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Review
A tantalizing novel-shifting and teasing, full of metaphorical labyrinths and false trails.-The Herald (London)
Offers an unearthly, muted beauty; a freedom from the obvious, the ideological and trivial; an atmosphere of profound serenity, and a benevolent humor.-Literary Review
It is the marriage of the living and the dying...that so strongly characterizes the writing of Jose Saramago.-The New Statesman
The Swedish Academy's citation called his novels 'parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony.' It is a description which perfectly captures his latest novel.-The Times (London)
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Offers an unearthly, muted beauty; a freedom from the obvious, the ideological and trivial; an atmosphere of profound serenity, and a benevolent humor.-Literary Review
It is the marriage of the living and the dying...that so strongly characterizes the writing of Jose Saramago.-The New Statesman
The Swedish Academy's citation called his novels 'parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony.' It is a description which perfectly captures his latest novel.-The Times (London)
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Senhor Jose is a minor official in a registry office, with a passion for reconstructing people's lives from the data in archive documents. One woman's file is particularly intriguing. She is dead, and he decides to trace her life backwards, from death to birth. But can he bring her back to life?
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Above the door frame is a long, narrow plaque of enamelled metal. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Above the door frame is a long, narrow plaque of enamelled metal. Read the first page
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
All the Names tells the story of a meek man, a worker in a Central Registry that seems almost infinite in size, with a Kafka-like quality to the structure and disciplines within. Senhor Jose is quiet and dedicated, with only a hobby of collecting titbits on famous people to occupy him.
He breaches all of the Registry's regulations, risking his job and his home, in order to copy details from the record cards for his collection. By chance, a record card of an ordinary woman comes his way, and his curiousity becomes an obsession, as he sets out to trace this woman, no matter what the cost.
Senhor Jose sets himself a quest, an arbitrary quest, but one which gives his mundane life meaning. The book is a detective story, a love story, a story about the oppression of authority and the way that people can overcome that oppression by finding small moments of joy.
The book is comic, sad and full of meaning. Saramago writes a highly significant book, yet uses simple prose to tell the story, making the themes all the more effective.
In my view, this is the closest thing there has been to the Perfect Novel. If you've ever read any Borges, Kafka or Calvino then you should discover Saramago as quickly as you can.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is one of the most engrossing, absorbing and challenging books that I have read this year. The deceptive simplicity of the plot, which I do not wish to give away, is belied by the fabulous richness and complexity of the language Saramago uses. It deals with such diverse themes as loneliness, obsession, self-doubt, personal development and fruition with a mastery I have rarely seen equalled. A literary triumph, and a deserving Nobel-Prize winner.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
More actually happens in this book than in Ricardo Reis but it is full of the same profound understanding of one man's soul and mind. You really live with Jose as he wanders through the registry, dodging the cobwebs with him and plodding the streets of Lisbon in the same rain, sensing the same reckless thrill at taking a taxi (an unheard of luxury) and almost sharing his passion for the lives othres and in particular one lady's.
It is incredibly lyrical and it sweeps you along, the sense of involvement with him is a a product of the wonderful storytelling skills of Saramago. Though I can read Portuguese, i read this in English and I think it is a fine translation as were the earlier translations by the great Giovanni Pontiero. He is not an easy author to translate as the books are so full of Portuguese myths and references to the Lusiads.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A Christmas Present
Sorry unable to comment, as I bought this as a Christmas present. My son requested this book so I'm sure he will be very happy with it.
Published 5 months ago by Ms. C. Macdonald
Captivating
Nobel Prize Winner for Literature (for Blindness) in 1998, Jose Saramago is not an immediately accessible writer. Read more
Published on 10 Sep 2009 by Eileen Shaw
The best of Saramago
This was the first of Saramago's novels that I read, and I have since read all that are translated into English. Read more
Published on 13 Jun 2009 by Slioch
Another strange, surreal but wonderful book by Saramago
How to describe Saramago's books with their strange surrealism? I am afraid its beyond me to explain why Saramago is a great writer and he certainly is. This is one of his best.
Published on 21 Feb 2008 by Aquinas
One of (or THE) best book(s) from José Saramago.
I must tell you that I'd never read the book in the english translation. I'm portuguese and I've read the book in it's original version. Read more
Published on 7 April 2001 by fma@mail.telepac.pt
Murdered! by Translator
This is a hard read. I have struggled with the translation there seems no passion in the text just lots of good correct english and words that even I dont know (native english... Read more
Published on 22 Jun 2000 by S J. West
Sarmago's latest book is a triumph
The 1998 Nobel Laureate has given us yet another wholly unique book. It's a shame to think what he might have done if he hadn't given up serious fiction writing for nearly forty... Read more
Published on 8 May 2000 by Mr. Larry D. Farrell
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