How does one review a book like this? Christopher Hitchens explores encroaching death with his usual brutal honesty and wit. Of course, he can’t help but take some jabs at his usual targets. He tries to remain open and unsentimental. Mostly, he succeeds. But throughout, you can sense his frustration, he anger, his sadness and his disappointment. He still had living to do. But then, don't we all.
There are moments of heartening joy, fond memories of a life well lived, and the warmth of loving friends and family. But there is also the futility, the brutal poking and prodding of well meaning healers, and crushing petering out of a literary titan’s life.
The forward by Graydon Carter sets the stage, but the afterward by his widow Carol is heartbreaking. Hitch was one of those people others seem to orbit around, a gravity well that draws in diverse bodies, each with their own strengths. His writing was smart without being pedantic, challenging and provocative, but charming. His death leaves a vacuum.
Mortality
Author: Christopher Hitchens
Publisher: Twelve
ISBN: 978-1-4555-0275-2
-Matt
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