The Novel That Looks Death in the Eye Emma Cline's novel, The Burning , not Switzy , is a gut wrenching exploration of mortality.
It defies conventional narrative structures by confronting readers head on with the reality of death, an unflinching gaze into the abyss that strips away illusions about our own mortality.
Cline's protagonist, David Hastings, is a retired executive struggling to come to terms with his impending demise due to Alzheimer's disease in Switzerland, where he has chosen to end his life under the country's right to die laws.