I The Supreme

I The Supreme

Though this is a “brilliant” book, as it claims on the front cover, I had a very hard time getting into it. Not only because the sheer size intimidated me, but because after reading about 5 pages...I still wasn’t sure who was talking! I find it extremely frustrating that most of the text is dialogue but does not use quotation marks to demonstrate who the speaker is. Every couple of pages the author throws in paradoxes: “even the truth appears to be a lie” (p. 5), “no story can be told” (p. 11), “there’s nothing that hasn’t already happened” (p. 13), “it’s awkward being alive and dead at the same time” (p. 14), “the dead man was coming back alive with us” (p. 21), etc, which are somewhat depressing and confusing. The quote “even the truth appears to be a lie” (p. 5) reminds me of The President because in many cases the truth did appear to be a lie. I also find it incredible that the Supreme Dictator is 84 years old (p. 12)! I find the descriptions at times to be puzzling, for example did Don Tiku really shrink that much that he was buried in a child’s coffin? I am also reminded of The President because it seems that written word can either be powerful or meek. It can cause people to burst into “wild sobs of lamentation” or it can be destroyed and forgotten as the Supreme does when he receives writing that is “badly made” (p. 22). I can only hope that Patino’s fate is not the same as Angel Face because he is so close to the Supreme. I predict that the psychological realism will be similar to that of The President, and can only hope that whoever is speaking becomes more clear.