Product Description

With its astounding hardcover reviews Richard Zenith's new complete translation of THE BOOK OF DISQUIET has now taken on a similar iconic status to ULYSSES, THE TRIAL or IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME as one of the greatest but also strangest modernist texts. An assembly of sometimes linked fragments, it is a mesmerising, haunting 'novel' without parallel in any other culture.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31023 in Books
• Published on: 2002-05-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 544 pages

Michael Glover, The Independent on Sunday, 20 May 2001
"How best to encompass a book quite as strange and fragmented as The Book of Disquiet?"

John Gray, New Statesman, 28 May 2001
'. . . readers of Zenith's edition will find it supersedes all others in its delicacy of style, rigorous scholarship...'

John Lanchester, The Daily Telegraph, 12 May 2001
"In a time that which celebrates fame, success, stupidity, convenience and noise, here is the perfect antidote..."

Customer Reviews

The Bible of Disaffection
I happened upon "The Book of Disquiet" quite by accident in a branch of Waterstones close to where I work, and thought I would pick it up, not really expecting anything momentous from it. After I had spent the first day with it I realised I had been very wrong indeed.
What Pessoa has accomplished is a kind of anti-bible. "The Book of Disquiet" is a hymn to defeatism, obscurity and monotony. Far from being anyone's worst idea of what to write a book about, it is instead a truthful, often painful portrayal of the commonality of all human experience.
It is in my opinion and experience quite unparalled in its insight and ruthless honesty. Utterly unlike anything else in the medium, "The Book of Disquiet" will continue to reverberate long after most works masquerading as "literature" are so many worthless collections of words.

undressing your depression
It's hard to say anything about this book. it's a book that you must read at a certain point, or points, in your life. For me, it's like a cup of cocoa, a nightcap, an antidote. At other times (the wrong times), it's like a suicide pact, a kiss goodbye - all the most pointless thoughts I ever had, justified. This isn't a book to read from beginning to end. That would not work. Instead, it sneaks into ones' subconciousness,twisting and dragging you down(if that is the state the reader is verging on) or up(if that is the state the reader is aiming for). Within all its' 'disquiet', I found an affirmation of life, that, despite all the protestations of the futility of everything, hje still found the time to write. He still found the desire to spread the message that undoubtably, he felt he had to say. And this is where the negativity loses its' push. This is where we find the true Pessoa. He did not want you think that you wanted to die. He did not want you to think that life was futile.He did not want you to go down. All he wanted was for people to see the other side of the fence. The side you are afraid to even LOOK over. Although a consistantly ignored writer as far as English speaking readers are concerned,his desperation of the human state remains universal. So does mine; but at least he's made me laugh at it.

Diamonds are forever
An undiscovered gem, this is one non-linear creation which is more of a diary or notebook than a novel. Something of a 'Meditations' for the 20th century (and still relevant now). This means you'll be hard-put to read it all in one go - partly because there is no story as such to keep you involved, but also because the depth behind these individual passages is such that you will often want to sit back and reflect on them before reading on. Still, this is a truly thought-provoking book that rewards patience and which begs to be dog-eared and highlighted all over.