Aaron Slater, Illustrator (The Questioneers)

I loved this book. I loved it for its deceptive simplicity and its main character Senor Jose, a very brave man about whom I began to care deeply. 'All the names' is a clever book that draws you into the monotonous and mundane world of a middle-aged civil servant and then gives you an extraordinary story within the framework of a well thought-out philosophy about life, love and death. This novel explores the consequences of sustained loneliness, personal development and how how the living of our modern world rub shoulders with the dead. We are caught up with Senor Jose's quest to learn more about the 'unknown woman.' We tremble with him as he braves his fear of heights and roots around like a stalker in someone's else's life. We worry about the lows he experiences, the effect of his obsession on his mental health and how he risks everything to fulfill his quest to the bitter end. Finally, we applaud his bravery and obvious strength of character in the face of exposure. An uplifting book, where 'every man' triumphs. Highly recommended for the thoughtful.

The Kafkaesque hero of "All the Names" works mindlessly for the mindless bureaucracy known as the Central Registry, the office of records for the population of an unnamed country that is presumably Portugal. "The Central Registry only wants to know when we're born and when we die . . . whether we marry, get divorced, widowed or remarried, the Central Registry has absolutely no interest in finding out if we were happy or unhappy. . . . For them we're just a few pieces of paper with a few names on it." Yet Senhor Jose (ironically the only person with a name in "All the Names") tries to instill life into the routine inhumanity of his profession. When we initially meet him, he is keeping a scrapbook of the 100 most famous people in his country, and he supplements his hobby by illicitly (and in violation of official policy) sneaking into the Registry at night to collect the records for these celebrities. Then, one day, he accidentally picks up a card of an anonymous, random woman--someone whose life and happiness are foreign to tabloids and magazines. His inexorable obsession (who is she? where does she live? what is she like?) snaps him out of his meaningless existence and propels him, like a modern-day Don Quixote, on a bizarre, increasingly absurd journey to find out what he can about her. His regulation-breaking pursuit motivates him to fabricate credentials, to burglarize a school, to sleep in a cemetery that mirrors the Registry (except that it houses only the dead), and eventually to invite the attention of his superiors. Dense and ponderous, Saramago's unpunctuated prose is, remarkably, seldom dull; what's extraordinary about this book is the suspense, the tension, the humor, and the sarcasm that keeps his narrative moving. There is almost a noir atmosphere behind this story, as the reader nervously follows a man who, drowning in a sea of daily tedium, can't resist the impulse to find the humanity behind "all the names" he files away in the registry. In the end, his rebellion restores integrity to his own life as well.

What marks does a person make while living? What marks does a person leave behind when he or she is gone? What is the meaning of these marks? These are the questions that Saramago explores in All the Names. This is the story of a aging, low-level clerk in the Registrar's office. After decades of doing his work perfectly and invisibly, Senhor Jose begins to track the lives of famous people using newspapers and, more importantly, the information at the Registrar's office as sources. While uncovering information about some famous person, he accidentally pulls out the information card on a woman who is not famous and he begins to track her down. In fact, he becomes obsessed with tracking her down--ultimately discovering that her life seems in its own way to be as empty as his. And that he loves her. This is a short novel filled with ironies. In tracking down this woman, Senhor Jose realizes how empty his life has been and yet his search gives meaning to his life. In fact, his search begins to cause all kinds of changes in himself and in others around him. In his search to create a real woman from a piece of paper in the Registrar's office, he creates himself instead and alters those with whom he comes in contact. In All the Names, Saramago has written a strong and interesting novel. If not quite up to the power of his novel Blindness, it is still good reading. I am amazed at the effectiveness of Saramago style (at least as is comes across in translation). His long paragraphs with limited punctuations containing entire conversations, including multiple characters thoughts and impressions are well done. It is an interesting approach, especially to someone used to the traditions of direct quotation in written conversations so common in modern fiction. The way his characters are not known by name but by who they are is fascinating. (The only exception to this is Senhor Jose who is in many ways more faceless than characters without names. Interesting.) Saramago is definitely a unique stylist. After Blindness and All the Names, I'm looking forward to going back and reading some of his older books.

José Saramago is one of my favorite authors, his writing style always intrigues me and pulls me in. This book is about the sadness of being alone, love, and death. Pretty weighty subjects, but Saramago tells a story that shows both wit and insight, quite moving. As usual, the language is beautiful and I recommend it. Excellent novel.

I know everyone talks about "Blindness" as Saramago's best, but this story is so sweet, so smart - I've read it at least five times.