I originally thought this book was a mildly humorous story revealing the true nature of the deceased, which was so different than how he saw himself. I was bothered by his decision to hate his nephew mostly based on reasons he conjured in his own mind, when his nephew most likely made the ungrateful old man wealthy.

I had to force myself to keep reading after Sr. Araújo raped his housekeeper and thus beget his daughter. No way around it, he raped her. When asked about it after he’d died, she said she wanted it. But that’s not how it was depicted when it happened. In fact, I rather despise the author for making this excuse later in the book. The man was a self-important, despicable, ungrateful character who used women repeatedly for his own gratification. ( )

Upstanding citizen, entrepreneur, most serious Senor da Silva has passed away, but at the reading of his will, there are eye-opening news about his life for both his nephew and for the other people of the island. Wonderfully told story about how a seemingly stuffy patriarch had both an inner emotional life and a checkered past that nobody had suspected. A story told in reverse that reverses all expectations. A little dry, but quite beautiful. ( )

First line: "The reading of the last will and testament of Sr. Napumoceno da Silva Araujo ate up a whole afternoon.

Last line: "But then he woke up and said I must have been dreaming but he stayed in that half-sleep and the following morning I came into the room to open the window and he didn't say Good Morning as he usually did and I thought that maybe he was still sleeping and only when I opened the window did I see he was sleeping the sleep of the angels."

The book opens with the reading of the will of Senhor da Silva Araujo in the city of Mindelo on the island of Sao Vicente in the Cape Verde archipelago. Senhor da Silva Araujo is believed to have led a chaste and unimpeachable life. He is one of the wealthiest men in the city, and his nephew Carlos, who has worked side by side with him in his business, is expected to be his sole heir. Then, as the reading of the will begins, it becomes apparent that Carlos has been disinherited in favor of Senhor da Silva Araujo's previously unknown illegitimate daughter. There follows the true story of Senhor da Silva Araujo's life, including excerpts from the 387 will in which he himself related his life story.

I enjoyed reading about life in this remote island country, of which I was only previously aware from my love of the music of Cesaria Evora (that voice!), and she indeed has a brief mention in the book. It was an engaging read, and I'm glad I read it, but it won't go on my list of favorites for the year.

3 stars ( )

Es ist ein eigenartiges Testament, dass der Notar in Anwesenheit der Hinterbliebenen zu verlesen hat: Der Verstorbene Napumoceno da Silva Araújo, ein angesehener Händler auf den Kapverden, hat eine 387-Seiten lange Abhandlung hinterlassen, die mehr an einen Lebensrückblick als an einen herkömmlichen letzten Willen erinnert. Und das Testament des Herrn Napumoceno bringt Erstaunliches zu Tage, offenbart es neben einer ledigen Tochter nämlich noch das eine oder andere erotische Stelldichein sowie bemerkenswerte und groteske Erlebnisse, die die Kaufmannskarriere des Verfassers in einem anderen Licht erscheinen lassen.

Almeida hat einen humorvollen Lebensrückblick geschaffen. Jedes Thema ergibt das nächste und so lernt der Leser den Testator Napumoceno nach und nach genauer kennen. Obwohl Napumocenos Testament Ausgangspunkt des Romans ist, handelt es sich um eine auktoriale Erzählung, die ausschweifend und bildhaft auf die kapverdischen Inseln Mitte des letzten Jahrhunderts versetzt. ( )

The recently deceased Napumoceno da Silva Araújo was widely regarded as a pillar of the business community in the port city of Mindelo on the island of São Vicente, as he was perceived to be a self made man who emigrated to the city from the nearby island of São Nicolau as a poor orphaned boy with a few escudos to his name, but died a wealthy man who owned one of the largest and most successful trading companies in Cabo Verde. He was known to be a modest lifelong bachelor with no love interests who generously donated to the poorer residents of São Vicente, was free from corruption or excessive ambition, and kept mainly to himself, with few friends or visitors to his hilltop home.

In keeping with the law his last will and testament, numbering 387 pages, was read in the presence of a notary and witnesses who knew Senhor da Silva Araújo, including two acquaintances and his nephew Carlos, a driven and unscrupulous young man who stood to inherit everything as the only surviving relative, even though he openly mocked and privately despised his aged uncle. To everyone's surprise, Araújo left nearly all of his wealth to a young woman, Maria de Graça, whom he named as his daughter, and Carlos was only given a small piece of property.

As the testament is read the details of Araújo's secret life are slowly revealed, including Maria de Graça's conception, his other trysts, and the true love of his life, Adélia, who is known to no one. Maria de Graça takes it upon herself to find out who Adélia is, and to learn more about her father, who she believed to be only a godfather until his death.

The Last Will and Testament of Senhor da Silva Araújo is set around the time of Cabo Verde's independence from Portugal in 1975, and it provides an interesting view of life in Cabo Verde, on the island of São Vicente, and in the port city of Mindelo, which grew rapidly due to the influx of immigrants from other Cabo Verdean islands due to famine in the 1940s and 1950s, and was unique in terms of its ethnic diversity and lack of established hierarchy and political structure.

Germano Almeida (1945-) is one of Cabo Verde's most celebrated authors, who was awarded the Camões Prize in 2018, the most prestigious literary award in the Lusophone world, which is given annually to an author of an outstanding oeuvre of work written in Portuguese. He received a law degree from the University of Lisbon, and he continues to write prolifically and practice law in Mindelo. The Last Will and Testament of Senhor da Silva Araújo was chosen as one of Africa's best 100 books of the 20th century during the 2002 Zimbabwe Book Fair, the only book by a Cabo Verdean author on that list. ( )