The Implacable Order of Things by Jose Luis Peixoto (2007 English translation, 2000 original)

Peixoto is a Portuguese author who is apparently award winning and well-liked and etc. I picked this one up because the cover was interesting (an orange colored tree on a yellow field with a blue sky with clouds, but all upside down, with blue swirly things around it all) and within the text the devil appeared as a character and there were a pair of Siamese twins joined by one pinky finger. Interesting, right?

I can't quite describe this book. It's sort of typical in terms of magical realism: a small country town with characters who can age to be 150, strange things can happen, a giant lives there, a chest in a fancy house talks, the devil performs weddings, one of the Siamese weds and has a baby, and there is a maternal line of blind prostitutes, among other things.

The plot line is too twisty to describe. The narrator switches frequently, sometimes with each paragraph, and while there is a visual break the reader sometimes can't be certain of the narrator until well into the passage, if ever. I think the chest that talks may be a narrator sometimes and it certainly has philosophies that seep into other character's narrations. There are two books. The first describing the life of and lives of those surrounding Jose (all of these Jose's, including the author's name should have accents over the e as should the i of Luis in the author's name). Jose is a shepherd (literally, of sheep), is married and has a son. His wife is tormented and raped incessantly by the giant. The first book is Jose's downfall. The second half follows the life of Jose's son Jose and the lives of those who surround him and the second book is the downfall of Jose (Jr.).

The book is a tad odd. I'm not quite sure I like it. I'm certain that I don't like one thing [SPOILER ALERT] and that's the end. The final chapter is the end of the world. Literally. Everything disappears. The penultimate chapter ends with the impending climax of the three participants in a lover's triangle approaching each other. So, we get the rising action but no real climax and certainly no denouement. Argh! I also wish the devil had been more of a character and that the talking chest had more of an explanation/role in the story. I don't know that I'd recommend the book unless I had to specifically offer a Portuguese author, of which I know no others . . .