Rating: 7.5/10.
A minimalistic novel in screenplay format that has only a dialogue between two characters called Black and White. The setting is that White is a depressed, educated professor who just tried to commit suicide by jumping in front of a train, and he is rescued by Black, a christian ex-convict who takes him back to his apartment.
They then debate: White talks about the decline of culture and meaninglessness, lack of close friends, and ultimately desire of death as his only goal, a sort of existential nihilism or anhedonia. Black’s arguments are more experiential and less intellectual, and he believes in following the word of God, as he was previously a prisoner after killing a man and found God after one of the incidents, whereas White challenges each of his religious beliefs and reasoning behind it. Black encourages White to go talk to more people who share his misery, offers him food and coffee throughout, and tries to get him to stay longer and not let him leave.
In the end, White is not convinced of anything and eventually leaves, intending to attempt suicide in the same way again, and Black, alone, asks God why he did not have the words to save him. Overall, an interesting concept and a philosophical debate about the meaning of life, wrapped in a screenplay format, although the characters are relatively thin vessels to contain a philosophical position rather than real personalities, eg: White’s complete desire for death without any hesitation seems a bit too extreme.
