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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
“um homem é feito do que planifica e do que vai sentido, de correntes de ferro que o prendem ao chão e de correntes de ar que lhe atravessam o corpo em ecos de poesia.
verdade e urgência.”
verdade e urgência.”
Que personagens fantásticas, um conjunto perfeito de crítica social, clichés associados ao tipo de personagem e rambém humor. A viagem neste prédio de Luanda é extraordinária e Ondjaki, mais um vez, me deixou emocionada, triste, com um sorriso. Que capacidade de nos fazer sentir tantas emoções com a sua escrita e estórias.
slow-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I have very mixed feelings about this book. I don't know where to begin rating it. On one hand the slow pace became a little tedious and I didn't feel incentive to pick up the book to continue reading. On the other hand the ending portion touched me in a way no book has in a fair while.
The author is exceptional in creating a feel of place, the reader is given a very unique opportunity to experience the city of Luanda. That, I feel, is the best takeaway from reading this book. I would have never have completed Transparent City on my own violation - if it won't for the read around the world challenge - but I'm also very glad to have had the experience of reading it.
The author is exceptional in creating a feel of place, the reader is given a very unique opportunity to experience the city of Luanda. That, I feel, is the best takeaway from reading this book. I would have never have completed Transparent City on my own violation - if it won't for the read around the world challenge - but I'm also very glad to have had the experience of reading it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Gun violence
Minor: Murder, War
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book is hard to get into - with its flowing prose, very loose punctuation and infusion of magical realism - but once you get into the experimental writing style, it’s definitely worth the read. A satirical novel about corruption, capitalism and the ordinary people trying to survive.
Um governo corrupto. Um homem que inicia um processo de transparência física. Um jornalista que tenta encontrar o caminho nos meandros da política. Um cientista honesto que é desacreditado por ter informações inconvenientes. Um carteiro que queria simplesmente ter um simples veículo que facilitasse a vida às suas pernas cansadas. Uma polícia que só funciona através de suborno e uma cidade que só respira na mesma medida em que as pessoas tramam.
Os Transparentes, a primeira obra que li de Ondjaki, é um retrato poderosíssimo da Angola actual.
Temos várias estórias a acontecer lado a lado, mas o palco principal é o prédio de seis andares em plena Luanda. Cada família nesse edifício tenta sobreviver à sua própria maneira com os meios de que dispõe. Alguns são honestos e vão sobrevivendo e outros, na sua corrupção, tentam roubar o suficiente para viver confortavelmente.
Temos um homem com uma condição de saúde rara que desperta a atenção dos media nacionais e internacionais, bem como comunidades médicas de todo o mundo. Vendo uma oportunidade para ganhar dinheiro com isso, considera a hipótese.
Temos um cientista americano que é convocado para analisar os protocolos de segurança utilizados por uma empresa que faz escavações na própria capital por acreditar que, debaixo das mesmas casas onde as pessoas habitam há petróleo.
Temos uma "mais-velha" que se recusa a falar Português. Recusa-se a deixar que a sua língua nativa, Umbundu, esmoreça no reboliço da urbe.
Temos um homem que, por tanto se esforçar pela família e tentar sobreviver, passando fome, começa a demonstrar transparência física.
Existem imensas metáforas e reviravoltas neste livro que, não deixam, no entanto, de ser bastante realistas sobre a crueza do que se passa em Angola: a corrupção, enraizada até mesmo nas pessoas mais simples, a pobreza, a percepção de que, por mais que se caminhe, acabamos sempre no mesmo beco sem saída. Infelizmente oportunidade e a hipótese de subir na vida não acontecem a toda a gente e neste livro apercebi-me que este tipo de coisas na maior parte das vezes depende puramente da sorte.
A prosa e estilo de escrita fazem-me lembrar uma junção de Saramago com Mia Couto, se bem que, talvez, menos "fantástico" e lírico (sem deixar de ser lírico à sua maneira).
Ondjaki torna o enredo interessante sem precisar de internacionalizar a sua forma de escrita: ele reinventou-a e a moldou-a de acordo à sua própria conveniência e, na minha opinião, ficou magnífico.
Não dei 5 estrelas apenas porque já conheci livro aos quais me apeguei com mais facilidade em geral. Não se trata de nenhum ponto negativo, pois não tenho nada a apontar nesse aspecto.
[...]
nada resta desse tempo
quieto de dias plácidos
e noites longas
flechas de veneno
moram no coração dos vivos
acabou o tempo de lembrar
choro no dia seguinte
as coisas que devia chorar hoje
Paulo Tavares
Os Transparentes, a primeira obra que li de Ondjaki, é um retrato poderosíssimo da Angola actual.
Temos várias estórias a acontecer lado a lado, mas o palco principal é o prédio de seis andares em plena Luanda. Cada família nesse edifício tenta sobreviver à sua própria maneira com os meios de que dispõe. Alguns são honestos e vão sobrevivendo e outros, na sua corrupção, tentam roubar o suficiente para viver confortavelmente.
Temos um homem com uma condição de saúde rara que desperta a atenção dos media nacionais e internacionais, bem como comunidades médicas de todo o mundo. Vendo uma oportunidade para ganhar dinheiro com isso, considera a hipótese.
Temos um cientista americano que é convocado para analisar os protocolos de segurança utilizados por uma empresa que faz escavações na própria capital por acreditar que, debaixo das mesmas casas onde as pessoas habitam há petróleo.
Temos uma "mais-velha" que se recusa a falar Português. Recusa-se a deixar que a sua língua nativa, Umbundu, esmoreça no reboliço da urbe.
Temos um homem que, por tanto se esforçar pela família e tentar sobreviver, passando fome, começa a demonstrar transparência física.
Existem imensas metáforas e reviravoltas neste livro que, não deixam, no entanto, de ser bastante realistas sobre a crueza do que se passa em Angola: a corrupção, enraizada até mesmo nas pessoas mais simples, a pobreza, a percepção de que, por mais que se caminhe, acabamos sempre no mesmo beco sem saída. Infelizmente oportunidade e a hipótese de subir na vida não acontecem a toda a gente e neste livro apercebi-me que este tipo de coisas na maior parte das vezes depende puramente da sorte.
A prosa e estilo de escrita fazem-me lembrar uma junção de Saramago com Mia Couto, se bem que, talvez, menos "fantástico" e lírico (sem deixar de ser lírico à sua maneira).
Ondjaki torna o enredo interessante sem precisar de internacionalizar a sua forma de escrita: ele reinventou-a e a moldou-a de acordo à sua própria conveniência e, na minha opinião, ficou magnífico.
Não dei 5 estrelas apenas porque já conheci livro aos quais me apeguei com mais facilidade em geral. Não se trata de nenhum ponto negativo, pois não tenho nada a apontar nesse aspecto.
[...]
nada resta desse tempo
quieto de dias plácidos
e noites longas
flechas de veneno
moram no coração dos vivos
acabou o tempo de lembrar
choro no dia seguinte
as coisas que devia chorar hoje
Paulo Tavares
I was so excited for the premise of this book, but ultimately I think the experimental writing style made it difficult for me to grasp. I could understand bits and pieces, but the story was just too disjointed for me to get a full picture of what this book was truly about. Even when something is written experimentally, it shouldn’t be exceedingly difficult to follow along with a storyline. But I respect what it was trying to do!
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Sensacional. Mistura de Gabriel Garcia-Marquez e Dias Gomes. A cidade de Luanda é protagonista assim como um naipe de personagens marcantes que trafegam por diversas camadas da cidade. A maioria deles vive num prédio e compartilham banhos da água que vaza do encanamento no primeiro andar do edifício. É uma África urbana, distante dos estereótipos a que nos acostumamos. O livro flerta com o realismo fantástico que
challenging
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Translated by Stephen Henighan and narrated by Sam Peters.
In a crumbling apartment block in the Angolan city of Luanda, families work, laugh, scheme, and get by. In the middle of it all is the melancholic Odonato, nostalgic for the country of his youth and searching for his lost son. As his hope drains away and as the city outside his doors changes beyond all recognition, Odonato’s flesh becomes transparent and his body increasingly weightless.
While the blurb focuses on Odonato, really Transparent City is an ensemble book as it follows the many people who live in the apartment block who have connections to it, whether that’s the postman or local politicians and tax inspectors. The male characters are the focus though, with the female characters being cooks, wives, mothers, secretaries and objects of the men’s sexual desire. It’s the men who have pseudo-narrative arcs
Transparent City is such a weird story. There’s the magical realism aspect with Odonato. He slowly becomes more transparent and weightless as he misses his son and he lose hope of seeing him again, or of seeing his city how it used to be. That part, while odd is understandable. It’s a lot of the other things going on with the characters that is confusing and farcical. Confrontations and conversations appear to go around in circles, as they do their best to befuddle whoever they’re talking to with rhetorical questions and agreeing to disagree. It feels like there’s little point to their actions and it’s difficult to gage whether the outcome is in their favour or not.
What is clear in Transparent City is that money talks in Angola and those who have it can pretty much do whatever they want. There’s also corruption and violence. The police will only help people if they are bribed, and the politicians are far removed from the everyday issues an average person may have. There are sparks of goodness and community though. The people who live in the apartment block help each other out, for the most part, and will give what they can to those who need.
I listened Transparent City on audio and to be honest, I found it a struggle to get through. I think that was mostly down to the narrator. There’s a lot of characters in this book, both male and female, and he doesn’t do anything with his voice to differentiate between the characters when they’re talking, or when he’s narrating the narrative. It makes it difficult to follow the story and to distinguish who is who. Also, I think how the book is formatted influences that too as there’s no chapters, instead there’s what I presume to be line breaks when the story goes from one characters point of view to another, but that’s hard to pick up on when listening to the audiobook.
It’s a shame that I didn’t get along with the audiobook, and maybe if I’d physically read the book I might have been able to understand it better, but I do think Transparent City didn’t work for me for reasons beyond the narrator. There often seemed little point to characters actions, and the story itself didn’t seem to have a beginning, middle or end. It was hard to become attached to any of the characters, and there may be somethings in term of the culture and politics of Angola that I didn’t understand or get deeper meanings of, but I should’ve been able to follow the story a lot better than I did.
In a crumbling apartment block in the Angolan city of Luanda, families work, laugh, scheme, and get by. In the middle of it all is the melancholic Odonato, nostalgic for the country of his youth and searching for his lost son. As his hope drains away and as the city outside his doors changes beyond all recognition, Odonato’s flesh becomes transparent and his body increasingly weightless.
While the blurb focuses on Odonato, really Transparent City is an ensemble book as it follows the many people who live in the apartment block who have connections to it, whether that’s the postman or local politicians and tax inspectors. The male characters are the focus though, with the female characters being cooks, wives, mothers, secretaries and objects of the men’s sexual desire. It’s the men who have pseudo-narrative arcs
Transparent City is such a weird story. There’s the magical realism aspect with Odonato. He slowly becomes more transparent and weightless as he misses his son and he lose hope of seeing him again, or of seeing his city how it used to be. That part, while odd is understandable. It’s a lot of the other things going on with the characters that is confusing and farcical. Confrontations and conversations appear to go around in circles, as they do their best to befuddle whoever they’re talking to with rhetorical questions and agreeing to disagree. It feels like there’s little point to their actions and it’s difficult to gage whether the outcome is in their favour or not.
What is clear in Transparent City is that money talks in Angola and those who have it can pretty much do whatever they want. There’s also corruption and violence. The police will only help people if they are bribed, and the politicians are far removed from the everyday issues an average person may have. There are sparks of goodness and community though. The people who live in the apartment block help each other out, for the most part, and will give what they can to those who need.
I listened Transparent City on audio and to be honest, I found it a struggle to get through. I think that was mostly down to the narrator. There’s a lot of characters in this book, both male and female, and he doesn’t do anything with his voice to differentiate between the characters when they’re talking, or when he’s narrating the narrative. It makes it difficult to follow the story and to distinguish who is who. Also, I think how the book is formatted influences that too as there’s no chapters, instead there’s what I presume to be line breaks when the story goes from one characters point of view to another, but that’s hard to pick up on when listening to the audiobook.
It’s a shame that I didn’t get along with the audiobook, and maybe if I’d physically read the book I might have been able to understand it better, but I do think Transparent City didn’t work for me for reasons beyond the narrator. There often seemed little point to characters actions, and the story itself didn’t seem to have a beginning, middle or end. It was hard to become attached to any of the characters, and there may be somethings in term of the culture and politics of Angola that I didn’t understand or get deeper meanings of, but I should’ve been able to follow the story a lot better than I did.