I liked the ending of All the Names by Jose Saramago. Just a slight twist at the end, but it left me feeling happy (and no, I'm not going to say what it was). I wish they'd left the reading group guide out of the end of the book though. Reading groups that need those sorts of questions definitely aren't for me. "What roles do chance and coincidence play in Senhor Jose's endeavors? To what degree is he aware of the importance of chance and coincidence? What does the narrator have to say about the part they play in all our lives?" (that was #6). This one actually WAS a read for book group, but I doubt we'll be going numerically through the questions. (We better not).

This was the first Saramago book I've read, though I have a few more on my shelves waiting. It reminded me a little of some of Borges' short stories. The one complaint I had was with the punctuation style on conversations. Perhaps that's the translator, or perhaps it's a Portugese thing (or maybe it's just Saramago) but it forced me to reread chunks regularly to remember who was saying what. (for example "From his other pocket he drew a copy of th record card, he looked at it for a long time as if memorising all the names on it, then he said, And your husband was the godfather, Yes, Can I speak to him too, I'm a widow, Ah, in that quiet exclamation there was as much genuine relief as there was feigned emotion, that was one less person with whom he would have to do battle."
posted by Kristin Buxton at 10:56 PM