Mortality (2012) is
written by columnist, literary critic, author, and contributing editor of
magazines such as Vanity Fair, Times Literary Supplement, Atlantic, and New Statesman. He also wrote the controversial bestseller God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons
Everything (2007).
Hitchens (1949-2011)
was British and gained his American citizenship in 2007. He commences with the
day of his diagnosis for esophagus cancer: June 2010. He is on a book tour in
New York, promoting his memoir Hitch-22
(2010). He is 61 years old, at a time when his memoir enters the bestseller
list and he has just gained a lifetime of free upgrades on his airline loyalty
card.
Mortality is a short
book of 106 pages and eight chapters, all previously published in some form in
his Vanity Fair column over 19 months.
Hitchens writes of the
randomness of cancer (it doesn’t discriminate), religion (‘this invites
potential punters to put money on whether I will repudiate my atheism and
embrace religion by a certain date or continue to affirm unbelief and take the
hellish consequences’), the copious amount of advice he receives on cures and
treatments, and cancer etiquette (how to answer the question ‘how are you?’ or
adopt the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ stance).
He writes about the
changes in his body, voice, and appearance – or more correctly, he writes of
the loss of functions and functioning, and the loss of weight and body mass. He
writes about the pain and how to describe it – ‘grave discomfort’ doesn’t seem
to be adequate. He uses quotes liberally, such as one from author Kingsley Amis
– ‘Death has this much to be said for it: You don’t have to get out of bed for
it.’
Hitchens was a
polarizing figure – a controversial writer and speaker. Whatever readers think
of his opinions and views, Hitchens remains lucid, witty, insightful, and questioning
– rarely morbid – right to the end.
The book contains an
Afterword by Carol Blue, his wife, which is also interesting and poignant. She
describes living with Hitchens throughout his treatment: ‘We were living in two
worlds. The old one, which never seemed more beautiful, had not yet vanished;
and the new one, about which we knew little except to fear it, had not yet
arrived.’ She adds that ‘his artful conversation never ceased.’ Hitchens, known
for having the last word in a debate, has his last word.
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