- Hardcover: 324 pages
- Publisher: Harcourt; First Edition edition (31 Oct 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0151010404
- ISBN-13: 978-0151010400
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 14.5 x 2.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 177,955 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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First Sentence
THE MAN WHO HAS JUST COME INTO THE SHOP TO RENT A video bears on his identity card a most unusual name, a name with a classical flavor that time has staled, neither more nor less than Tertuliano Máximo Afonso. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
THE MAN WHO HAS JUST COME INTO THE SHOP TO RENT A video bears on his identity card a most unusual name, a name with a classical flavor that time has staled, neither more nor less than Tertuliano Máximo Afonso. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In what may be Jose Saramago's most playful novel, Tertuliano Maximo Afonso, a secondary school history teacher, views a film and is stunned to discover an actor who looks exactly like him in every respect. "One of us is a mistake," he declares, and as he begins (typically) to overanalyze the fact that "never before in the history of humanity have two identical people existed in the same place and time," he finds himself wondering what it would be like to discover and meet this double.
Renting dozens of videos in an effort to identify the look-alike actor he saw in the film, Tertuliano finds his life transformed--"as if he were...in a corridor joining heaven and hell," and he wonders "where he had come from and where he would go to next." Enlisting his girlfriend, Maria da Paz, to help him find the address of actor Daniel Santa Clara, without telling her the whole story about his double, he learns that the actor's real name is Antonio Claro, contacts him by telephone, and arranges to meet him at a remote place, where a series of profound, dramatic ironies unfolds.
Telling Tertuliano's story is a bold and quirky narrator. Self-conscious about his writing, the narrator digresses, acts patronizing toward Tertuliano, and often makes arch comments about him to the reader. He manipulates the reader, jokes with him as he constructs Tertuliano's story, plays with logic and language, creates conversations and debates between Tertuliano and Common Sense, reflects on the origins and destinies of words, and generally shows off, acting as a foil for Tertuliano Maximo Afonso, whose own "emotions have never been strong or enduring."
Saramago raises serious questions about identity and destiny, presenting Tertuliano Maximo Afonso and Antonio Claro (Daniel Santa Clara) as they compare their lives, recognize their different approaches to life, and then find their natural curiosity becoming transformed into resentment. "There is one too many of us in the world," Tertuliano declares. The climax is shocking--quite different from what the reader expects--and just when you think the surprises have ended, a final surprise awaits.
Readers new to Saramago should be forewarned that his style can be off-putting--page after page of run-on sentences, few paragraphs indentations, and a lack of quotation marks. The reader must read dialogue carefully, since there is no punctuation to set off which remarks are made by which character. Despite this flouting of convention, however, Saramago achieves a remarkably conversational tone, and this often humorous novel reads quickly. Lively and clever, The Double gives us the game of life, played with a whole new set of rules. Mary Whipple
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This was my first entry into the world of Jose Saramago, and had I not had the luxury of being on holiday and time to persevere with the book, I might well have given up. Halfway through, I suddenly got it and have subsequently read Blindness, Death at Intervals, and Seeing. All of them brilliant.
As other reviewers have said, Saramago's style of writing can be hard to get your head around at first. His stream of conciousness style; where there is no punctuation, and where the author switches between his own voice and that of a narrator... well, it can be difficult! But you come to recognise the style and after a while I found it easy to tell which character was talking and when. Moreover, I found myself concentrating on the book far more than I would any other novel.
Some of the reviewers here have pointed out that the basic premise of the book is narrow, it is - after all - a story about one man and his reaction to discovering a real life doppelganger. But Saramago revels in explaining the tiniest of details throughout the narrative and it draws the reader right in. I had no idea how the novel would end and thoroughly enjoyed the twists and turns all the way through.
As other reviewers have said, Saramago's style of writing can be hard to get your head around at first. His stream of conciousness style; where there is no punctuation, and where the author switches between his own voice and that of a narrator... well, it can be difficult! But you come to recognise the style and after a while I found it easy to tell which character was talking and when. Moreover, I found myself concentrating on the book far more than I would any other novel.
Some of the reviewers here have pointed out that the basic premise of the book is narrow, it is - after all - a story about one man and his reaction to discovering a real life doppelganger. But Saramago revels in explaining the tiniest of details throughout the narrative and it draws the reader right in. I had no idea how the novel would end and thoroughly enjoyed the twists and turns all the way through.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
More or less a mystery book with smattering's of philosophy. The writing style is an acquired taste, but for me personally, makes it 'flow' a lot better - the dialogs are quick and razor sharp. It includes not only the outer speeches between the main protagonist and other people, but also within himself, or his 'common sense', ensuring moments of pure comic genius. I wouldn't say it was philosophically deep but it is funny, immersing, and an addictive read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Who is real who the replica?
I'm reading a lot about doubles, 'fact' and in fiction, and this is the best sustained novel I've read so far. Read more
Published 3 months ago by J. S. Kharibian
A Double Brilliant Thriller!!!
Brilliant psycho drama with an insane twist. Saramago is a master of the human Psyche. The book is written in long sentences and no word is unnecessary. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mental Food
Dull and pointless
I've started so I'll finish sums up my approach to reading books and that's about the only way I can justify having waded through these 300 pages (oh, and it was for my book club... Read more
Published on 26 April 2010 by Mr. K. Rance
Profound, comic and somewhat unsettling
What would you do if you discovered you had a double: someone born on the same day, whose voice and every physical characteristic so closely resembled your own, that even your... Read more
Published on 27 Feb 2010 by Chivers
Tertuliano and Antonio
The style of writing is unlike anything I've come across before. It is highly intelligent, intense and reflective, full of wit and charm. Read more
Published on 3 Oct 2009 by Eileen Shaw
The best double
Every book club should put this on their reading list. It is possibly the easiest Saramago book to start with as the story moves quickly and the descriptions of place are... Read more
Published on 9 Jun 2009 by Virge JAMES
Doubly good!
Recently chosen as our book group's monthly read: and what a great choice -- I was thoroughly hooked (challenged and amused) from beginning to end...! Read more
Published on 18 Dec 2007 by Stephen R. Ward
another work of genius from Saramago
How does he do it? Once again Saramago sets up a plot of such impossibility, tells it with a knowing, manipulative narrator who directly addresses the reader, and flouts normal... Read more
Published on 29 May 2007 by cloth ears
Intelligent and thought provoking read
This book is a little gem. Saramago asks the question, 'What would happen if you ever met your exact physcial double? Read more
Published on 13 July 2006 by Cazza
A great read. An amazing read.
I'm afraid this book will be largely misunderstood by english-speaking audiences. Because of Saramago's large paragraphs, some readers will be put off from a story that is... Read more
Published on 10 Oct 2004 by Joao Branco Tordo
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