I think the primary reason I picked up this book was because I wanted to enrich my knowledge of world literature. And because I haven't read a book from Cape Verde, I thought at some point that I should find a book written by a Cape Verdean author. So I found this one. And I am glad that I have picked this book up, as it's actually quite a great read.
The book tells the story of Senhor da Silva Araújo, or rather, what happens when he died. He left a will, which was 387 pages long, and it sent the people around him into a roller coaster, so to speak. After all, there were plenty of hidden secrets that were just revealed by the very long will, including for example the fact that he deceased actually had a daughter.
What I like the most perhaps is the writing style, and how the story was moved forward. I mean, it's a huge collection of flashbacks, since after the man died, the will was read, and plenty of events and episodes from the past were revisited. At the same time, there is the present, which surrounds the people who were left behind, trying to understand fully what the will was about. So while the story was moving forward in the present, the characters in the present were very busy trying to go back to the past.
The book is actually rather short, just about 150 pages long, but nevertheless I thought it was immensely entertaining. I haven't really heard of Germano Almeida before, but after this book, I am glad to have picked his novel up. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
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