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2008 Longlist

The Book of Chameleons

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ABOUT
THE BOOK

It is some pages in to The Book of Chameleons before you realise that the narrator – rather charming, witty as he is – a lizard, living on Felix Ventura’s living room wall. Felix trades in an usual commodity – he sells pasts. If you don’t like yours, he can come up with an entirely new one for you, full of better memories and with a complete lineage.

ABOUT
THE AUTHOR José
Eduardo Agualusa

José Eduardo Agualusa was born in Huambo, Angola, in 1960, and is one of the leading literary voices in Angola and the Portuguese-speaking world. His novel Creole was awarded the Portuguese Grand Prize for Literature, and The Book of Chameleons won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2007. Agualusa lives between Portugal, Angola and Brazil.

José Eduardo Agualusa was born in Huambo, Angola, in 1960, and is one of the leading literary voices in Angola and the Portuguese-speaking world. His novel Creole was awarded the Portuguese Grand Prize for Literature, and The Book of Chameleons won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2007. Agualusa lives between Portugal, Angola and Brazil.

ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Daniel
Hahn

Daniel Hahn is a writer, editor, and translator from Portuguese, Spanish, and French. Among other honors, he is the recipient of the Ottaway Award and his work has been shortlisted for the International Booker Prize and received the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and Dublin Literary Award. He lives in Lewes, England.

Daniel Hahn is a writer, editor, and translator from Portuguese, Spanish, and French. Among other honors, he is the recipient of the Ottaway Award and his work has been shortlisted for the International Booker Prize and received the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and Dublin Literary Award. He lives in Lewes, England.

NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS

Through creative original writing using short and witty sentences, the narrator tells us a story of a man who sells pasts to emergent Angolan middle classes, a satire that could be extended to a modern society.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Country
Angola
Original Language
Portuguese
Publisher
Arcadia Books
Translator
Daniel Hahn

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