Starting with one of the best (and spoiler-free) prefaces I've ever read in a book, it's an ode to literature; presenting characters beautifully built from an insight from the author who, as he was walking around Portugal, caught a glimpse of a little girl trying to get the attention of parents immersed in their digital worlds.
The plot with an air of mystery & #8211; remembering works such as “A Sombra do Vento” and “A Menina que Roubava Livros” - she finds elements of science fiction as her chapters advance; the reader will find breathtaking suspense in a tireless search for answers, in addition to theories that are constantly woven and end up intertwining at times and renewing themselves; references that resemble a puzzle or peek-a-boo, a game extracted from early childhood, which culminate in enlightening, fun and tragic events.
Mixing careful writing and in addition to many of his countrymen, Fausto Panicacci presents the reader Santiago as a young man who loves books but with a past closed by a sea of fog, one of the most complex characters and whose psyche points, at least, to two strands; we also met Alice, the girl, with all her innocence and unique way of seeing the world and, closing the trio of personas that make the book exquisite, Antonio the Portuguese, the master who awakens Santiago's love for literature because, after all, she it is a matter for all of us.
Undoubtedly, it was one of the readings that most caught my attention in the beginning, from all the intrinsic questions in the pages to his vein of dystopia, because this is a story that takes place in the future, my dear ones; we know gene C as the reason, scientifically proven, for the violence and heinous crimes of human beings, causing governments to start to eradicate the crime rate. However, the plot leaps further and soon we see a ghost from our past - a similar species from the Nazi Lebensborn program - seeking to perfect and alter the fetus' DNA even before its birth.
To end the scope of the dystopia presented by Panicacci we have, starting in Europe, the prohibition of printed books and any and all work that cannot be dynamic, that is, that cannot be altered by its user. The story is not merely about unraveling the mystery of a character's past, or eradicating the C gene, it is even about developing the perfect baby. “The Silence of Books” talks about what is most unique, special and profound in us humans: our freedom. Because by taking the slightest idea that we are free, we become robotic beings, alienated, indoctrinated by any means that can deprive us of the most complex and fundamental thought of the human core.
A book that I recommend and that should be appreciated and tasted as the pages advance and unveil the many mysteries that the author presents to us. Finally, dear reader, hurry up slowly. (read and understand)
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