I’m pretty sure I didn’t really get what was going on here, other than to say it was a (maybe?) semi-autobiographical dreamlike novella in which the Italian narrator goes though Portugal meeting up with real and fictional literary characters and eating Portuguese dishes. But even though I didn’t really get it, I enjoyed the hallucination, excellently written and translated from the Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa.

No. 2 of 50 books I intend to read and review in 2025.

I’m Patrick Sherriff, an Englishman who survived 13 years working for newspapers in the US, UK and Japan. Between teaching English lessons at my conversation school in Abiko, Japan, I write and illustrate textbooks for non-native speakers of English, release Hana Walker mystery novels, short stories, paint, and write essays and Our Man in Abiko, a monthly  newsletter   highlighting good writing in English, often about about Japan, art, crime fiction and teaching.