The novel is set in an unnamed country (often interpreted as Portugal) where, on the first day of the new year, death suddenly stops occurring. No one dies. This initially seems like a miracle: terminally ill patients do not pass away, and funerals cease. However, the absence of death quickly creates logistical, theological, and social chaos. Hospitals become overcrowded with the "undead" — people on the verge of death but unable to cross over. The country’s pension and healthcare systems collapse, the church faces a crisis (since death is necessary for resurrection), and mafia-like organizations emerge to smugge terminally ill people across the border to die elsewhere.
Las intermitencias de la muerte is a brilliant thought experiment that balances dark satire with tender humanity. The first half excels as a political and social allegory, showing how systems fail when faced with a fundamental shift in natural law. The church’s theological confusion, the government’s impotence, and the citizens’ initial joy turning to despair are rendered with sharp wit. Las intermitencias de la muerte - Jose Saramago...
The second half, focusing on death and the cellist, is more intimate and philosophical. Some critics argue that the tone shifts abruptly from satire to romance, but this change is deliberate: Saramago moves from the macro (society) to the micro (individual), demonstrating that meaning is ultimately personal, not institutional. The ending is famously ambiguous, asking whether death can coexist with love or whether love is the one thing that even death cannot interrupt. The novel is set in an unnamed country
Las intermitencias de la muerte is a profound, inventive, and deeply human novel. It invites readers to reflect on mortality not as a morbid subject but as the very condition that gives life its value. Saramago’s dark humor, philosophical depth, and masterful prose make this work essential reading for those interested in existential literature, magical realism, and the eternal question of what it means to be mortal. However, the absence of death quickly creates logistical,