3 Review(s)

Official Flipkart Review Christopher Hitchens is one of the greatest writers that Britain has ever produced. Not even the tumour in his oesophagus could stop him from writing. “Mortality” is a book, a short book collecting the essays that Hitchens wrote before his death, about his death and the way he felt about everything related to it and how his atheism led to rational thinking and emotion as well. He is honest and painfully so throughout the book. The details of the disease are not given and rightly so (since it is quite private), however at the same time, the pathos is there, the honesty remains and therefore, the connection with the reader. He knows what he is writing. He is aware of how his physical abilities are declining day after day and yet what he wants the most is the ability to speak (which does become a concern later) and write (which is of a God-like status to the writer). The writing is powerful and stuns you in silent contemplation, like a good book should. At the end of it all, Hitchens just shows it the way it is – death and life, the way it is meant to be, probably not sugar-coated like his works aren’t, but true to life. Faced with mortality, Christopher Hitchens creates the most meditative piece among all his writings, providing an honest account of living life as a cancer patient. Summary Of The Book Mortality is a book comprising seven essays written by Christopher Hitchens. These essays, concerning Hitchens’ struggle with oesophageal cancer, were initially published in the Vanity Fair magazine, where he was a contributing editor for nearly two decades. The essays were then collectively published as a book, after Hitchens had succumbed to the disease. The book also includes an eighth chapter which contains Hitchens’ unfinished impressions. In Mortality, Christopher Hitchens ponders over aspects such as his fear of losing the ability to write, the misery of cancer and the torment of undergoing chemotherapy, the joy of conversation, an analysis of “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” and the meaning of life. The flavour of the seven essays in Morality are characteristic of Hitchens’ prose. They are sprinkled with adept phrase-making, unapologetic intellectualism, and sufficient provocation. Hitchens muses on writing and asks people to write the way they talk and avoid repetitions and stock expressions. In a different chapter, he reminisces on the joys of speech and conversation and ponders over the essence of ‘talk’ in writing and friendship. Among critics and fellow-journalists, Mortality received largely positive reviews. Christopher Buckley, in a review of Mortality in The New York Times, described the seven essays as “diamond-hard and brilliant.” About Christopher Hitchens Christopher Hitchens was a journalist, columnist, literary critic, and author. His other works include God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, Hitch - 22, The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice, Love, Poverty and War: Journeys and Essays, and Letters to a Young Contrarian. Hichens was born April 13, 1949, in England. He was a visiting professor of liberal studies at the New School in New York City and the I. F. Stone professor at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. He was a columnist for Slate and a contributing editor to Vanity Fair. Christopher Hitchens’ God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything was nominated for the National Book Award. Hitch - 22, his memoir, was nominated for the Orwell Prize and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in autobiographies. Besides writing journalistic pieces for magazines and newspapers, Hitchens has been the author of more than twenty books and pamphlets, including a collection of essays, criticism and reportage.