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Jenna Haas
Honors English 101H CRN 83311
Professor McKeever
5 December 2015
Word Count: 558
Postmortal Book Review
The following is my book review of the science fiction novel The Postmortal by Drew
Magary and published by the Penguin Books Group. The main idea, I believe, Mr. Magary was
exploring in the work was whether or not staying forever young would be worth it and if so,
what would it be like. The novel was well written however, I personally did not derive much
enjoyment in reading it.
The Postmortal begins in 2093 at which time, an article is published and written about
how a worker, for the Department of Containment, stumbled upon a digital library containing
documentation spanning 60 years in the life of John Farrell, the main protagonist. The worker
felt that this discovery, constitutes an essential narrative, and incontrovertible evidence that the
cure for aging must never again be legalized (Magary 2).The story follows John Farrell, an
estate lawyer, who decides to acquire the cure for aging. Over the course of the book, he decides
to refocus his career to practice divorce law and subsequently, becomes an end specialist. As the
book unfolds, Farrell gains and loses a family and all others he holds dear. Ultimately, he
discovers that giving Solara a chance at life was the only meaningful thing he had done in his
life as he states, in the last eighty-nine years, these four days are the only thing I got
right(Magary 364). The last sentences imply that he commits suicide by shooting himself with
Soflo.

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I believe that Drew Magarys purpose for writing this novel was to essentially show how,
in some ways, scientific evolution can be a bad thing. The creator of the cure for aging developed
it by accident and then appeared to regret it. Another thought contemplated, in the book, was that
all our actions have consequences.
I loved how realistic this world seemed as it was as if we, as a people, were to jump into
an uncertain but completely possible future. Advances are being made so rapidly in today's
world, that I would not be surprised to find a cure for aging appear in the near future. I also did
not understand the addition of the Greenies into the storyline other than for the purpose of either
assuming the role of antagonist or to reveal Johns vengeful side. I have to be honest, I did not
appreciate how John set about exacting revenge on the greenie and was not surprised to find that
it cost him the love of his life, Allison. Finally, I strongly disliked the book ending on implied
suicide as, in some ways, it sends the wrong message to readers.
In conclusion, I think that staying forever young would eventually prove to be a mistake
and as such, I would not obtain the cure if offered. I enjoyed the irony of the main protagonist
having an innocent outlook on the situation. Like the many, he believed that he was going to be
able to do so much more with an extended life when in truth; he ends up wasting the majority of
it. Ironically, in the end, as it was in the beginning, the cure is outlawed and those who took the
cure, through his lifetime, are most likely dead. Therefore, even though the novel was well
written, I personally did not derive much enjoyment from reading the book.

Works Cited
Magary, Drew. The Postmortal: A Novel. New York: Penguin Books, 2011. Print.

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