The End of the Day

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Charlie is a nice if somewhat depressed guy. He is blessed with the triple virtues of patience, fortitude, and empathy. After his long-term girlfriend dumps him, he decides to take the application test to become the Harbinger of Death. He passes and embarks on a career as a Harbinger. (There are also Harbingers of War, Pestilence, and Famine, who cross paths with Charlie, but none of that amounts to much of anything.)

As a Harbinger, Charlie doesn't have to inflict any horror or suffering. He's not a sadist, albeit his job involves a fair bit of masochism. His job is to go to people before Death visits them in order to give them some memento or trinket that reflects something important to or about their life. Then he listens to them and serves, as he says repeatedly, as a Witness or a Bridge to Honor Their Lives.

Death is a nice guy, also. Death visits people, particularly interesting people and listens to them. Sometimes Death just listens and goes away. Death seems quite reasonable. Death doesn't even have to appear in a frightening guise, unless the subject expects to see Death in a scary guise. (Charlie sees Death as an elderly, well-dressed man.)

The book is structured around Charlie's jobs. One time he goes on an epic trek to the glaciers of Greenland. Another time, he wanders around Nigeria, helping out a lesbian comic and her partner, who are facing prejudice. Still another time, he wanders around the American South visiting racists.

The book is well-written, the stories are engaging, but the structure of the book is repetitive. After about half-way through the book, however, I began to wonder when the character development and the plot would kick in.

Charlie doesn't change throughout the book. He loses his girlfriend and accepts that with resignation. He acquires a girlfriend and accepts that without enthusiasm. He gets kidnapped and tortured several times, and while that makes him unhappy and hurt, he deals with it as part of the job, learning that while Death will retaliate against those who try to coerce Death, merely getting revenge for torturing Charlie is not in the cards. Charlie crosses paths with Patrick Fuller, who wants to be his friend, but nothing happens there. In fact, we never find out what purpose Patrick plays in the book – he's just there. Charlie remains introspective and mildly depressed from start to finish.

Likewise, I thought a plot might kick in at some point, but it didn't. Charlie has jobs and he does his jobs and will keep doing his jobs, as assigned, because he is a witness and a bridge and he is honored to honor the living. Seems reasonable.

My three-star rating is not to indicate that I did not like the book. I liked the book. I liked the stories and the characters. However, I don't think that I would recommend it generally, although I can see how the introspective quality of the book – with just enough leftwing self-righteousness about Global Warming, Racism, and Persecution of Homosexuals – would be attractive to some. As for me, I was waiting for character development and a plot to kick in.