Matteo lost his job.

Author's name: Gonzalo Tavares

Can an ordinary event be a subject of astonishment? Therefore, can we write a novel about what seems ordinary and familiar and happens every day to almost everyone? Gonçalo Tavares answers us in his novel “Mateo Lost His Job,” not through a single event, but rather a series of events that, due to their extreme distance, connect, and due to their extreme ordinariness, reach a high degree of astonishment. The Portuguese novelist navigates the events of his text in a coherent and connected orbit through several characters, leading the reader to the desired destination, “Mateo,” who has applied for a job interview for which he saw an advertisement in a newspaper. The surprise lies in the fact that the woman—the owner of the job—has an unusual appearance; she has no arms, and his job requires him to replace them.