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Shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize
A Portuguese woman shuts herself away after the Angolan War of Independence in this stunning novel from a master storyteller whose writing evokes Gabriel García Márquez and J.M. Coetzee.
On the eve of Angolan independence, an agoraphobic woman named Ludo bricks herself into her Luandan apartment for 30 years, living off vegetables and the pigeons she lures in with diamonds, burning her furniture and books to stay alive, and writing her story on the apartment's walls. As the country goes through various political upheavals—from colony to socialist republic to civil war to peace and capitalism—the world outside seeps into Ludo’s life through snippets on the radio, voices from next door, glimpses of someone peeing on a balcony, or a man fleeing his pursuers.
Almost as if we're eavesdropping, the history of Angola unfolds through the stories of those she sees from her window . . . A General Theory of Oblivion is a perfectly crafted, wild patchwork of a novel, playing on a love of storytelling and fable.
A Portuguese woman shuts herself away after the Angolan War of Independence in this stunning novel from a master storyteller whose writing evokes Gabriel García Márquez and J.M. Coetzee.
On the eve of Angolan independence, an agoraphobic woman named Ludo bricks herself into her Luandan apartment for 30 years, living off vegetables and the pigeons she lures in with diamonds, burning her furniture and books to stay alive, and writing her story on the apartment's walls. As the country goes through various political upheavals—from colony to socialist republic to civil war to peace and capitalism—the world outside seeps into Ludo’s life through snippets on the radio, voices from next door, glimpses of someone peeing on a balcony, or a man fleeing his pursuers.
Almost as if we're eavesdropping, the history of Angola unfolds through the stories of those she sees from her window . . . A General Theory of Oblivion is a perfectly crafted, wild patchwork of a novel, playing on a love of storytelling and fable.
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About Jose Eduardo Agualusa
José Eduardo Agualusa, a writer and journalist, is one of the leading literary voices in Angola and the Portuguese language today. His books have been translated into 25 languages. Four of his books have been translated into English: Creole (2002), winner of the Portuguese Grand Prize for Literature; The Book of Chameleons (2006), which won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize; My father's wives (2008), and Rainy Season (2009). He has received literary grants from the Centro Nacional da Cultura, the Fundação do Oriente, and the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst. Agualusa has also written four plays: W generation, O monólogo, Chovem amores na Rua do Matador and A Caixa Preta, the last two written with Mia Couto.
Daniel Hahn is the author of a number of works of non-fiction. His translation of The Book of Chameleons by José Eduardo Agualusa won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2007. He has translated the work of José Luís Peixoto, Philippe Claudel, María Dueñas, José Saramago, Eduardo Halfon, Gonçalo M. Tavares, Corsino Fortes, and others.
Daniel Hahn is the author of a number of works of non-fiction. His translation of The Book of Chameleons by José Eduardo Agualusa won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2007. He has translated the work of José Luís Peixoto, Philippe Claudel, María Dueñas, José Saramago, Eduardo Halfon, Gonçalo M. Tavares, Corsino Fortes, and others.
Other books by Jose Eduardo Agualusa
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