birthday with the country’s birthday so a week of parties for him. But the best was Saturday with his ‘bride’ whom he took for better or worse … until death do they part.

Wishing all of you a safe and joyful 4^th of July. I hope to see you at my window on Monday!