A LIFE WITHOUT END

A man decides he will never die.

French journalist, critic, and TV presenter Beigbeder (Manhattan’s Babe, 2016, etc.) describes this book as both “science nonfiction" and "a novel.” This apparent contradiction foreshadows the book’s challenging, cheeky, and sometimes confusing delivery. The narrator—let's call him Beigbeder—confidently declares that he is the “first man who will be immortal. This is my story.” Accompanied by his 10-year-old daughter, Romy (he and his wife, Caroline, are separated), he sets off on a road trip, a “world tour searching for immortality.” Written in a breezy style, bristling with wit, sarcasm, heavy doses of gallows humor, and many lists (for example, on the pros and cons of death), Beigbeder's book provides extensive, detailed information about the science of aging. The scientists he interviews are actual doctors, but determining what is real/not real at any given moment gets tricky. First up is a visit to Geneva’s Institute of Genetics and Genomics, where Beigbeder learns about genome sequencing. Romy introduces Dad to Léonore, a highly attractive doctor. Immediately, he “wanted to see her belly swell with my fecund seed.” They have sex in Beigbeder’s hotel room while Romy sleeps. Is this an effort by a middle-aged man to postpone death? The tour continues with a visit to a Frankenstein exhibition (Faust, anyone?), and, soon after, he marries Léonore and—pop!—there’s a new daughter, Lou. Anxious to learn more from world-famous scientists about preventing his death, Beigbeder visits hospitals, research centers, and clinics in Israel, Austria, Boston, San Diego, and Monterey. He tries new diets, has blood transfusion laser therapy, and gets his DNA sequenced and stem cells frozen. Along the way the family is joined by a “plastic Michelin man,” Pepper, a Japanese robot Beigbeder bought as a companion for Romy.

This extravagant metafiction about obsession, life, love, and lists mixes sincerity with an endearing, genre-bending wackiness.