Reviews and Comments

4.5 Stars

This book provides a really interesting look at Death, through, as is hinted at in the title, two people who know they're going to die, and choose to spend their last day living their lives to the fullest until they meet their end.

I really love how the author switched perspectives so much, interweaving every single character into the overall narrative in some way or another. It makes the book very dynamic. I could not imagine all of the narration coming only from Mateo for the most part, as was apparently initially planned.

The book puts forward this world where people know they will die within 24 hours of their death, and in doing so pushes us to live our own lives to the fullest. I will leave this off with a quote, which really resonated with me since my Grandfather passed away very recently:

"What am I going to do without you?"

This loaded question is the reason I didn't want anyone to know I was dying. There are questions I can't answer. I cannot tell you how you will survive without me. I cannot tell you how to mourn me. I cannot convince you to not feel guilty if you forget the anniversary of my death, or if you realize days or weeks or months have gone by without thinking about me.

I just want you to live.

Note: I did not read the Fragments that were included after the actual ending of the text.

One thing I want to touch on briefly is the disconnections in the text. The way the book flows feels kind of like a dream, or a collection of vignettes, like someone is telling you about something, but can't recall everything, only certain moments of some kind of possible clarity or importance. The one specific disconnect I want to mention is the one between the rest of the text and the ending. Now, from what I understand, Kafka had the end and beginning written, but the middle went unfinished. While this actually explains the writing disconnect, I see another purpose that this could possibly serve. Kafka wrote the book like K. was sentenced: with the ending already in mind. As it was stated several times in the book, it had already been determined that K. was guilty. The specific details of his guilt aren't necessary, similar to how it is not necessary for the reader to understand everything that occurs before K.'s sudden execution. All the reader needs is the vignette's, these ideas and theories on how the law in this world works, and the idea that the end was always in mind, and was always decided. I don't know, I'm kind of just spit balling, but what I do know is that I will be thinking about this work for a long time.

(3.5 Star)

Over the past few months, I have found myself thinking about this book some. I first read it back in the summer before 10th grade for school, but I just remember powering through it at my cousin's house just to get it done with rather than actually taking it on, you know, typical 15 year old stuff. Anyways, I really feel like this is one of those books that shouldn't really be taught in schools in the 10th grade, not because it's bad or because of any kind of explicit content, but more because it's just not really a book that's written for that kind of more immature audience.

The book started out okay for me. There were some writing things with Hemingway's style in this one that were just a bit jarring. An example is this one passage, which I think can be referred to as a polysyndeton? Anyways:

They sat on the Terrace and many of the fishermen made fun of the old man and he was not angry.

Sentence structures like that caught me off guard at first, but they grew on me over time as Hemingway really looped me into this story that he was weaving. Here is a favorite quote of mine:

"Ay," he said aloud. There is no translation for this word and perhaps it is just a noise such as a man might make, involuntarily, feeling the nail go through his hands and into the wood.

Of course, this quote and other portions of the book have led to many believing that this tale is an allegory to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. While I can certainly see that, I wouldn't necessarily say the book is a straight up allegory to that. For my own interpretations, I feel like Hemingway certainly pulled from the crucifixion of Christ, but, rather than to simply write a story about Christ in another form, I believe it is better looked at as a story of the struggle, perseverance, and continuation that comes from following ones passions to the fullest. At least that's what I take from it, although I'm certainly no literary expert.