The book “O Silêncio dos Livros” addresses a time when books are prohibited. The mysterious Santiago Pena has just arrived in Portugal and meets Alice, who is despised by her parents. When an old notebook is found it raises intriguing questions. The encounter in an old library may have a connection with a young man accused of a crime as well as sumptuous architectural projects. The Silence of the books is a declaration of love for Literature and will delight readers.

I started reading the work on the day that there was that “confusion” at the Rio de Janeiro Bienal, as an order to collect inappropriate books with lgbtq+ content had been given and I confess that I was worried that we might regress. Have you ever wondered if the phrase in the book written by Fausto: “HAVING BOOKS IS A CRIME. REPORT", if it came true?

The prefaces of the master in linguistics Beatriz Virgínia and Maria José Gargantini, who is a specialist in Portuguese Language/Textual Production, gave brilliance to the work and with unique comments.

The novel is very well written, full of interesting metaphors, with a poetic language and narrative rich in details. At the beginning of the work I did not identify with the character Alice, as I found her unsympathetic and gradually the girl won me over. The other characters are important pieces in the development of the whole story and the work is divided into three parts which are: Through Alice's eyes; Through other eyes and Back to Alice's eyes.

"The girl who liked stories now had someone to tell them: received from the woods as a gift, as a blessing, as a myth, it was her unusual grandfather with letters."

Panicacci has in fact a masterly erudite writing that takes the reader to travel through other geographic and literary planes. He quotes numerous works throughout the narrative and intersperses them with praise.. Saramago, Erico Verissimo and MacBeth have the works metaphorically used.

Finally, the details of the construction of dystopia are incredible, as it is not a simple reading, but the discovery of countless puzzles. Whoever reads should do a rereading to understand all the riddles, easter eggs and literary references cited. I highly recommend the reading and the main essence is that the book has the power to transform people, read it!

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