A General Theory of Oblivion, Jose Eduardo Agualusa
A General Theory of Oblivion, Jose Eduardo Agualusa
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A General Theory of Oblivion

Author: José Eduardo Agualusa, Daniel Hahn

Narrator: L. J. Ganser

Unabridged: 4 hr 1 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/12/2022

Synopsis

The brilliant novel from the winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction PrizeOn 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.

About José Eduardo Agualusa

José Eduardo Agualusa is one of the leading literary voices in Angola and the Portuguese language today. His books have been translated into over twenty languages, several of them into English. He has received literary grants from the Centro Nacional da Cultura, the Fundação do Oriente, and the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst. Agualusa has also written four plays: W generation, O monólogo, Chovem amores na Rua do Matador, and A Caixa Preta, the last two with Mia Couto. 

About L. J. Ganser

L. J. Ganser is a multiple Audie Award–winning narrator with over six hundred titles recorded to date. Prized for versatility, his work ranges from preschool books to crime noir thrillers, from astronomical adventures in both science and science fiction, to Arctic Circle high school basketball stories. He lives in New York City with his family and dog, Mars.

About Daniel Hahn

Daniel Hahn is the translator of Agualusa’s award-winning novels Creole and The Book of Chameleons, as well as My Father’s Wives.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Resh (The Book Satchel) on February 27, 2018

What a fabulous book!!! Why isn't this book all over social media? Why isn't everyone talking about this book? I loved it to bits. This book is nothing like anything I have read before. I cannot think of any other books that I can compare it with. Review to follow. But pick up a copy already.......more

Goodreads review by Viv on September 14, 2016

A General Theory of Oblivion relates the story of Ludo, who at the beginning of Angola's civil unrest, literally barricades herself into her apartment (by building a wall) and stays there for 30 years. As well as her survival story, told partly through her journal entries, we also get vignettes of o......more

Goodreads review by Майя on March 06, 2022

The opinion that the twenty-first century should integrate Africa into the cultural space, as the twentieth did with Latin America, now seems exaggeratedly optimistic - in order to start reading, it is necessary to have a group of talented original authors. One swallow does not make spring, one Kuts......more

Quotes

“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

“Each page brimming with imagination.”

Irish Independent

“José Eduardo Agualusa is a literary trickster who dazzles with his artificial fictional creations…Agualusa is a master of varied genre structure…but his heart is deeply invested in his characters, and each individual’s story burns itself into the reader to make us reconsider our capacity for empathy and understanding.”

Minneapolis Star Tribune

“In this tale, based on real-life events, one of Angola’s most inventive novelists has found the perfect vehicle to examine his country’s troubled recent past.”

Financial Times

Awards

  • International Dublin Literary Award
  • Man Booker International Prize
  • Best Translated Book Award
  • Angolan National Prize for Culture and Arts
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