"Dame Lettie Colston refilled her fountain pen and continued her letter:"

The second book I read for the 2nds Challenge that I am participating in was Memento Mori by Muriel Spark. I decided to read this book by her to see if I could improve upon my opinion of her after I read The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. I liked both books but wasn't in love with them. I have to say that I'm not sure I would read anything else by her now.

This book is about a group of elderly friends/frenemies who start receiving phone calls that ask them to "remember that they must die", hence Memento Mori. Each person seems to receive the call from a different caller. The police can't find any evidence to trace the maker of these calls. So we follow these people as they finish out their lives in the shadow of these mysterious messages.

The only thing I really found interesting about this book was actually because I recently read The Amber Spyglass. In that book, we are introduced to the idea that from the time we are born, our death comes into being as a sort of spirit that follows us until it is time to guide us to the other side. It is postulated in this book that the calls are actually coming from Death. It just seemed interesting to imagine each person's "death" giving them a little warning phone call to remind them that their meeting is inevitable. Some people would appreciate the consideration and others would be very frightened -- which is what happened in this book.

Hoping the phone doesn't ring just yet,
K


Buy Memento Mori on Amazon or find it at your local library.