It is always interesting to see on the cover of a book - "Two Million Copies Sold Worldwide" and to ponder how many people actually read it. Despite the promise of popularity on the jacket, many members baled out after a short time of struggling with this book.
Others continued because they thought it might improve and turn out to be really clever by the end (it wasn't, which made them feel quite angry at the author). Others finished the book for their "Lenten penance".
The protagonist is Mundus, a respected late 50s teacher of ancient languages living in Bern who leads a dull orderly life, lacking in any excitement. When walking to school he comes across a Portuguese- speaking woman on a bridge who seems to be ready to jump. He stops her, and to his surprise she writes a telephone number on his forehead. Life changes for him in that moment. Later that day he is given a book in Portuguese about a Portuguese doctor - Amadeu de Prado - who had been in the resistance against the right wing dictatorship of Antonio de Oliveira Salazar. Mundus (who does not speak Portuguese but starts to learn immediately) takes the night train to Lisbon, to track down what he can about the late Dr Prado. This is about as exciting as the book ever gets.
Mundus does find out a lot about Prado in a surprisingly short time – one contact leads to another, and we meet a lot of characters who are racked with pain, guilt, in a time warp, or caught in a set of circumstances they would wish was otherwise. We also gain some tidbits about the Portuguese resistance movement and the methods of control used by Salazar; and about Lisbon (despite the fact that Mundus rarely ventures out of his room much to explore it); with Berlioz's music (Les Nuits d'ete and so on) as a backdrop.
Mundus becomes adept enough at reading and understanding Portuguese to tackle Prado's torturous journals which state his philosophy on life, the universe and everything, and are for the most part mind-numbingly dull and conceited. Think Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
Mundus is one of the dullest characters you are likely to meet in literature. He vacillates between Bern and Lisbon and various doctors who serve him as confidants. The book is like Waiting for Godot without the humourous bits. There are also lots of loose ends, for example the lady on the bridge doesn't ever reappear. We did wonder just how much was lost in the (poor) English translation but we did not care very much.
"This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force." - attributed to Dorothy Parker/Sid Ziff.
(My thanks to Muriel, Cheryl and Carol for notes.)
Who is Pascal Mercier?
Pascal Mercier is the pseudonym of Swiss writer and philosopher, Peter Bieri (the name is made up of the surnames of two French philosophers, Blaise Pascal and Louis-Sebastien Mercier).
Bieri studied philosophy, English studies and Indian studies in both London and Heidelberg.
He has published four novels to date and won the German Marie- Luise-Kaschnitz Literary Prize in 2006. (Photo courtesy of GoodReads.com)
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