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Maurice Saatchi is dead.
He is standing in front of the Gates of Heaven. Arrival halls worse than Heathrow Airport. Queues. Overcrowding. A tidal wave of Paradise seekers. ID scans. Voice and facial recognition. X-ray examinations. Background checks. It all seems like a bad dream.
His tests expose abnormalities. He is charged with multiple breaches of immigration law and detained pending a full jury trial.
The verdict will reveal the biggest secret of all why some people go to Heaven and others to Hell.
Do Not Resuscitate is a bold statement. Maurice Saatchi, a towering figure in the worlds of business and politics, frames his unsparing self-portrait with the conceit of a celestial trial in which his application to pass through the Gates of Heaven is heard before a jury featuring luminaries like Marilyn Monroe, Pablo Picasso, Chairman Mao, and Margaret Thatcher. In seeking admission to Heaven, Saatchi offers a defence like no other.
He is standing in front of the Gates of Heaven. Arrival halls worse than Heathrow Airport. Queues. Overcrowding. A tidal wave of Paradise seekers. ID scans. Voice and facial recognition. X-ray examinations. Background checks. It all seems like a bad dream.
His tests expose abnormalities. He is charged with multiple breaches of immigration law and detained pending a full jury trial.
The verdict will reveal the biggest secret of all why some people go to Heaven and others to Hell.
Do Not Resuscitate is a bold statement. Maurice Saatchi, a towering figure in the worlds of business and politics, frames his unsparing self-portrait with the conceit of a celestial trial in which his application to pass through the Gates of Heaven is heard before a jury featuring luminaries like Marilyn Monroe, Pablo Picasso, Chairman Mao, and Margaret Thatcher. In seeking admission to Heaven, Saatchi offers a defence like no other.
128 pages, Hardcover
Published November 5, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 17, 2025
4 🌟 ending made me cry
December 2, 2022
“Do Not Resuscitate: The Life and Afterlife of Maurice Saatchi” opens with an arresting chapter heading – “Welcome to the Gates of Heaven”. This, if you hadn’t already deduced it from the book’s title, clues you in that Maurice Saatchi’s little book (a mere 128 pages) is decidedly surreal, even dreamlike.
At the outset, it’s more of a nightmare, with the gates of heaven likened to the clamorous arrival hall of an airport from hell. And hell being one of the only two destinations on offer, the immigration authorities are having a very hard time controlling the mayhem as the million or so applicants per week clamour for entry to the better option.
In a command of bureaucratic doublespeak that might have been at one time a tool of his trade, Saatchi unfolds a chilling, almost Orwellian scenario in which those desperate souls jostling to cross the border to Paradise are advised of the requirement to undergo a stringent screening process (“where we separate the wheat from the chaff”). Officialdom gone mad looks positively non-interventionist compared to what this entails – the draconian interrogation of everything from an individual’s income to their sexual habits.
All of this, it’s revealed, boils down to one crucial question, which applicants must answer truthfully – “did you or did you not try to change the world for the better?” At this, the alert reader will recognise that the Saatchi hallucination wobbles slightly on an axis of real-world ideology.
Expounding further on did you or did you not do something worthy with your life, the next chapter titled “There Are Only Two Distinct Types of Humans” explains that applicants must submit to a “self-assessment” to determine their character type (rather along the lines of quizzes once popular in some magazines designed to reveal your personality). Questions designed to ferret out one’s eligibility for elevation to “up” there” or consignment to “down below” are small gems of satire, for example “you believe that your role is to bring about what would not occur without the intervention of someone like you.”
Alarmingly, Saatchi’s test results prove unacceptable (possibly the first time in his illustrious career he’s been judged to be substandard) and he must submit to a full jury trial to decide his fate in the afterlife. That the jury of peers is made up of (among others) Marilyn Monroe, Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln, Sigmund Freud, Martin Luther King is indicative of its probable leniency, or at least likelihood of taking a benevolent view of his shortcomings.
As the plot evolves, it becomes clear that Saatchi’s late wife, Josephine Hart, who died of cancer in 2009, has interceded to manipulate his fate so he can join her in heaven. You’ll have to read the book to discover the outcome of Saatchi’s celestial “trial” and whether or not he’s allowed to reunite with his wife.
Quoted in real life as saying he was beyond help following her death, Saatchi has obviously written the book as a very inventive and poignant tribute to her memory. As is often the case with art, especially highly original depictions of reality, it helps to know the background.
As a legendary titan of the advertising industry and political heavyweight, Maurice Saatchi seems at first glance an unlikely author of what could be called an ode to his late wife. However, the two famously enjoyed a long and extremely close relationship, one in which he’s described his wife as “the person he most admired and the writer he most respected.”
Following her death from advanced and inoperable cancer, he is reported to have been inconsolable to the point where for a number of years he ate breakfast every morning at her tomb, spoke to her constantly, unfailingly set a place for her at the table and created lavish memorials in her honour, including a library holding thousands of her favourite books and filled with her photographs, portraits and mementoes of their life together.
Lest it be thought he’s become a bit deranged, and these public expressions of grief are the extreme behaviours of someone who’s lost their hold on reality, one should remember this is a man of great determination, drive, and a business sense astute enough to have established, along with his brother, the largest and most successful advertising agency in the world. A member of the House of Lords, he’s also made a name for himself in politics, at one time being perceived as Margaret Thatcher’s political guru.
As someone who’s been quoted as saying “coming to terms and moving on are expressions of betrayal and unforgivable selfishness,” Saatchi is determined to do the opposite, a state of mind that precipitated more than extravagant symbolism. In backing up his statement “I don’t think bereavement is a disqualification for rational thought”, he resolved to change the law to enable better access to innovative cancer treatments, such as mapping the genome. Having witnessed the cruel, degrading and ultimately futile treatments for his wife’s cancer, unchanged for 40 years, he initiated what would become the Access to Medical Treatments (Innovation) Act in 2016 designed to allow doctors access to more experimental treatments. A man consumed by grief yes, but also a man consumed by a desire to help others diagnosed with cancer and their families to find better solutions.
Endorsements of “Do Not Resuscitate” have come from an illustrious audience, including Elton John (I relished every page), The Dean of Westminster (“Beautiful and profound), Michael Dobbs (“An act of enduring and boundless love”) and Jon Snow “A work of loss, love, and distress”).
These qualities and the eloquent prose aside, the book is also vividly imaginative and hugely witty. Increasingly crumbly as the institution of marriage seems to be these days, it’s immensely heartening to read this testament of one man’s enduring love for his wife.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
At the outset, it’s more of a nightmare, with the gates of heaven likened to the clamorous arrival hall of an airport from hell. And hell being one of the only two destinations on offer, the immigration authorities are having a very hard time controlling the mayhem as the million or so applicants per week clamour for entry to the better option.
In a command of bureaucratic doublespeak that might have been at one time a tool of his trade, Saatchi unfolds a chilling, almost Orwellian scenario in which those desperate souls jostling to cross the border to Paradise are advised of the requirement to undergo a stringent screening process (“where we separate the wheat from the chaff”). Officialdom gone mad looks positively non-interventionist compared to what this entails – the draconian interrogation of everything from an individual’s income to their sexual habits.
All of this, it’s revealed, boils down to one crucial question, which applicants must answer truthfully – “did you or did you not try to change the world for the better?” At this, the alert reader will recognise that the Saatchi hallucination wobbles slightly on an axis of real-world ideology.
Expounding further on did you or did you not do something worthy with your life, the next chapter titled “There Are Only Two Distinct Types of Humans” explains that applicants must submit to a “self-assessment” to determine their character type (rather along the lines of quizzes once popular in some magazines designed to reveal your personality). Questions designed to ferret out one’s eligibility for elevation to “up” there” or consignment to “down below” are small gems of satire, for example “you believe that your role is to bring about what would not occur without the intervention of someone like you.”
Alarmingly, Saatchi’s test results prove unacceptable (possibly the first time in his illustrious career he’s been judged to be substandard) and he must submit to a full jury trial to decide his fate in the afterlife. That the jury of peers is made up of (among others) Marilyn Monroe, Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln, Sigmund Freud, Martin Luther King is indicative of its probable leniency, or at least likelihood of taking a benevolent view of his shortcomings.
As the plot evolves, it becomes clear that Saatchi’s late wife, Josephine Hart, who died of cancer in 2009, has interceded to manipulate his fate so he can join her in heaven. You’ll have to read the book to discover the outcome of Saatchi’s celestial “trial” and whether or not he’s allowed to reunite with his wife.
Quoted in real life as saying he was beyond help following her death, Saatchi has obviously written the book as a very inventive and poignant tribute to her memory. As is often the case with art, especially highly original depictions of reality, it helps to know the background.
As a legendary titan of the advertising industry and political heavyweight, Maurice Saatchi seems at first glance an unlikely author of what could be called an ode to his late wife. However, the two famously enjoyed a long and extremely close relationship, one in which he’s described his wife as “the person he most admired and the writer he most respected.”
Following her death from advanced and inoperable cancer, he is reported to have been inconsolable to the point where for a number of years he ate breakfast every morning at her tomb, spoke to her constantly, unfailingly set a place for her at the table and created lavish memorials in her honour, including a library holding thousands of her favourite books and filled with her photographs, portraits and mementoes of their life together.
Lest it be thought he’s become a bit deranged, and these public expressions of grief are the extreme behaviours of someone who’s lost their hold on reality, one should remember this is a man of great determination, drive, and a business sense astute enough to have established, along with his brother, the largest and most successful advertising agency in the world. A member of the House of Lords, he’s also made a name for himself in politics, at one time being perceived as Margaret Thatcher’s political guru.
As someone who’s been quoted as saying “coming to terms and moving on are expressions of betrayal and unforgivable selfishness,” Saatchi is determined to do the opposite, a state of mind that precipitated more than extravagant symbolism. In backing up his statement “I don’t think bereavement is a disqualification for rational thought”, he resolved to change the law to enable better access to innovative cancer treatments, such as mapping the genome. Having witnessed the cruel, degrading and ultimately futile treatments for his wife’s cancer, unchanged for 40 years, he initiated what would become the Access to Medical Treatments (Innovation) Act in 2016 designed to allow doctors access to more experimental treatments. A man consumed by grief yes, but also a man consumed by a desire to help others diagnosed with cancer and their families to find better solutions.
Endorsements of “Do Not Resuscitate” have come from an illustrious audience, including Elton John (I relished every page), The Dean of Westminster (“Beautiful and profound), Michael Dobbs (“An act of enduring and boundless love”) and Jon Snow “A work of loss, love, and distress”).
These qualities and the eloquent prose aside, the book is also vividly imaginative and hugely witty. Increasingly crumbly as the institution of marriage seems to be these days, it’s immensely heartening to read this testament of one man’s enduring love for his wife.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
November 16, 2022
Insightful quasi speculative fiction, autobiographical piece. To imagine his soul being judged by late greats like Einstein and MLK Jr. is a stretch to me. That Saatchi approaches his own life with a degree of self-deprecation and vulnerability keeps the book from feeling like a total egotistical rant about his life philosophies and achievements.
And I love the hilarity of how, even in death, we can't escape some sort of formal legality. We just can't escape that red tape at all! Opens other ideas of the afterlife as defined by Saatchi too, but that's not the focus of the book.
Do Not Resuscitate is a compact existential thought experiment that doesn't overstay its welcome. As long as you don't mind jibs at the (mostly) Christian afterlife, it's a worthwhile bite-sized read for exploring the big questions in life.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
And I love the hilarity of how, even in death, we can't escape some sort of formal legality. We just can't escape that red tape at all! Opens other ideas of the afterlife as defined by Saatchi too, but that's not the focus of the book.
Do Not Resuscitate is a compact existential thought experiment that doesn't overstay its welcome. As long as you don't mind jibs at the (mostly) Christian afterlife, it's a worthwhile bite-sized read for exploring the big questions in life.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
November 16, 2022
Poignant and beautiful, Baron Maurice Saatchi creatively captures the essence of looking back on one's life: searching for meaning, defining his purpose, and leaning into love - the most beautiful, tragic, and glorious human pursuit.
This memoir is sometimes political, sometimes theological, and is a relentless pursuit of ethics. What does it mean to live a life of meaning? To make a difference?
What a creative and thoughtful read.
I received an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
This memoir is sometimes political, sometimes theological, and is a relentless pursuit of ethics. What does it mean to live a life of meaning? To make a difference?
What a creative and thoughtful read.
I received an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
November 16, 2022
I would like to thank Book Sirens for a copy of this book.
What an interesting concept. A person goes up to heaven and has to plead and defend his case to be able to walk through the gates. I thought it might be a religious type book which I would not be a fan of but it was not that at all. It was more of a philosophical look and the questions and responses were extremely sharp and provocative. A question that might appear simple was not that at all. The book is short and I finished it quickly and will probably give it a second read in a couple of months.
What an interesting concept. A person goes up to heaven and has to plead and defend his case to be able to walk through the gates. I thought it might be a religious type book which I would not be a fan of but it was not that at all. It was more of a philosophical look and the questions and responses were extremely sharp and provocative. A question that might appear simple was not that at all. The book is short and I finished it quickly and will probably give it a second read in a couple of months.
November 17, 2024
A bold and introspective exploration of life, death, and the afterlife. Penned by Maurice Saatchi, a prominent figure in business and politics, the book presents an unsparing self-portrait framed within the context of his own mortality. The narrative is unique, with Saatchi posthumously standing before the Gates of Heaven, awaiting judgment. The book promises to reveal the profound secret of why some people go to Heaven and others to Hell.
November 15, 2022
A most peculiar book.
Saatchi has been deeply affected by the loss of his wife and visits her tomb every morning, which he’s entitled to do. The book sets out his case for entering heaven to join her. I learned little about his grief reaction from this but have examined his extended curriculum vitae. What was the point?
Saatchi has been deeply affected by the loss of his wife and visits her tomb every morning, which he’s entitled to do. The book sets out his case for entering heaven to join her. I learned little about his grief reaction from this but have examined his extended curriculum vitae. What was the point?
September 4, 2023
Still trying to get my head around this one. But it was interesting and challenging and funny.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews