Reviews
Immortality Inc. is the story of a man suddenly in a future New York (2110). He had felt himself die in a head-on car crash back in 1958 and now he's in a new body with nary a scar on himself. His new body though will be harvested again for an aging wealthy businessman. Oh yeah, and there's a zombie after him. The novel is actually very funny and the future New York and future earth seems plausible. At just under 200 pages, it's a quick read. Immortality Inc. unfortunately is forever tied to the very cheesy film Freejack starring Emilio Estevez. The film does have some points of similarity with the novel. It has the body harvesting aspect and the time travel aspect. It has the memory bank for the dearly departed. Everything else in the film has nothing in common with Sheckley's novel. I see another (and much better) adaptation giving to a nod or two to Immortality Inc., namely, Futurama and it's vision of New New York. Here are points of similarities: Click here to see the table. I recommend fans of Futurama and aficionados of pulp science fiction read Immortality Inc.
This book is filled with strange ideas of the future stemming from the perspective of an author writing in the late 1950s. With this comes interesting science and institutions fitting for a futuristic New York but also the outdated ideals and mechanization of the mid 20th century. It's incredibly thought provoking seeing the predictions and make believe of a future created by someone who lived in the past. I read and watch a fair amount of science fiction from the previous century but never have I seen such a distinguishable juxtaposition of out of date and futuristic values and technology. From the use of a character known as "the Negro" alongside guns that are powered by "beams" to the city of "Peking" and country of "Ceylon" existing in a world where science can propel one's mind into the afterlife is--for lack of a better word--odd. Sheckley was able to make some correct predictions about the development of social movements in his future world (such as growing feminism--although some of the ideals of the 1950s still come across through his writing--and lessening religious beliefs). However on the side of technology, some things that we have in 2017 do not exist in 2110, for example in Immortality Inc. there may be Suicide Booths and Permitted Murder, and you may be able to have a full meal prepared with the click of a button and talk to the dead through advanced machinery but people still depend on paper and pen and house phones. The pacing is unsteady, the plot is strange, but there are so many fantastical ideas and nuggets of wisdom that can carry you along and make you want to keep reading. I finished this book in a day which is something I haven't done in lord knows how long. It did a lot more than I thought it would and was extremely experimental. I recommend it if you're willing to learn a little bit about the past by reading about the future. And also if you don't mind disappointing endings.
