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umyde's reviews
63 reviews
O Anjo Mudo by Cláudia Porto, Heinrich Böll
4.0
Being published half a century after it was first written, and parts of it serving as prompts for other Böll novels are just some of the peculiarities of this book. In a way, the story of this book, as well as the changes in the order of the chapters that the author gave it throughout time, are in line with what actually lies within. It is a non-book, just as the story of a German soldier in the days after the end of WWII and the woman who gives him shelter is a non-love story. It is a book that can only hope to be. As is Köln, where the action is set, despite never being named. Decay prevails everywhere, but there is not time for poetry or philosophy. This is a sensual book, a tour through the smells of damp and wet, through the physical discomfort of rotten plywood and cardboard, through coughs and screams of the poor and despaired. This is life as it was presented to that generation, in all its immediacy. One could only, as the mute angel statue that bookends the narrative, hope to be dusted off and carry on. A short, beautiful work, like that last cigarette you smoke on a cold, rainy day.