0724 | The Double | Jose Saramago
Context: Attended our first sessions at family time as foster carers while reading this.
Having enjoyed Baltasar and Blimunda, I was looking forward to this, particularly as it wasn’t going to be dealing with too much obscure Portuguese history. I’m also fond of Kafka-esque struggles and the idea of a man seeing his double in a video and then attempting to track him down really appealed.
The book didn’t disappoint. I found it entertaining, darkly comic and it asked the right questions about who we are and how we define ourselves. It had farcical moments which kept me turning pages at points, but it wasn’t, on the whole, a page-turner.
The pace is fairly slow. Tertuliano Máximo Afonso isn’t the most engaging character. In fact, he’s somewhat drab. And his response to seeing himself playing an obscure part in some B movie isn’t electrifying. Rather, there’s a drawn out process through which he comes to terms with the fact that he has a double that lasts the rest of the novel.
At the same time, you get an insight into how his double feels. As this only really begins to get going in the last third of the novel, this seems a bit of an add on. But it’s enough to keep you amused and there are a couple of moments towards the end where you wonder which way things will go.
If you’re happy to watch others squirm then this is a novel you’ll read with a chuckle or two. I certainly do and I certainly did.
