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the complete review - fiction

The Last Will and Testament of
Senhor da Silva Araújo

by
Germano Almeida

general information | our review | links | about the author

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Our Assessment:

B+ : fine, small novel recounting a life

See our review for fuller assessment.

The complete review's Review:

       The Last Will and Testament of Senhor da Silva Araújo begins with the reading of the will of Napumoceno da Silva Araújo. Napumoceno is the focus of the book, even -- or especially -- after his death, as it turns out there was more to him than was commonly known and only in death does the full picture emerge. The will brings some of the biggest surprises. For one, it's an enormous document, 387 pages, and more last testament or even memoir than will.
       The novel doesn't linger over the will itself too much, but does take what is revealed and discussed therein as a starting point. Perhaps the biggest shock comes for nephew Carlos, who had long worked for Napumoceno. But though he never married, and never officially acknowledged any offspring, Napumoceno did have a child, Maria de Graça, and in his will both acknowledged her as his own (giving her the right to add 'Araújo' to her name) and left most of his estate to her.
       Much of the novel describes Napumoceno's life: how he came to father Maria, his business success ("right from the beginning, Sr. Napumoceno proved to be, on his own merits, a businessman of rare intuition or else a man with incredible luck"), his peculiarities. He wanted to be the first person to drive a car in Cape Verde, and imported a 1918 Model T Ford, but never really managed to master driving and instead kept the car as a sort of show-piece. He was a very successful businessman, but, it turns out, perhaps not entirely as honest as his reputation suggested.
       Napumoceno's image isn't shattered by the reading of the will and what's revealed in it: much of what is brought up was, to some extent, known, if not widely spoken of, including the suggestion that he had possibly taken advantage of the first position he had in order to set up his own trading company, or the possibility that he had fathered an illegitimate child. But the will and the aftermath do put his life in a different sort of focus. Of particular interest is also his love-life, and his lost love Adélia, who Maria now tries to seek out.
       The Last Will and Testament of Senhor da Silva Araújo focusses as much on how these revelations and this final turn of events affects some of the survivors, Maria and Carlos in particular. It makes for a decent small novel about island-life in sleepy Cape Verde, an echo of Portugal (and even America) but set in its own slightly provincial but also entrepreneurial ways. Napumoceno fit in well: a bit of an odd man out and yet still representative of expectations there.
       The Last Will and Testament of Senhor da Silva Araújo is a short book, and it rambles pleasantly along. The stories from Napumoceno's life, and the lives of those he touched -- including Carlos and Maria -- are fairly engagingly recounted. Nothing extraordinary, but an enjoyable small read.

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Links:

• City Pages
• Galerie Gerhard (German)

• IMDb page
• Information at California Newsreel

• See Index of Portuguese literature
• See Index of books from and about Africa

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About the Author:

       Germano Almeida was born in 1945 and is a leading writer in Cape Verde.

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© 2004-2010 the complete review

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