From Pittsburgh...My Airplane Read

Hey everyone. I have just landed in Pittsburgh, PA, and I thought I would post before I hit the sack, seeing as I have to hunt though warehouses for remainders at 8am Eastern tomorrow.

So here is the book I just finished on the plane.

For awhile now I've seen the beautifully designed cover of José Luís Peixoto's book The Implacable Order of Things with "Winner of the Jose Saramago Literary Award" at the bottom. I have twice picked the book up, read the back, and immediately put it back on the shelf.

The description of this book does it a huge disservice.

Yes, there are "a pair of twins conjoined at the pinky, a 120-year-old wise man, a shepherd turned cuckold by a giant, and even the devil himself," but--as the back of the book states--these characters are far from an "oddball cast."

These are deeply complex and sorrowful characters who seek the meaning of love and life. There is something refreshingly ordinary about each one. Though unique, they are also simple townspeople dealing with the trauma of love and death, of family and loneliness.

This novel is like a river. The repetition and story wind in and out of generations like currents. If Luís Peixoto is not yet known as one of the best writers from Portugal, if not the world, this young writer soon will be.