All the Names

Rating:
Summary: Love and the Unknown Woman
Review: Henry David Thoreau famously observed that most people "lead lives of quiet desperation." Thoreau could well have been speaking of Senhor Jose, the main character in Saramongo's fine novel, "All the Names". Senhor Jose, age 50, is a clerk in the National Registry of a large, unidentified, city. His job is to record deaths, births, marriages, divorces on official documents covering the living and the dead of the city. The work is dull and routine. Senhor Jose is a confirmed bachelor, stuck in his habits, with no friends. He amuses himself by clipping newspaper articles and other information on famous people.

In the course of pursuing his hobby, Senhor Jose comes across the record of a 36 year old woman who has recently divorced. The novel turns upon Senhor Jose's attempt to find this woman and upon his motivation for doing so.

The story is told in a surrealistic, allegorical, Kafkaesque way. It is written in long, unbroken sentences and paragraphs which do not stop for details such as quotation marks. This style is effective because it allows the reader to enter into Senhor Jose's mind and into the minds of the many characters he encounters along the way of his search. The tone of the writing varies from sharply ironic to deeply serious and reflective. There is also a startling change of voicing in the book from third to first person in one pivotal passage which is not fully explained until the end of the story.

The novel is one of spiritual seeking with many astonishing characters assisting Senhor Jose in his quest. The characters include the Registrar at the National Registry, a Shepherd at a cemetry, and the ceiling (!) in Senhor Jose's apartment.

I found the story moving in its description of the need for human love and connectedness. Near the end of the book, Senhor Jose discusses the nature of his quest for the unknown woman. He is told that he loves her even though she is a person he has never met: "You wanted to see her, you wanted to know her, and that, whether you like it or not, is love." (p. 211) At the very end of the book, Senhor Jose himself observes, in discussing the activities of the shepherd at the cemetery in rearranging identification markers on tombstones: "it's all to do with knowing where the people we're looking for really are, he thinks we'll never know." (p. 237)

In his strange quest, Senhor Jose, and the reader, have learned something of the mystery of human love, and of the connection that binds the living and the dead.

Rating:
Summary: Love and the Unknown Woman
Review: Henry David Thoreau famously observed that most people "lead lives of quiet desperation." Thoreau could well have been speaking of Senhor Jose, the main character in Saramongo's fine novel, "All the Names". Senhor Jose, age 50, is a clerk in the National Registry of a large, unidentified, city. His job is to record deaths, births, marriages, divorces on official documents covering the living and the dead of the city. The work is dull and routine. Senhor Jose is a confirmed bachelor, stuck in his habits, with no friends. He amuses himself by clipping newspaper articles and other information on famous people.

In the course of pursuing his hobby, Senhor Jose comes across the record of a 36 year old woman who has recently divorced. The novel turns upon Senhor Jose's attempt to find this woman and upon his motivation for doing so.

The story is told in a surrealistic, allegorical, Kafkaesque way. It is written in long, unbroken sentences and paragraphs which do not stop for details such as quotation marks. This style is effective because it allows the reader to enter into Senhor Jose's mind and into the minds of the many characters he encounters along the way of his search. The tone of the writing varies from sharply ironic to deeply serious and reflective. There is also a startling change of voicing in the book from third to first person in one pivotal passage which is not fully explained until the end of the story.

The novel is one of spiritual seeking with many astonishing characters assisting Senhor Jose in his quest. The characters include the Registrar at the National Registry, a Shepherd at a cemetry, and the ceiling (!) in Senhor Jose's apartment.

I found the story moving in its description of the need for human love and connectedness. Near the end of the book, Senhor Jose discusses the nature of his quest for the unknown woman. He is told that he loves her even though she is a person he has never met: "You wanted to see her, you wanted to know her, and that, whether you like it or not, is love." (p. 211) At the very end of the book, Senhor Jose himself observes, in discussing the activities of the shepherd at the cemetery in rearranging identification markers on tombstones: "it's all to do with knowing where the people we're looking for really are, he thinks we'll never know." (p. 237)

In his strange quest, Senhor Jose, and the reader, have learned something of the mystery of human love, and of the connection that binds the living and the dead.

Rating:
Summary: Interior Monologue and Senhor Jose'
Review: I am captivated by "All the Names" as are most readers who enjoy the listening to inner most thoughts and musings of the protagonist. I also appreciate being in the room or at the chaaracter's' elbow watching every move. However, I am a bit of a traditionalist and need a few rules, noy many but a few.

The point of view which has been "we" or second person has now shifted to first person,I, after the second visit to the woman in the apartment. the tense has shifted fro past to present a number of times. The use of the period at the end of a sentence seems to me to be used randomly. Of course there are no quotation marks used to indicate dialogue or speaker.
I assume this is a combination of interior monologue, stream of consciousness, omnicient narrator, and style. Has anyone else commented on this? I have not been able to find any reviews that mention this very open, but fluid style of writing. Thanks.

Rating:
Summary: Interior Monologue and Senhor Jose'
Review: I am captivated by "All the Names" as are most readers who enjoy the listening to inner most thoughts and musings of the protagonist. I also appreciate being in the room or at the chaaracter's' elbow watching every move. However, I am a bit of a traditionalist and need a few rules, noy many but a few.

The point of view which has been "we" or second person has now shifted to first person,I, after the second visit to the woman in the apartment. the tense has shifted fro past to present a number of times. The use of the period at the end of a sentence seems to me to be used randomly. Of course there are no quotation marks used to indicate dialogue or speaker.
I assume this is a combination of interior monologue, stream of consciousness, omnicient narrator, and style. Has anyone else commented on this? I have not been able to find any reviews that mention this very open, but fluid style of writing. Thanks.

Rating:
Summary: Unbelievably good
Review: I am completely taken by this book. I can die now. With all the schlock and slime coming out of the publishing houses, this book challenged me and delighted me and made me laugh a lot. Its like life in that everthing that happens is at once magical and mundane at the same time.

And Saramago isn't taking himself too seriously here--he names his Akaki Akakivich (sp?) like protagonist after himself!

Rating:
Summary: Not His Best
Review: I give this book 4 stars on the "Saramago Scale". By the standards of contemporary fiction, this book is phenomenal. By Saramago's standards, it's not quite up to par.

The book involves the adventure of Senhor Jose, a low-level functionary in a state bureaucrat of The Central Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths. Senhor Jose, who lives in a meager house attached to the Registry, becomes obsessed with collecting the birth records of "famous" individuals, and thus begins a series of midnight excursions into the Registry. One night, along with the celebrity birth records, he stantches a copy of an ordinary woman's birth certificate, and quickly begins a compulsive quest to learn the details of the woman's life.

This book is ripping good to read, yet does not meet the standards of Saramago's earlier works (especially ripe for comparison is The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis). In Ricardo Reis, Saramago focused on issues of personal identity by ingeniously having a pseudonym communicate with a dead poet, all the while exploring the poetic notion that "I am innumerable people". All the Names explores the same theme far more heavy handedly: instead of a brilliant poetic vehicle, or a clever plot construct, Saramago here explores identity through the rather hackneyed device of anonymity and obscurity (a sort of long-winded Kafka, if you will). And this is generally the case--All the Names is far less original a work than Saramago's early novels, and far more dependent on modernist European literature.

Again, this is not to say this is a bad read. Anybody who enjoyed Saramago's other novels should be sure to check out this Kafkaesque, Borgesesque dark wonder. However, if you expect a second Ricardo Reis (or Blindness for that matter), you will probably be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Not His Best
Review: I give this book 4 stars on the "Saramago Scale". By the standards of contemporary fiction, this book is phenomenal. By Saramago's standards, it's not quite up to par.

The book involves the adventure of Senhor Jose, a low-level functionary in a state bureaucrat of The Central Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths. Senhor Jose, who lives in a meager house attached to the Registry, becomes obsessed with collecting the birth records of "famous" individuals, and thus begins a series of midnight excursions into the Registry. One night, along with the celebrity birth records, he stantches a copy of an ordinary woman's birth certificate, and quickly begins a compulsive quest to learn the details of the woman's life.

This book is ripping good to read, yet does not meet the standards of Saramago's earlier works (especially ripe for comparison is The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis). In Ricardo Reis, Saramago focused on issues of personal identity by ingeniously having a pseudonym communicate with a dead poet, all the while exploring the poetic notion that "I am innumerable people". All the Names explores the same theme far more heavy handedly: instead of a brilliant poetic vehicle, or a clever plot construct, Saramago here explores identity through the rather hackneyed device of anonymity and obscurity (a sort of long-winded Kafka, if you will). And this is generally the case--All the Names is far less original a work than Saramago's early novels, and far more dependent on modernist European literature.

Again, this is not to say this is a bad read. Anybody who enjoyed Saramago's other novels should be sure to check out this Kafkaesque, Borgesesque dark wonder. However, if you expect a second Ricardo Reis (or Blindness for that matter), you will probably be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: NOT a love story
Review: I probably couldn't write a better review than the ones already posted but I felt like I had to make it clear, this is NOT a love story as some reviewers have put it. It is about an obsession that captures Senor Jose, one that forces him to change his lifestyle from being a faithful servant to the Central Registry, to someone that has only one goal in life; gathering as much information as he can about the unknown woman, a process which makes him break a lot of rules and feel like a criminal, but makes him feel somewhat alive since for him it becomes the most significant thing he has done in his life.
The book teaches about the differences and insignificances of life and death, and also the power of CHANCE is emphasized throughout the story.
Brilliant writing style, but one must be careful not to go with the flow although it is very tempting. It should be read slowly and with attention. A teaching story. Ironic view of the bureaucracy and a shepherd with an interesting point of view.

It will have its place in my library.

Rating:
Summary: the art of translation
Review: I read the English version of this ~magnificent~ book, and absolutely fell in love with It !!!!. So much that I lost It at a mall and am buying It again.
On the other hand, the Spanish version is terrible, I hate It. MY SINCERIEST THANKS AND CONGRATULATIONS TO THE TRANSLATOR: MARGARET JULL ACOSTA. She took Saramango's sand and turned It into brilliant, beautifull chrystal gems.

I read this book as I read Revueltas, not for a lesson, not for rage, but for a dancing space. For the pleasure of reading, like chatting on the beach with some loved being under a crip and caring shade.

andrea

Rating:
Summary: One big run-on sentence...
Review: I think this book has six, maybe seven periods in the whole book.

Ok, so I might be exaggerating. However, I literally counted eight pages between two periods. This entire book is one long run-on sentence. If I had written this way in my college courses, I would have received an appropriate failing grade.

Besides being incredibly difficult to read (because you keep wanting to insert a period) the plot of the book is nearly non-existent and develops slowly, and utterly fails to hold the reader's interest.

I will NOT be recommending this novel to my friends or family. :-)