Blank Gaze by José Luis Peixoto (2000) - (Original title: Nenhum Olhar)

In a rural village of the Alentejo region of Portugal, against a backdrop of severe poverty, the author weaves the stories of a handful of magical characters who are living out their destiny. They are men and women, hardened by hunger and work, love, jealousy and violence: the taciturn shepherd who sees his world fall apart when the devil whispers in his ear that his wife cheats on him; the very old and wise Gabriel, confidant and adviser; the Siamese twins, Elias and Moisés, joined at the tip of their little fingers, whose eternal communion is jeopardised when one of them falls in love, or the devil himself. These characters are universal, as is their hope of overcoming difficulty.

“(...) from the second or third sequence, we are sure that the slope is fatal: we will hit a limit, a wall, a puzzle, the origin of the world and the final disaster (...)”

Author: José Luis Peixoto is a Portuguese author, born in 1974 in Galveias, a small Portuguese village in Alentejo. In 2001, he received the José Saramago Prize for the novel “Blank Gaze” which was included in the Financial Times list of the best books published in England in 2007. Blank Gaze has been published around the world to critical acclaim for its fresh, unique and utterly moving style of storytelling.

José Luis Peixoto teaches languages and contemporary literature and is also a journalist and literary critic. He is the author of seven works of fiction and poetry. His books have been translated into 20 languages.

My thoughts: I bought this book at the 2015 Lisbon Book Fair and only read it or, rather, devoured it, this September. The question I asked myself was “why wait over a year to read it?” Even though when I bought it, I was hooked and eager to discover this witty story?!! In short, returning to this gem, it was a discovery. This great writer has a passion for an atypical poetic style. I am overwhelmed by his talent and I will try to find other works by him because it is quite rare to have a literary crush on new authors. I strongly recommend this book.