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Pereira Maintains by Antonio Tabucchi (view source)
Revision as of 18:18, 10 November 2010
, 18:18, 10 November 2010no edit summary
Lisbon and the surrounding countryside come off the page. You feel the heat of the city, the refreshing chill of the sea and the beauty of the countryside. But above all it's the big themes that envelop you: love, corruption, courage under an authoritarian regime and the reverse of the coin - betrayal . It's a tragedy, but it's uplifting and inspiring. The most surprising point is that despite the fact that it deals with so many major themes the book is impossible to put down.
The secret to the brevity is the way in which the book is written. It's there in the title: ‘''Pereira Maintains''. It's not a standard third-person narrative, but a testimonial. The phrase appears regularly in the text, sometimes to tell us that there are things which we do not need to know. There's no explanation of why Dr Pereira's testimonial is being recorded in this almost impersonal way – and it's all the more chilling for that. It's a story beyond the story you're reading. Superb.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.