by The Booker Tea

A General Theory of Oblivion

One of the novel’s characters declares: ‘A man with a good story is practically a king.’ If this is true, then Agualusa can count himself among the continent’s new royals. – Financial Times

by Jose Eduardo Agualusa

Paperback: 256 Seiten
Verlag: Vintage (18. Mai 2016)
ISBN-10: 0099593122
ISBN-13: 978-0099593126

On the eve of Angolan independence an agoraphobic woman named Ludo bricks herself into her apartment for 30 years, living off vegetables and the pigeons she lures in with diamonds, burning her furniture and books to stay alive and writing her story on the apartment’s walls.

Almost as if we’re eavesdropping, the history of Angola unfolds through the stories of those she sees from her window. As the country goes through various political upheavals from colony to socialist republic to civil war to peace and capitalism, the world outside seeps into Ludo’s life through snippets on the radio, voices from next door, glimpses of someone peeing on a balcony, or a man fleeing his pursuers.

A General Theory of Oblivion is a perfectly crafted, wild patchwork of a novel, playing on a love of storytelling and fable.

  • Shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award 2017
  • A finalist for the Man Booker International Prize 2016
  • The brilliant new novel from the winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.