Review: The Postmortal

The Postmortal by Drew Magary

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



How would life change if there were a cure for aging? I love philosophical questions like this and all of the interesting scenarios and possibilities they lead to. This story is full of humor, sadness, anger, and remorse. It is told as if you are reading the blog posts of John Farrell, a lawyer who received the cure in his late twenties.

I waffled between giving this story 4 or 5 stars. It isn't perfect, but it hits all the right notes for me. I know I'm going to be talking about this one to anyone who will listen, which is why I left it at a 5.

Would all that extra time allow us to lead fuller lives? Or would we treat it like anything that we have in excess: with little value. Is our mortality a gift?

Ok, some of the things that troubled me with this book. The collapse of man seems to go really fast here. I think the rate at which the population would expand is exaggerated. A quick look at the stats shows that the US had 4 million births in 2010 and just under 2.5 million deaths. The cure eliminates aging, but not death by other causes (violence, sickness, accidents, etc). The population would certainly increase at a fast rate, but the book indicates that overpopulation problems would be evident within ten years. I find that really hard to believe.

The greenies also seem sort of ludicrous to me. Internet trolls are looking to frustrate people for laughs. Physical harm isn't part of the repertoire. Sure, I could see independent individuals doing crazy things, but the description of the greenies indicates a collective behavior that I have trouble believing.




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