| Translator | |
|---|---|
| Pages | 340 |
| US ISBN | 978-1-64286-067-2 |
| UK ISBN | 978-1-912987-08-5 |
| Ebook ISBN | 978-1-64286-064-1 |
| US publication date | April 14, 2020 |
| UK publication date | April 16, 2020 |
| Price | $16.99, £12.99 |
A Life Without End
$12.99
What does the man who has everything―fame, fortune, a new love, and a new baby―want for his fiftieth birthday? The answer is simple: eternal life. Determined to shake off the first intimations of his approaching demise, Frédéric tries every possible procedure to ward off death, examining both legal and illegal research into techniques that could lead to the imminent replacement of man with a post-human species. Accompanied by his ten-year-old daughter and her robot friend, Frédéric crisscrosses the globe to meet the world’s foremost researchers on human longevity, who—from cell rejuvenation and telomere lengthening to 3D-printed organs and digitally stored DNA—reveal their latest discoveries. With his blend of deadpan humor and clear-eyed perception, Beigbeder has penned a brutal and brilliant exposé of the enduring issue of our own mortality.
Details
Author
Frédéric Beigbeder
Frédéric Beigbeder is a French journalist and critic, and is responsible for the literary section of Le Figaro Magazine. Also a bestselling author… Read more
Book Club Questions
Book Club Questions
1. Was A Life Without End what you had expected it to be? If not, how was it different?
2. Did you like the narrator’s cynical-but-tender voice? Would you describe it differently?
3. Who was your favourite member of the family (you can choose the robot, too)? Why?
4. Why did Léonore tolerate Frédéric going on his mission for so long, when they were expecting a baby? Did she perhaps hope he’d find a cure or treatment for her, too, despite her ironic attitude?
5. In the epilogue we find out Frédéric chickened out of his scheduled young-blood treatment. Can you come up with a reason, other than simply fear? Might the reason he stopped the madness be the same reason he started it in the first place?
6. Could a talk show with a drugged presenter and contestants exist in your country? If it could, would people watch it?
7. The novel didn’t seem to question that advanced robots could be friends with—or to—humans. Is the idea preposterous? Why? In the novel, did it make a difference that the human was a teenager?
8. Which scientist, company, or technology did you spend the most time Googling? What have you concluded?
9. Is it a good thing to extend life expectancy? Compare progress over the past decades with near-future possibilities. Does it make a difference how many years are “added”?
10. Would your answer to the previous question change if these treatments were accessible and cheap?
11. Is there a treatment Frédéric learned about or tried out that you’d secretly want to try out (never mind the price for a moment)?
12. Similarly, is there any place he went that you’d now like to visit (beyond the health clinics and spas)?
13. Is it obvious what the author’s opinions are on the topic? There are numerous interviews with him on the subject matter—what do you expect that he thinks?
14. If you have read anything about Beigbeder’s opinions, does it change the way you interpret the novel?
15. What did you think of the novel form as a way to discuss recent (and future) technological innovations? Can A Life Without End be called “science non-fiction”? What would that mean?
16. Did you like the fact that the author used himself and his family as characters, and that they embarked on an only semi-fictional journey? Is this combination of fiction and non-fiction enriching, or confusing perhaps?
Book Trailer
Book Trailer
Interview
Interview
Press Quotes
Press Quotes
‘Written in a breezy style, bristling with wit, sarcasm, heavy doses of gallows humor, and many lists…This extravagant metafiction about obsession, life, love, and lists mixes sincerity with an endearing, genre-bending wackiness.’
Kirkus Reviews
‘A Life Without End pivots entirely on its voice—smart-ass, wisecracking, yet shaded by pathos and sentiment. As translator, the ever-excellent Frank Wynne catches all this motormouth ebullience and solipsistic charm…the fun, and the gags, never go extinct.’
Financial Times
‘If you have any interest in genetics it will put you right on top of things’ —David Mills, The Sunday Times
‘It’s funny, profound, brilliantly researched, and fiendishly artful.’
Le Figaro
‘A Life Without End is, appropriately enough, a lively wallow. Death may be a dark subject, but Beigbeder’s semi-fiction is almost relentlessly upbeat and cheerful, the author aware of the absurdity of his ambition and undertaking, but clearly also well-practiced in faking it for an audience and putting on a good show.’
Complete Review
‘A touching and contemplative literary curve ball.’
Femina
‘A Life Without End is an invigorating, oddball and entertaining read, spawning a new kind of post-Existentialism for the digital age.’ —Bookblast
‘Brutally funny.’ —New Scientist
‘Beigbeder has produced one of the most human, touching, relevant, and funny stories about passing time, the acceptance of ageing, and the need to love. If you’re looking for something quite unlike anything else to read, then choose this.’
Le Parisien
‘A call to arms against transience from a Beigbeder who is back in top form, with all his trademark wit.’
Lire
‘This mad philosophical and biological quest is a life-affirming and intelligent reflection on the meaning of life. Decidedly ambitious, Monsieur Beigbeder!’
Psychologies Magazine
‘As always, Frédéric Beigbeder knows perfectly well how to seize burning issues. In A Life Without End he captures immortality, the desire it inspires, and its likelihood. A tale falling somewhere between satire and the confidences of a father, a lover, and a writer who wants to live forever.’
Transfuge
‘Behind this wild pursuit of immortality appears a sharper and deeper reflection than you would expect.’
Elle
‘An audacious romance, between obsessions and hope.’
Marie Claire
‘If you have any interest in genetics it will put you right on top of things.’
David Mills, The Sunday Times
Why You Should Read This Book
Why You Should Read This Book
“I wrote this novel out of curiosity and anger, as always. Curiosity upon learning in a journal article that the surgeon Laurent Alexandre has promised people will be able to live to the age of 350, and surprise upon discovering that nobody seeks out biologists to actually determine whether a claim like this is rooted in fantasy or illusion. The anger is another thing: I realize I write to rid myself of something, to take revenge, to fulfil a need. Here, in A Life Without End, it’s our crashing into a new digital world which preoccupies and upsets me. I have the feeling that this is a first step toward creating a new mankind—half mutant, half machine. The dream of immortality leads to the disappearance of humanity. Are we okay with that?”
FRÉDÉRIC BEIGBEDER, the author
“Reading Frédéric Beigbeider is like running into an old friend in a bar that was once a favourite haunt. We share a long history. Fifteen years ago, when still a neophyte, I translated Windows on the World, his harrowing, controversial novel on 9/11. Since then, I have experienced the pleasure and pain of conjuring the voices of Love Lasts Three Years, and sat with him in the Cigar Bar of London’s Savoy Hotel revising the proofs of A French Novel. His voice―acerbic, affectionate, and always painfully honest―has grown and matured through love, fatherhood, and age, but it still rings inside my head the moment I see it on the page. All that remains―a daunting task―is for me to capture his bluff humour and sincere passion, his childlike wonder and boundless curiosity.”
FRANK WYNNE, the translator
“This is a delightful book, sparkling with joy and a lust for life, and at the same time offering much philosophical food for thought about the influence of life-prolonging technology on our present and future lives.”
JUDITH UYTERLINDE, the publisher
