The Natural Order of Things [Paperback]

Antonio Lobo Antunes (Author), Richard Zenith (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Antunes, Antonio Lobo | Publication Date: June 9, 2001

The Natural Order of Things is a tale of two families and the secrets that bind them. The voices of Antunes' characters -- an army officer being tortured in prison on charges of conspiracy; an elderly man, once a miner in Mozambique, now reduced to dreams of "flying underground"; a diabetic teenage girl and the middle-aged husband she despises; the officer's illegitimate sister, locked away to haunt the house like Bertha Rochester in Jane Eyre -- create a portrait of a disintegrating Portugal, a personal political history that attains the brilliance and surreality of Elias Canetti and Nikolai Gogol.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Using the poetic resources of language, and hinging his plot less on everyday logic than on a dreamlike progression from character to metaphor to history, Antunes's fantastically complex and compressed novel illumines Portugal's crime-studded history in this century. An unnamed 50ish clerk in the National Tourism office falls in love with Yolanda, a diabetic teenager living with her crazy father, Domingos Oliveira, and her aunt, Dona Orquidea, in Hyacinth Park, a working-class district of Lisbon. Yolanda is scornful of the clerk, but allows him to sleep with her. A writer (perhaps of the novel) hires an ex-secret policeman, Ernesto Portas, to find out anything he can about the man, and the information Portas collects becomes part of the narrative. Ever since the oppressive regime established by Antonio de Oliveira Salazar was overthrown in the mid-'70s, Portas has supported himself by running a correspondence course in hypnotism. His fantasy--that his hypnotic technique allows people to fly--matches Oliveira's fantasy, which is about flying underground in long dark mine shafts. Oliveira once worked in the mines in South Africa, and Yolanda was born in Mozambique. Her mother remains there still, in an insane asylum. The unnamed clerk is less certain about his past. His mother, Julieta, was locked up in the attic of the family house because she was a bastard, as is the clerk. His uncle Jorge Valadas was a military conspirator against the Salazar government. Episodes of Valadas's imprisonment and torture dominate the middle section of the novel. In the end, the unnamed clerk disappears, flying away like one of Portas's hypnosis students. The novel progresses through a series of monologues by the principal characters, mixing fantasy and fact in lyrical, impressionistic prose. It powerfully demonstrates the distortions inflicted upon history by secrecy and repression when, as in the Portugal of the '50s, brutality is sovereign. (Feb.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Antunes (b. 1942), who was trained as a psychiatrist and who spent four years in the Portuguese army during the Angolan War, characteristically interprets the stagnation of modern Portugual. His themes are reminiscent of Faulkner's and C?line's, and his style is as complex as Proust's. This novel, originally published in 1992, is a layered composite of several individuals and the secrets that bind them. First, there is the middle-aged man who lost his security job doing stakeouts and wiretapping once Portugal switched to democracy. He is shacked up with a diabetic girl young enough to be his granddaughter whom he loves madly while she fantasizes about younger men on motorbikes who will whisk her away from him. Their story is intertwined with that of an elderly man, once a miner in South Africa, who dreams pathetically of "flying underground," and that of an army officer, haunted by memories of prison torture, and his illegitimate sister, locked away like Rochester's wife in Jane Eyre. The work, a veritable assault on the past, manages to soar above the trivial toward allegorical relevance. Recommended.
-Jack Shreve, Allegany Coll. of Maryland, Cumberland
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press; Reprint edition (June 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802138136
• ISBN-13: 978-0802138132
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #291,546 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magical realism and insight into ourselves, January 22, 2000

By 

[e-mail] (Drammen, Norway) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Natural Order of Things (Hardcover)

This is Antunes' second book in his so-called "Benfica trilogy". It is a strange and haunting story about a family and their surroundings during three generations, and Antunes tells us about their inner lives and their deepest feelings. Despite the surreal and tragic settings of his characters, the author manages to convey a genuine feeling of compassion in his story (or rather, stories). This is truly a tragedy in a dark landscape. But it is all so beautifully told! A wonderful book it is, and I recommend it to all book lovers who are willing to put in an effort. I believe this is one of this century's great books. It may seem confusing at times - Antunes uses parallel monologues and stories throughout the book - but it all adds up, as they say. Read it, and you'll see - it really is strange to be so happy after reading such a sad story!

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superbly crafted, totally engaging novel., April 4, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Natural Order of Things (Hardcover)

In The Natural Order Of Things, Antonio Lobo Antunes tells the story of two families and the secrets that inextricably bind them. The finely tuned, vividly articulate voices and memories of his characters present a dreamlike reality that resonates in the mind and imagination of the reader: an army officer tortured in prison on charges of conspiracy; an elderly man, once a miner in Mozambique, now reduced to dreams of "flying underground"; a diabetic teenage girl and the middle-aged husband she despises. These and other elements combine to create a portrait of a disintegrating society and the history of Portugal as a family history. The Natural Order Of Things is ably translated from the Portuguese by Richard Zenith.

5.0 out of 5 stars The power of language, May 16, 2009

By 

Liselott Johnsson - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Natural Order of Things (Paperback)

Antonio Lobo Antunes is a magician. His prose is creative and evocative. The convoluted story is rich in vivid metaphors and the images created are extraordinary. At times, he soars.