Luís Fernando Veríssimo (–2025)

This locked room mystery is narrated by a wanna-be author -- indeed, a wanna-be Borges -- who gets to meet Borges and discuss with him who could have committed the crime. The possible solutions to the crime become ever more outre as together Borges and the narrator come up with strange signifiers and symbols and delight in their cleverness (until you wonder, really, whether Borges could possibly be so very odd, despite his very odd stories -- really, wasn't he more mysterious and interesting show more and intellectual than this?). I read with increasing joy and wonder as the tale wound in on itself, and wove around itself, and ate its own tail. There is no question that I will now return to Borges himself -- and will be reading The Club of Angels, apparently the only other book by Verissimo to be translated into English, as well. This is a wonderful book. show less

Borges and the Eternal Orangutans is such a whimsical, charming book. I didn’t have expectations going into the book aside from knowing that it’s received pretty good reviews. Verissimo’s novel is a riff on those analytical detective stories, namely those of Edgar Allen Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, and of course, Jorge Luis Borges. When our protagonist attends an Edgar Allen Poe conference, he gets embroiled in a locked-room type murder mystery and has to work with his idol, the inimitable show more Borges himself, to get to the bottom of this mystery. I was entertained by the story on its own merits, but I’ll bet you’d find it an even richer reading experience if you recognized the winks and nods to Poe and Borges—the framework of their mysteries, their trademark motifs, names of characters, etc. Actually, this book inspired me to go back and read some of the short stories of these authors. show less

E se foi o grande Luis Fernando Veríssimo, um dos grandes ídolos da minha adolescência e um mestre nas narrativas curtas de humor.
Estava ensaiando, depois de muitos anos, a reler seus textos sobre o Analista de Bagé desde que me tornei eu mesma analista, já preconizando que ficariam ainda mais divertidos depois disso. Dito e feito, o absurdismo das estórias soam ainda mais engraçadas, especialmente para quem já passou por certos analistas chucros, em que cada intervenção é um show more coice, mas nada comparável ao cidadão de Bagé.
Só vou me policiar para não começar a chamar meus pacientes de bagual. Rá! show less

The narrator of this short book, Daniel, is a member of a very exclusive society of gourmands: He and nine other men regularly meet at each other's houses to feast on the most delicious, exotic, flavorful meals they can create. The club hasn't met recently due to some bad blood between the members, but then Daniel meets the mysterious chef Lucídio, who agrees to cook for them. The club members all converge on Daniel's apartment and are delighted to find that Lucídio's cooking is the best show more they've ever tasted. But then one of the guests mysteriously dies the next day -- and the meal Lucídio had prepared was that guest's favorite dish. The club continues to hold more dinners, and another member dies after each one. Yet for some reason, Daniel and his friends can't resist experiencing these exquisitely perfect meals, even with the knowledge that each bite could be their last.

From the moment I read the epigraph of this creepy little novel, I was hooked: "All desire is a desire for death. -- A possible Japanese maxim." Verissimo wasn't being lazy in his attribution; the saying is actually referenced in the novel, and it highlights Daniel's unreliability as a narrator. From the start, he warns us that he might be making up the whole story, and then he goes on to give a brief philosophy of the detective novel. So you'll know within the first two pages whether you'll like this book or not; I thought it was weird and thought-provkoking and very good! My library shelves it in the mystery section, which doesn't make sense to me, since "whodunit" is clear from the outset (well, kind of). But watching the motives slowly unfold was interesting and surprisingly suspenseful. I should also point out that this book is set in Brazil, and the main characters are a great microcosm of Brazilian society. I enjoyed this book a lot and would definitely recommend it, as well as Verissimo's other novel, Borges and the Eternal Orangutans. show less