I wouldn't be worried or think it's the world would end. What's that? Oh that's the answer to a question I've been asking myself the entire way through Double. What's the question? How would I (you) feel if I suddenly realized that there was another person walking around that looked absolutely identical to me? Same eyes, same wrinkles, same scars, same hairline. I wouldn't be worried or think it's the end of the world. But Tertuliano Maximo Afonso seems to think just this. He starts to flake and care less about his classes and students (he's a high school history teacher,) he doesn't tell his girlfriend, he doesn't tell his mother. Instead he becomes obsessed, crazed to find his doppleganger. But what does it all mean? What is Saramago trying to tell me? Unlike Blindness and The History of the Siege of Lisbon, I don't see Saramago's big picture. Of course all that we know, or all that we think, to be true would be turned upside down, but that happens in a lot of real situations as well. What is it about an exact duplicate that creates a bizarre world? Jose, what are you trying to tell me? I can't hear you...yet. I'll try and finish it tonight, then I'll sleep on it and dream of a world in which there are two Liquid Thoughts out there. The world might not end, but I think one's enough.

Now reading:
Jose Saramago Double

On deck:
Stephen Wright The Amalgamation Polka