NP-Antunes--The Inquisitor's Manual

[Richard Romeo]

Hi all--

Quite enjoying The Inquisitor's Manual, newly
translated from the Portguese--much like Absalom
Absalom (dense and grim), mixed with Autumn of the
Patriarch (dream-like, poetic and grim)
a pretty fair indictment of the vileness of Portugal
under the military dictatorship of Professor Salazar.
It's a little easier to read since the paragraphs
don't run together but are split like poems are

This is a consistent theme of much of Antune's works
(an obsession with Portugal's colonial past) (and with
birds)
He's also noted for having a big feud with Portugal's
more beloved Nobel Prize winner, Saramago
Antunes also reminds me a wee bit of Thomas Bernhard
but with a wider collection of obsessives within his
books than Bernhard's (or Nabokov I suppose) lone
narrators

highly recommend for those not liable to slit their
wrists. vivid, compelling all those book review
cliches

Rich

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