Book Review: "Mortality" by Christopher Hitchens

This is the one that apart from God is Not Great that I have definitely read before. Mortality is a very different book to the ones Christopher Hitchens fans are used to. It has a sombre, often meditative tone to it and his writing is a lot less animated and contains less figurative language. This book contains more in-depth philosophical discussion about Hitchens himself. I am actually reading this again purely because I am reading (or even re-reading) a lot of Christopher Hitchens' books lately. It felt natural to add this to the collection of books. Let's take a look at what it is about...

It's 2010 and Christopher Hitchens has been taken to hospital after on a short trajectory of physical decline. He has come out with a cancer diagnosis. Within the next year, he'll be dead. This book is the account that Hitchens makes of his decline and dying, analysing the pain and fatigue, looking at what it means to live with a terminal illness. He looks at it through the lens of dying in the body, shackled to his corpse as his body continues to fail but his mind is still racing. Even though there is this metaphor, it is still less upon the cultural landscape and we know this is something Hitchens is more used to than talking about himself in this way. I have to recall the book Hitch-22 where he gives the account of his mother's murder. His language changes. It becomes less journalistic, less based within rhetoric and metaphor. It is more raw and feeling. That is what the writing is like here. There is a certain reality Hitchens speaks about when he looks at the act of dying, something that is not sentimental in the slightest.

The section I thought was very insightful though was when Hitchens writes about his voice. Anyone who has listened to a Hitchens debate will know how great of an orator he was. The cancer attacks his vocal chords, taking his voice away. He talks about his personality therefore, being "amputated" as this is both a literal and a symbolic loss - speech was both a part of his life and a vital sense of his own self and being. This links those ideas Hitchens makes identity dissolution to terminal illness. The physical deterioration is one thing, but the deterioration of the being is a whole different thing altogether (and it seems, just as painful).

Christopher Hitchens not liking the idea that someone is 'battling' cancer is something I think we were all expecting if we've read Hitchens' books. He argues that the narrative of control is absurd when you have no control whatsoever and thus, the language becomes misleading. He states we need to accept the realities without the performative bravery, especially as it pressures those with cancer not to be truthful about the sheer amount of pain they are going through. I think I agree with this because framing illness as a battle in any form is a bad idea because it puts a lot of pressure on the person to keep 'fighting' no matter how little strength they have left. But, on top of this we have someone who quite literally has one of the most painful illnesses you will ever experience who is being told to 'battle' it.

There was a part that philosophically frightened me though and that was when Hitchens began writing about the fear of intellectual decline which undoubtedly comes with terminal illness. This is why I keep telling everyone that if I lose my wits and I can no longer read and enjoy books - please just pull the damn plug. He worries that he will go back on his convictions in moments of pain and struggling - in particular those he has stated about atheism. I can't say he particularly would. Why? Well, it reminds me of the time I watched a show on Netflix (I can't remember what it's called) but there was a young man (about 20?) who was dying of cancer. He was asked whether he believed in God and he said no. When asked why, he answered that he would therefore have to believe that there is a God who'd give a teenager cancer.

Apart from the philosophical darkness, Hitchens manages to maintain the comedy that has underscored his various essays over the years including the sardonic wit and anecdotes of the past. He talks about weird advice and interactions of after he told people of the diagnosis. There was one story about getting some Leonard Cohen records from a friend and he talks about it quite humorously, looking at the idea of humour as a coping mechanism and the idea that this is the wit he wants to go out with. I have to say, if he was scared of losing his wit, he definitely had all of the 'wit' about him in this book.

The fact that Hitchens still writes about writing is something that we have to feel lucky for. He looks at it as his last means of control as he is losing his health and his voice, his writing is that purpose, that agency, that escape from his current situation. He turns his personal suffering into a form of philosophy, entertainment, reflection and transformation for the reader and he does it brilliantly. The book seems to close with a lot of notes and fragments, I think it might be because he passed away before he completely finished everything he wanted to write. It's sad but nice to see he was doing it his way until the very last days.

All in all, this is one of the most heartfelt books I've read by Hitchens. It is a great eye-opener into an atheist's experience of dying because there really isn't any sentimentality there. It is a reflection and a reality. I think if there was any way that I would want to go out writing, it would definitely be like this.