Saramago is a master of writing. Here, he has chosen death as his protagonist. And she has chosen to stop. The first half of the book concerns a country without death, and what political, social and moral upheaval the end of death would cause. The second half concerns death and love, and the human, as opposed to the socio-political, aspect of this.

This is a beautiful and funny satire, that brings up Saramago's common criticisms of 20th Century western culture, but with a wry delivery, and a hopeful air, buoyed by his incredible imagination.

The translation, but Margaret Jull Costa, is terrific: although I cannot read the original, I believe that her delivery must be faithful to Saramago's original offbeat tempo.