Double take

I just finished reading The Double by Jose Saramago (rhymes with Mr Magoo) about a hapless history teacher whose life is turned upside down when he spots his doppelganger, a bit part actor in the Portuguese film industry. Our everyman hero becomes obsessed with meeting him to discover who is the duplicate, and who the original. It's quite a funny book and the author frequently breaks naturalistic literary conventions by popping his head round the door to remind readers about an important point or plot development that we might have missed in the previous chapter. Did I mention that it was excellently translated into English from the Portuguese by Margaret of Dad and Margaret fame (see glossary)? My only quibble with the book is the author's irrational hatred of quote marks and his incredibly long sentences and endless paragraphs. Think I write long paragraphs? Try reading a whole chapter without a line break or full stop for company. Still,old Jose won the Nobel Prize for Literature, so I guess he can do what he likes with the language.