Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by nadiasfiction
Memento Mori by Muriel Spark
5.0
Dame Lettie, her brother Godfrey, Godfrey's wife Charmian, their respective lovers, Taylor their former housekeeper, and Inspector Mortimer are all over seventy years-old, all somewhat excentric, all slightly unhinged (aren't we all well before then), and although all were well-off during their working years they now worry about the cost of living in a care home for decades, and becoming senile.
So when each of them begins to receive an anonymous call that tells them 'remember to die', chaos ensues. It sets some panicking, others investigating, some regain a clearer memory, and others put shady plans into motion.
Meanwhile, Alec Warner, a common friend to this cast, is checking everbody's pulse, temperature, and is chronicling old age.
Memento Mori is a dark comedy, it rides on macabre humour throughout, and Spark is pitiless in the way she explores the transitory stage during which we witness the loss of our physical and intellectual abilities, the shame we feel, and the expectance of death.
Spark has an amazing ability to bring to life so many people in such a short space and make their darkest paradoxes emerge in great depth.
So when each of them begins to receive an anonymous call that tells them 'remember to die', chaos ensues. It sets some panicking, others investigating, some regain a clearer memory, and others put shady plans into motion.
Meanwhile, Alec Warner, a common friend to this cast, is checking everbody's pulse, temperature, and is chronicling old age.
Memento Mori is a dark comedy, it rides on macabre humour throughout, and Spark is pitiless in the way she explores the transitory stage during which we witness the loss of our physical and intellectual abilities, the shame we feel, and the expectance of death.
Spark has an amazing ability to bring to life so many people in such a short space and make their darkest paradoxes emerge in great depth.