„SHOULD WE STAY OR SHOULD WE GO” de Lionel Shriver

O altă carte minunată scrisă de Lionel Shriver, scriitoarea mea preferată.
Subiectul este important pentru mine deoarece sunt la vârsta personajelor și evident mă gândesc în ce stare voi fi eu la 80 ani. 🙂 

Personajele Cyril and Kay (50 ani fiecare), cetățeni englezi, hotărăsc ca la 80 ani să se omoare. Decizia lor este luată după ce Kay își îngrijise tatăl bolnav de Alzheimer timp de 15 ani, respectiv cu gândul că cei trei copii ai lor să nu mai treacă prin povara îndurată de Kay.

Pentru mine, frumusețea acestei cărți este cum Lionel își imaginează multiple posibilități pentru momentul decisiv. Iar una dintre ele este cea în care se descoperă medicamentul prin care nimeni nu mai îmbătrânește. 

„According to the rumour, which the subsequent longevity of a certain someone bore out, one of the first beneficiaries of the new restorative was the UK’s official head of state, who, it was said, began discreetly popping the pills along with her nightly G&T whilst the drug trial, showing such early promise, was still underway.
Consequently, the poor, inhumanly patient Charles, Prince of Wales, was unlikely ever to ascend to the throne after all; when the secret finally leaked, the Princess-Consort-in-waiting Camilla Parker-Bowles was livid.
The country at large, however, was delighted. With the wildly popular Queen Elizabeth II installed in perpetuity, the monarchy was safe, a thriving British tourism industry guaranteed.”

M-am amuzat să citesc enumerarea afacerilor care nu au mai mers în urma descoperii miracolului tinerețe fără bătrânețe:

„Certain business sectors suffered.
Demand for a variety of products and services shrank or evaporated:
-creams for the amelioration of spots, wrinkles, and eye bags
-reading glasses and corrective lenses
-hearing aids
-in-home caretaking
-walk-in bathtubs, shower-stall rails, transfer discs, and electric stair lifts
-wheelchairs, canes, and walkers
-a panoply of pharmaceuticals that treated the cancers, hypertension, heart disease, and strokes that soon grew exceedingly rare
-artificial hips and knees
-pacemakers and stents
-pension fund management
-the writing of wills and the settlement of estates

But the modest damage to the economy was more that made up for by the explosion of the working population, whose taxes now largely supported dependents who were under eighteen.”

Kindle, 2021