” To die, to sleep—To sleep, perchance to dream, ay there’s the rub, For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause; there’s the respect, That makes calamity of so long life.”
William Shakespeare

Since the end of 2005, I have been participating in a reading challenge whereby the participants are attempting to read a book by an author (or if there isn’t one translated into English, about the country) for each of the 200+ countries participating in the 2008 Summer Olympics. We have until the end of the Beijing Games to finish our reading, and I will apparently need every minute of that time as I’ve only read books representing 23 countries so far. The twenty fourth of these is “The Last Will and Testament of Senhor da Silva Araujo” by Cape Verde author, Germano Almeida.

Almeida is considered Cape Verde’s finest author, having .written five books and winning numerous prizes.

“The Last Will and Testament of Senhor da Silva Araujo” takes place on Sao Vicente in the Cape Verde Islands off the west coast of Africa in the mid-1990’s. Carlos spent his entire life working for his crazy old uncle and waiting for him to die so that he, the only heir, could inherit the business he had built up for his uncle. Then he suffered through the reading of his uncle’s 387 page will only to find that his uncle lived a life hidden in the open from his friends and family—one that included a secret love child to whom he left his estate. This is how this short tale begins and then we go back to see what a rich, full life this import/export dealer truly lived.

Like Angola in the book I reviewed last week. “The Return of the Water Spirit,” Cape Verde is another former Portuguese colony and Sao Vicente is the main island, though each has its own culture and lore. To get in the mood, I put on my Césaria Évora (Cape Verde’s living jazz legend) albums (Cape Verde, Café Atlantic, etc.) and ignored the snow feathers drifting down outside. At only 152 pages, it was a very quick read, but filled with passion, a sense of doing the right thing and conducting oneself appropriately, tradition and relationships.

I loved this book and was glad to get to know more about this part of the world.