A history teacher is recommended a film which he rents from a video-rental store...he becomes obsessed with finding the actor who looks uncannily like himself. Their lives become intertwined. I really enjoyed this book, the frustrating inner thoughts not expressed by the protagonist due to his personality, the relief when he tells his mother, the interactions between him, his girlfriend, the video store staff, the school staff are quite literally brilliant. The plot written in such a way you are not sure what might happen next - even the last few pages of the book you can see the author could have ended the story more than once, but added another ending, and another, all equally entertaining. The humour in it is quite dark, but one couldn't help smiling at things such as the headmaster's misunderstanding over the suggestion history should be taught backwards, then asking the history teacher to devise a plan to see this in action. The props too - the false beard, moustache, wedding ring all play an essential part of the story. Some of the fascinating contents of the book I found were:
The quotes, "Chaos is merely order waiting to be deciphered", and "For want of a shoe the horse was lost, for want of a horse the battle was lost." The teacher comparing his situation to the Lernaean Hydra, who appeared in this world on false pretences to occupy a place not his own, which is why Hercules killed it; he was also reading a book about the Amorites and their king, Hammurabi and his code of law; and he named his family dog Tomarctus, after the original dog fossil from fifteen million years ago.
(Oh yes, I appreciate the cover illustration by Tom Gauld). ( )

I found this to be a strange book to read, particularly due to the lack of paragraphs, commas or quotation marks. It was however interesting enough that it kept pulling me back into it. I'm still in mixed minds whether I really enjoyed this book or not, but I think I did. An interesting look into identities in our current age. ( )

كتاب مميز اكثر منه رواية
ينحت فيه ساراماجو الأفكار و يجعلك تتبع الحس المشترك بل و تفكر مع المؤلف و البطل و نسخته المماثلة له حتى السطر الأخير ( )

unfortunately, i saw the movie version of this book before reading it, and the movie made my head explode, and this also made my head explode, in some of the same ways and in some very different ways. both are recommended, but maybe choose one or the other and stick with it. ( )

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. ( )