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Apr 07, 2015voisjoe1_0 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
This novel, by the Nobel winner from Portugal, Jose Saramago, was made into a movie, Enemy, starring Jake Gyllenhaal. The complexity of the film, pushed me into reading this novel, which then pushed me into reading a long interview of Saramago in the Paris Review. Only upon reading the interview, do I really get a greater understanding of the novel. According to Saramago, he gets an idea that he wishes to explore and he develops a character. Day-by-day, he tries to think what his characters think, while ponder about the initial idea. This is exactly how the book reads. We are actually following the sequence that Saramago follows as he writes the book. In the interview, Saramago, states his belief that Americans like his works less than Europeans because Americans generally prefer simpler writing.