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The Last Will and Testament of Senhor Da Silva Araújo
The Last Will and Testament of Senhor Da Silva Araújo | Germano Almeida, Sheila Faria Glaser
14 posts | 6 read | 6 to read
"In his will, Senhor da Silva Araujo has left a memoir that is a touching web of elaborate self-deceptions. He desired so ardently to prosper, to be taken seriously, and to join (perhaps, if they would have him) the exclusive Gremio country club. But most of all, he wanted to be a good man. And yet, shady deals, twists of fate, an illegitimate child: such is the lot of poor, self-critical Senhor da Silva Araujo. A bit like Calvino's Mr. Palomar in his attention to protocol and in his terror of life's passions; a bit like Svevo's Zeno (a little pompous, a little old-fashioned, and often hapless) Senhor da Silva Araujo moves along a deliciously blurry line between farce and tragedy: a self-important buffoon becomes a fully human, even tragic, figure in the arc of this novel."--BOOK JACKET.
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review
Texreader
The Last Will and Testament of Senhor Da Silva Araújo | Germano Almeida, Sheila Faria Glaser
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Panpan

I originally thought this book was a mildly humorous story revealing the true nature of the deceased, which was so different than how he saw himself. I was bothered by his decision to hate his nephew mostly based on reasons he conjured in his own mind, when his nephew most likely made the ungrateful old man wealthy. But I‘ll put my reason for finally disliking the book so much in a spoiler below. #readingafrica2022 #CapeVerde

Texreader I had to force myself to keep reading after Sr. Araújo raped his housekeeper and thus beget his daughter. No way around it, he raped her. When asked about it after he‘d died, she said she wanted it. But that‘s not how it was depicted when it happened. In fact, I rather despise the author for making this excuse later in the book. The man was a self-important, despicable, ungrateful character who used women repeatedly for his own gratification. 2y
Librarybelle That‘s horrible! Thank you for your honest review. 2y
Bookwomble Feels like a pass from me on this book - thanks for the heads up. 2y
48 likes3 comments
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Texreader
The Last Will and Testament of Senhor Da Silva Araújo | Germano Almeida, Sheila Faria Glaser
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It‘s a peaceful morning at the lake today.

Tove_Reads Read that book years ago and went there this spring 🙃 2y
Texreader @Tove_Reads Really? It sounds like a delightful vacation spot! The book isn‘t working for me though 2y
Tove_Reads Agree! 2y
60 likes3 comments
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Texreader
The Last Will and Testament of Senhor Da Silva Araújo | Germano Almeida, Sheila Faria Glaser
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I‘m going to belabor the point that this book simply doesn‘t do paragraphs. This is happening to the point of exhaustion—a paragraph spread over four pages. One must have almost complete concentration and no distractions to read this book. Again it‘s an ok book but it‘s tedious, reading about minute decisions in the man‘s life (pages and pages about his one suit, or his buying a pair of plastic sandals). Sigh. #CapeVerde #readingAfrica2022

Librarybelle 😮 2y
39 likes1 comment
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Texreader
The Last Will and Testament of Senhor Da Silva Araújo | Germano Almeida, Sheila Faria Glaser
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This isn‘t a bad read; it can be funny and interesting. But it has insanely long paragraphs in insanely long chapters. I feel like I never get a breather. Here‘s an example with a lengthy paragraph starting on one page and continuing well into the next page. I am often pausing before these long visual hurdles, which prolongs the reading pain. Dang! #capeverde #readingafrica2022 @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB

BarbaraBB At least it‘s a short read but you‘re right, we need some white on those pages! 2y
50 likes1 comment
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Texreader
The Last Will and Testament of Senhor Da Silva Araújo | Germano Almeida, Sheila Faria Glaser
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Googling to learn more about the setting of the tagged book, #CapeVerde #readingafrica2022

Very interesting to learn about it. Sounds like a great place for a vacation. Link here: https://www.capeverdeislands.org/location-and-islands/

Librarybelle Thanks for sharing! 2y
49 likes1 comment
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Texreader
The Last Will and Testament of Senhor Da Silva Araújo | Germano Almeida, Sheila Faria Glaser
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I bought a used copy off Amazon pretty cheaply of the tagged book for #CapeVerde #readingAfrica2022. I received it today and started it tonight.

50 likes1 stack add
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Texreader
The Last Will and Testament of Senhor Da Silva Araújo | Germano Almeida, Sheila Faria Glaser
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I recently posted a list of the books I‘ve read for #readingAfrica2022, and books I‘ve purchased for more African countries. Here are the countries I have left for which I have no books, just ideas, & for Seychelles no ideas! So I‘m scouring bookstores & online for them. Those with (A) I‘ll get on Audible eventually. And if worse comes to worse, in previous years, I‘ve already read the asterisk books for Congo and Zambia. Any recommendations?

BarbaraBB I‘ve read this one, it‘s an easy okay read: 2y
BarbaraBB For Comores I plan to read this one because it was a pick for @Hooked_on_books : 2y
BarbaraBB And I can recommend this one for Mauritius 2y
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BarbaraBB I hope this is helpful. For the rest of your countries I haven‘t decided yet either! 2y
Hooked_on_books The Fish Caught in Time for Comoros I just loved, so I heartily recommend it. Never for Chad is quite book, but bleak, so if you go with that one, have something happy to follow it. And for Zambia, I read Walking the Bowl, which was a tough read, but it‘s quite good. 2y
Librarybelle 😠2y
38 likes6 comments
review
BarbaraBB
The Last Will and Testament of Senhor Da Silva Araújo | Germano Almeida, Sheila Faria Glaser
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Pickpick

This slim book reads like a typical Latin American story without the magical realism. It may be the Portuguese influence still present in #CapeVerde.

Anyhow it is a nice read about life and death of a humble man who, despite his successful trade business, leads his life mostly in solitude. He leaves behind a remarkable testament.

#19822022 #1989 #ReadingAfrica2022 🇨🇻 #52BooksIn52weeks #LessThan2022GRRates

(Pic: Storm Eunice)

Librarybelle Wow! That photo! 2y
Cinfhen Lovely photo 😠2y
Cathythoughts Lovely picture 💫 2y
75 likes1 stack add3 comments
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DrexEdit
The Last Will and Testament of Senhor Da Silva Araújo | Germano Almeida, Sheila Faria Glaser
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Clwojick Great match! 💕 2y
36 likes1 stack add1 comment
review
DrexEdit
The Last Will and Testament of Senhor Da Silva Araújo | Germano Almeida, Sheila Faria Glaser
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Pickpick

When the book summary said this book started with the reading of the 387-page will of Senhor Araújo I thought it was going to be a satire. But mainly it was about the life of one man, how a person is knowable and how they are unknowable. How the self-important pipsqueak we start out knowing becomes a totally sympathetic character by the end. There's a lot contained in this short book.
4 â­
#ReadingAfrica #capeverde
@LibraryBelle
@BarbaraBB

DrexEdit Germano Almeida is billed as Cape Verde's greatest living writer, but he's pretty good for any country or language. We learn a little, not too much, about island life in this story. The little I've read about Cape Verde says the islands were settled by the Portuguese so this really felt more like a European story than an African one. 2y
BarbaraBB Thanks for this thoughtful review. I have this one lined up for later this month 2y
Librarybelle Great review! 2y
See All 6 Comments
shawnmooney This sounds fascinating! Any chance I could convince you to come onto Zoom and chat with me about this book for 10 minutes for my Bite-sized Book Chats series? If you have no idea what I‘m talking about, the playlist is here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU-61cZp1pQdBH5V0Zb9q-2ujl4PY8nhf

Would love to have you on as a guest!
2y
DrexEdit @shawnmooney thanks so much for the invite! It sent me into a complete tizzy of overthinking. 😊 I think I‘ve calmed down now though. I would love to join you to talk about this book! 2y
shawnmooney @DrexEdit Awesome! I just sent a friend request via Goodreads. If that‘s ok, then we can DM that way after you accept it. 2y
39 likes1 stack add6 comments
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DrexEdit
The Last Will and Testament of Senhor Da Silva Araújo | Germano Almeida, Sheila Faria Glaser
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The reading of the last will and testament of Sr. Napumoceno da Silva Araújo ate up a whole afternoon. When he reached the one-hundred-and-fiftieth page, the notary admitted he was already tired and actually broke off to ask that someone bring him a glass of water.

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

(I cheated a bit because the second line was also quite good! 😄 )

review
Pogue
The Last Will and Testament of Senhor Da Silva Araújo | Germano Almeida, Sheila Faria Glaser
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Mehso-so

Read this for my #readingtheworld challenge. This book covers Cape Verde, and while it was well written and some parts of it I am still thing about it was just my type of story.

15 likes1 stack add
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andrew61
The Last Will and Testament of Senhor Da Silva Araújo | Germano Almeida, Sheila Faria Glaser
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Pickpick

My ongoing around the world read took me to cape verde, a set of 5 islands of the coast of africa. The opening chapter sees the reading of the 300+ page will in the title. We then learn about the life of the eponymous hero through the will and the reports from his nephew and others. An intriguing read although some sexual encounters were troubling in terms of his treatment of women. Overall an interesting read, i gave it 3* on gr.

EllieDottie I'm reading this next year for #passportlitsy 7y
24 likes1 comment
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andrew61
The Last Will and Testament of Senhor Da Silva Araújo | Germano Almeida, Sheila Faria Glaser
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A trip to Cape Verde started well with this intriguing opening and i am enjoying the book so far. It always strikes me how certain regions lead to books having a similar style, this is reminding me of Pereira maintains set in Portugal ( who ruled cape verde until 1975), a very dry humour.

Libby1 Pereira Maintains was excellent. 7y
22 likes1 stack add1 comment