João Tordo - Naufrágio

Comment: This is another book by Portuguese author João Tordo, whose work I've been reading for the past months/years. I'm certain there isn't yet a translation.

In this story, whose title could be literally translated as "shipwreck" or more loosely as "wrecking", we meet writer Jaime Toledo, a man who has had a successful career but in the recent years he hasn't written anything of worth. Things become even worse when he diagnosed with cancer and soon after, news about his past relationships come to life and several women start accusing him of harassment and sexual abuse. With his only family being a sister who lives faraway and a nephew and niece who study abroad, he decides to buy a small boat wit the remaining of his money and have a less demanding existence there, at the same time he processes what he has done with his life. However, one day, the first woman who accused him shows up, and it seems she might forgive him...

This author likes allegory at times and his work is very, very rich with scenes and situations that are meant to lead the reader into a certain point, as if the goal is to follow the clues to get specific conclusions. I will say that the final pages were quite a surprise because it told me there are always different perspectives to everything in life.

The author also likes to get inspiration from contemporary news, such as how he wrote another book based on a piece he read in the NYT newspaper, and this book was clearly based on the #MeToo movement. I won't go into numbers or visible expression of that in my country, I really have no factual information to include, but I suppose it is correct to say practically all western countries had cases somehow, whether more or less disclosed. The author, therefore, used this as a theme for this book and his main character, whose POV we follow, is meant to be seen as both a terrible man and one to pity.

These books are often contemporary literature, in the sense the stories by this author aren't frivolous, they always include food for thought and are an obvious example of the author's immense knowledge of many cultural areas... or, perhaps, of his ability to research, but he is known for his cleverness. This means the plots often include situations that feel a bit too easy for what is being described (such as how easy it was for the protagonist to leave his house of years for not being able to pay the rent and then to move to a boat, I cannot imagine the Portuguese bureaucracy making this as simplistic as it seems to be suggested) in detriment of having the protagonist wax poetry on life and so on. I mean, I both like this style and find it a little condescending at times... I must also add that there are times where the protagonist's reminiscences go too much into erudition which I feel wasn't really necessary to advance the story...perhaps motif to demonstrate the author's writing skill?

The plot of this story is not that complex, Jaime goes on from being a slightly pretentious author into a man who resembles a homeless person living in a boat. More than the obvious "inner journey" this is also meant to represent as he deals with the accusations, we feel we need to pity him because he is, after all, sick and has no prospects of getting better. I think this was made to seem a bit underplayed here and there, as if his illness was just one more issue to add to his pile of worries, but it turns out that it might have affected him way more than what he describes as the story moves on.

I think the end is not definite enough for me to say, it ended this way or that, things are rather open, but if the interpretation is the one I've decided to stick to, then one could almost say it was poetic justice. In this case, the #MeToo has mostly involved men of power/age abusing women and many have done their best to discredit those who came forward. If life could imitate art, then the author's decision to write the end of this book could certainly feel cathartic.

Grade: 7/10