Another book down. Only about 200 to go. Damn.
Anyway, the Book of Chameleons by José Eduardo Agualusa, (translated by Daniel Hahn) wasn’t too bad, but it wasn’t anything amazing either. The entire thing pretty much takes place in one room with a couple of dream sequences and an excursion or two into a courtyard.
Some reviews of the book complained about the title of the translation seeing the narrator is actually a gecko, not a chameleon, but it is pretty obvious that the characters are the chameleons, not the lizard. The main character sells pasts, bodgying up documents and stories so they can become different people in the present.
Considering it’s a translation, the writing is pretty good. The characters are interesting enough as well, which is lucky seeing it is them that carries what little there is of actual plot.
I’d probably recommend it, seeing it is so short. If it was any longer it would be stretching the friendship.
And there goes Angola. (I didn’t really learn anything at all about the country. There are mentions of colonialism and stuff like that, but it is all pretty generic. Though I do get the feeling that the country was supposed to be another of the chameleons.) Next on the list is Antigua and Barbuda which is looking just as difficult as Angola was.
So, it’s been a while. My excuse is doing layout for POD books and also having trouble finding a book from Angola that sounded interesting and that I was willing to pay for. Apparently lots of books from Angola are no longer available. Why the hell is that? There were a couple of books that had great reviews but are unavailable in ebook! The publishers just have to do a couple of hours work and then it’s free money. Oh well, their loss.
Wonders Never Cease 