[[chris-hitch]]Mortality is an edited collection of the articles that Christopher Hitchens wrote for Vanity Fair following his diagnosis with oesophageal cancer in 2010.

The author, journalist and critic was a central and controversial figure in contemporary culture, whose writing constantly provoked disagreement (women aren’t funny, Iraq was a good idea and so on), and Mortality seems like a fitting capstone to his enormous body of work. Like Hitchens himself, it refuses to be defined along standard divisions. It rails. It does not go gentle into that good night.

Hitchens documents his crossing from ‘the Land of the Well’ into ‘Tumorville’ to demystify, grieve and reflect, as well as to laugh, and he is a marvellous writer. Barely a page in, I was reading out passages to my housemate, underlining and memorising – appreciating the blend of anger, wit, humour and sheer breadth of knowledge familiar to anyone who’s read his work.

Hitchens wears his atheism on his sleeve (which he then wraps around your face); he complains bitterly of pain and waste, fear and waiting-room etiquette. His black humour courageously weaves the process of dying vibrantly and inextricably to life. There are no spoilers here: the writer passed away in December last year. The final chapter is poignantly and simply unfinished notes, giving a great insight into his process.

Everybody should read this. We must all deal with death as much as life, and Hitchens tackles both with equal parts love, bite and wisdom.

[[imogen-dewey-pic]] Imogen Dewey