The Book of Chameleons by Jose Eduardo Agualusa

The Book of Chameleons

Jose Eduardo Agualusa

How accurate is the human memory? How strong is the desire to change one's past - or one's country's past? This amazingly surreal novel will make you think again about both questions. In the main beautifully written, gentle and witty but with flashes of violence and the strangest narrator ever, a book that's very hard to put down.

Extract
'The President has been replaced with a double.' Edmundo Barata dos Reis said this in a burst, then fell silent. His eyes flitted anxiously around the room. He had begun to look like a sparrow searching for an open window, for a bit of light, a bit of sky he could escape to. He lowered his voice:'The old man has been replaced. They've put a double in his place, a scarecrow - I'm not sure how to put it - a fucking replica.'
Parallels
  • Dear Future by Fred D'Aguiar
  • The Stone Raft by Jose Saramago
  • Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote by Ahmadou Kourama