Praise
A masterpiece and literary artifact ... as if it were a
Moby-Dick in miniature.
There is in Tabucchi's stories the touch of the true magician, who astonishes us by never trying too hard for his subtle, elusive and remarkable effects.
[Tabucchi's] prose creates a deep, near-profound and sometimes heart-wrenching nostalgia and constantly evokes the pain of recognizing the speed of life's passing which everyone knows but few have the strength to accept ... Wonderfully thought-provoking and beautiful.
Tabucchi's work has an almost palpable sympathy for the oppressed.
What a strange and wonderful book this is! If, like me, you are interested in shipwrecks, whales, the Azores and the unique way in which only literature can bring a location to life, and if you like the unclassifiable, small works by authors such as Michael Ondaatje and Italo Calvino — then have I got the book for you ... Wildly inventive.
If you’re looking for pure literary pleasure and discovering an author not well-known to English-language readers, look no further than this slim sampling of disparate pieces (first published in Italian in 1983 and superbly translated by Tim Parks) from Antonio Tabucchi.
The attraction here is not only a book which is laid out with grace and elegance, the Archipelago touch, but in Tabucchi's lovely style...
The Woman of Porto Pim is one of the earliest texts in Tabucchi’s impressive oeuvre, but it reads as the work of a mature author, one with the patience to listen to the small stories of others and tease out their greatness.
Extras
Rereading: Pereira Maintains by Antonio Tabucchi – Mohsin Hamid explains what he learned from a Portuguese page-turner
Read the eponymous story, “The Woman of Porto Pim,” excerpted in The Coffin Factory
Translator Tim Parks discusses the importance of reading and writing translated fiction in The New York Review of Books