All the Names

Rating:
Summary: Worthy of the Nobel Prize
Review: Saramago's haunting novel will stay with you long after you have completed it. Through his protaganist, Senhor Jose, the reader is forced to confront both the nature of a human being's intrinsic worth, and what drives our decision making process. In regards to the first aspect, the reader comes to realize that the complexity of a person's life is in no way related to its public visibility. Regarding the second consideration, the reader is left to wonder whether we do in fact have free will, or if we are driven by some higher power. Or, is it a combination of the two?

These elements drive the novel to its moving, thought provoking conclusion. This is a small novel that plays host to several big ideas, and it is well worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: A beautiful, brilliant book
Review: Saramago's in depth, tender and frequently humorous exploration of the life of a simple, timid clerk (Senhor Jose) unfolds into a story of a man's quest to overcome the fears that have all but smothered him. "Senhor Jose both wants and doesn't want, he both desires and fears what he desires, that is what his whole life has been like," Saramago tells us. Other than his "hobby," collecting information about famous people, Senhor Jose's life is mostly about being as uninvolved as possible.

In contrast to the main character in Saramago's earlier "The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis," who is dead but doesn't know it, Senhor Jose is alive but doesn't know it. And unlike his earlier works in which fate seems to hold all the cards, in "All the Names" Saramago lets chance (serendipity) guide the story. It begins, almost as a reward for a tiny bit of daring, when Senhor Jose sneaks into his work place to get some more information about famous people for his collection and discovers, stuck to one of the records he was looking for, a misfiled record for a woman (another un-famous, unknown). Unbeknownst to him at the time, it will be the question posed by this simple piece of paper (Who is she?) that brings Senhor Jose "back from the dead." Skillfully, Saramago uses the same question to draw in his readers, and it is some time before he begins to let on that maybe this "unknown woman" is more important as a metaphor for what has become of Senhor Jose's spirit - his willingness to engage in life - than as some real woman he will eventually find. In the end, it is the search itself that eventually leads Senhor Jose to discover that what makes life worth living is never so dead that it can't be resurrected.

There is a shift in "quality" (character) between this book and Saramago's earlier ones. "All the Names" is not about politics, history or culture; it is focused on the psychology and spirit of the human experience. Saramago is such a brilliant observer of the inner life. His ability to write from within his characters (as opposed to about them), while clear in his earlier works, is taken to a new level in "All the Names." The many occasions in which Saramago lets us know what Senhor Jose is thinking (be it silly or sublime, ridiculous or profound) are written so well that it is hard not to feel that you know this character as well as you know yourself.

It is significant that Saramago never says where the story takes place and he gives no one but the main character a name -- and it could be Mr. Smith or John Doe for all it matters. Although Saramago has written this book as if it were about "someone in some place," what he has created is in fact a story for anyone in any place, even you in your place. There is a more than a little Senhor Jose in all of us.

(A note for those who are new to Saramago's writing): Saramago's writing style is, I think, an acquired taste. He has little regard for punctuation and slips easily into "stream of conscious" wanderings (more accurately, what appear to be wanderings but eventually add to the whole experience -- like unexpected dashes of some spice that no on one in their right mind would think of using but everyone would miss come dinner time had they been omitted). If I could claim to know a universally fool proof method for reading Saramago it would be this: sometimes you have to listen to the reading voice in your head as if it were someone reading the story to you aloud. As Saramago was blessed with a grandfather who would stay up at night telling him about life (and all the stories that entails), I think that his writing voice can be attributed to (and is a tribute to) his grandfather's speaking voice.

Rating:
Summary: Disarming simplicity, surreal, sometimes absurd
Review: Saramago's stories have a disarming simplicity that makes them unlike anyone else's. He is the modern Kafka and "All the Names" really shows that inspiration.

I would say this is one of the lesser novels by a great writer. There just isn't as much at stake for the main character in this story and the novel lacked the full impact of "Blindness." "All the Names" explores themes of isolation, tradition and bureaucracy with insight and grace. At times its situations become absurd (as in life) but the characters remain realistic throughout. This novel is unique and the story is one well worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Disarming simplicity, surreal, sometimes absurd
Review: Saramago's stories have a disarming simplicity that makes them unlike anyone else's. He is the modern Kafka and "All the Names" really shows that inspiration.

I would say this is one of the lesser novels by a great writer. There just isn't as much at stake for the main character in this story and the novel lacked the full impact of "Blindness." "All the Names" explores themes of isolation, tradition and bureaucracy with insight and grace. At times its situations become absurd (as in life) but the characters remain realistic throughout. This novel is unique and the story is one well worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Still a good read though not up to par of Blindness
Review: Senhor José's life is nothing but ordinary: in an unnamed city he works as a lowly clerk for the Central Registry of Births, Marriages and Death where the living and dead permanently share the same shelf in a single archive. In his early fifties, José has a laudable modesty of those who do not go around complaining about the voluminous workload befallen him. He attempts his work sedulously, with great precision and sense of responsibility, despite his suffering from vertigo caused by a fear of height when he climbs the ladder to access files on ceiling-to-floor shelves.

Senhor José finds solace in collecting news clippings of the country's famous, notorious and elite. One night, seized by an impulse and despondence over the inadequacy of his collection, José scuttles across the threshold of the communicating door that parts his lodging from the Registry and pilfers from the file drawer five precious records cards of the famous people. No sooner has he finished copying carefully and returned the cards to their rightful places than he spots the extra card, the unwanted one that belongs to an unknown, ordinary woman. Until then José's tepid and quiet life is no longer the same as he becomes morbidly obsessed with this unknown woman.

What follows is our protagonist's exhaustive (and somehow preposterous) quest for the unknown woman through the clues that trail behind from the record cards: her most recent address, her last records from school, her neighbor from 33 years ago, and her parents. His anxiety and curiosity for this unknown woman tightens the grip to the point he doesn't feel right to resign himself. The obsession of the search in no time takes its toll. It inevitably manifests in mistakes at work, in lack of attention, in wane of precision, in sudden bouts of drowsiness during the day. The Registrar deems such poor standard of work can only be justified by some grave illness. Little does the Registrar know that José's irrepressible trembling is not the result of illness but panic, as he has committed an offense against the ethics of the Registry-infringement of privacy and forgery of credentials.

I'll most certainly leave the readers to learn the outcome of José's investigation. One common theme has surfaced in this novel. Like Saramago's other books such as Blindness, The Stone Raft and The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis, the notion of loneliness (isolation vs. connection) prevails and governs the shaping of Saramago's characters and the actions they take. José is a loner who only takes interest in people's birth certificate. Those whom he encounters and indebted upon, especially the woman who lives on the ground floor, suffers from loneliness as she purposely engages in a circuitous conversation with José since she has nobody to talk to. José's peers at work, who treats him with scornful commiseration, as they are jealous at the Registrar's unmerited favoritism toward José upon his recovery from illness, are lonely as well.

A sound quote from the book has always resonated in my mind, "I don't believe one can show greater respect than to weep for a stranger." (205) All The Names evokes the moment of recognition in the lives of the living and dead. Through the search for this woman to whom José has neither a personal or sentimental attachment, Saramago evokes in us the unbeatable and redemptive power of compassion, something that surpasses life and death and the vast interval of time that separates us from the most remote dead.

Saramago's writing is thought provoking as usual, richly marinated with philosophical overtones such as "[registry] routine presupposes unconscious certainty" and "we do not make decisions, decisions make us." (29) Throughout the book José engages in some importunate inner fantasy dialogues as well as conversation with the plaster ceiling. This book is not to be taken lightly. The richness and obscurity of the prose forbid you to rush through it but to let it seep through slowly. The shift in prose styling (from more taut, crisp and direct prose to a slightly more sating prose with cumbersome sentences) from Blindness and The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis makes All The Names a more difficult, arduous read. The embedded paragraphs and the omission of punctuation are signatures of Saramago that require readers to practice some patience. The premise of the story is still tantalizing but not quite up to par to the aforementioned titles. 4.2 stars.

Rating:
Summary: "The workings of chance are infinite."
Review: Senhor Jose has worked as a civil servant in the Central Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths for twenty-five years. When not working he engages in his covert hobby of collecting articles and photographs of celebrities and supplementing them with vital statistics from his office. While secretly extracting index cards from a file in the Central Registry he comes across a card of an unknown non-celebrity woman that is the catalyst for the journey at the center of ALL THE NAMES. Fascinated by the circumstances of the Unknown Woman's life Senhor Jose engages in a clandestine operation of trying to find her whereabouts.

Jose Saramago performs a splendid job of getting into the head of Senhor Jose by highlighting the deductions of internal thought and inquiry and protecting scenarios of anticipated dialogue with others, as demonstrated by his internal dialogues with the ceiling in his house. Saramago's method resulted in a highly enjoyable and nuanced protagonist that is believable and three-dimensional.

While reading ALL THE NAMES it is apparent that Saramago's communist beliefs are projected in this novel by the descriptions of the Central Registry by including descriptions of the strict hierarchy of employees and the maximum efficiency of work processes. Even when Senhor Jose goes to another workplace the same structure is accentuated.

ALL THE NAMES is one of my favorite novels by Jose Saramago and was a real treat to read.

Rating:
Summary: The Clerc and the Woman
Review: Senhor Jose is a lowly clerk in the Central Registry of Portugal, where births, marriages and deaths are reduced to index cards. It is his hobby to copy the cards of famous people and to keep a file on them. One day, by mistake, he pulls out a card of an unknown woman. And here the obsession begins: To find this woman. Jose, who is 50 years old and lives alone in a dilapidated little house, gets deeper and deeper into the mystery of this woman who remains nameless. He has pictures of her as a school child, but does not know what she looks now at age 36 - or even if she is still alive. He can not let go of his research and he slowly, but surely, falls in love with this unknown.In the end, he is left alone again, now 51 years old, sick, and asking himself what he should do now with the rest of his life. But he learned many things about his inner self and his ability to cope with life outside of his job.

The author does a magnificent job of peeling his hero like an onion until his inner self is reached. And that is most worthwhile learning about. A wonderful book.

Rating:
Summary: Surreal and intense exploration of the human psyche
Review: Senhor Jose, the main character of this novel and the only one with an actual name, is a low-level bureaucrat working at the Central Registry where births, deaths, and marriages are documented and stored. In his free time, he clips news articles and pictures from magazines about his favorite famous people. When he one day decides to pull the records of a handful of these people, he mistakenly comes home with one extra file - and thus begins his obsession with a women about whom he knows nothing more than her date and place of birth and marital status. Was there a reason why her card ended up in his hands? Is there something special about her? These questions burn in the mind of Senhor Jose, an otherwise ordinary, dull individual whose obsession with this unknown woman leads him to unimagineable extremes. What follows is an intense, sometimes surreal, thriller as Jose risks his career, his health, and his sanity to track down this mystery woman.

Saramago's prose style, at times, can be described as nothing less than Kafkaesque (if indeed it is fair to put a Nobel Prize-winner in the shadow of another author). Much like in Kafka's The Trial, Saramago is able to take the most mundane of characters and situations and transform them into intensely exciting prose. His pace is masterful throughout, racing through confrontational dialogues and then giving you just long enough to catch your breath before speeding up yet again. His faceless, mechanical, sometimes suspicious characters take on a feeling of spine-chilling eeriness. And many passages bear the psychological uneasiness of a traumatic nightmare, of a state of consciousness caught somewhere in between dream and reality. And though the plot, prima facie, might seem mundane, Saramago's insights into the paranoia and obsession of his main character make it anything but.

Rating:
Summary: Saramago Does it Again
Review: This book has a slow start, but the half-magical/half-practical world Saramago creates in this book is once again amazing.

Rating:
Summary: Saramago did it again!
Review: This book is a wonder. Saramago once again takes us into an incredible world. This time the life of Sr. Jose, a low level employee at the National Registry. We should assume that the location is Lisbon, however, it is not clear. Nevertheless, his descriptions of the city are wonderful, and reminds us of the same descriptions from "The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis." At times you feel that one is walking the streets of the city with Sr. Jose.

The most fascinating aspect of this book is the in-depth psychological descriptions of Sr. Jose's thinking. It felt like I actually could read is mind. It is exquisite writing, which makes for incredible reading.

The book can also be read as an incredible and fanstastic mystery. Additionally, and like most of Saramago's books, the political criticism is also present. One could read the book as a criticism to oppressive governments. Sr. Jose, representing the oppressed people and the Chief of the National Registry representing the dictator.

This book makes for a salivating and delicious reading. I highly recommend it. Enjoy!