A General Theory of Oblivion
“A master storyteller…It’s a tribute to Agualusa’s storytelling that the bittersweet redemption found by his characters feels authentic; he and they have earned it.”
Washington Independent Review of Books
Winner of the International Dublin Literary Award
Shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize
Shortlisted for the Three Percent Best Translated Book Award
Winner of the Angolan National Prize for Culture and Arts
The brilliant novel from the winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize
On the eve of Angolan independence, Ludo bricks herself into her apartment, where she will remain for the next thirty years. She lives off vegetables and pigeons, burns her furniture and books to stay alive, and keeps herself busy by writing her story on the walls of her home.
As the country goes through various political upheavals from colony to socialist republic to civil war to peace and capitalism, the outside world slowly seeps into Ludo’s life through snippets on the radio, voices from next door, glimpses of a man fleeing his pursuers, and a note attached to a bird’s foot. Until one day she meets Sabalu, a young boy from the street who climbs up to her terrace.
Praise