Review of: How to Clean a Fish: And Other Adventures from Portugal, by Esmerelda Cabral
Review of: How to Clean a Fish: And Other Adventures from Portugal, by Esmerelda Cabral
Reviewed by: Devin Meireles
How to Clean a Fish: And Other Adventures from Portgal, by Esmerelda Cabral
Published July 10, 2023 by The University of Alberta Press
Being an aspiring expatriate, I was drawn to this book for the romantic notion of moving to Lisbon. The author introduces their adventures in Portugal with an explanation of how the proposition came to be— a handful of logistical elements that serendipitously fell into place as if it were all preordained. This book highlights that moving abroad, even if on a temporary arrangement, comes with an extensive amount of planning. Coordinating a working visa, familial obligations, accommodations, passports, flights, all with much uncertainty and stress.
When the author and their family finally arrived in Lisbon, they describe a feeling of sentimentality for their birthplace, having been raised many kilometres offshore in the Azores archipelago. Even so, the city felt familiar to them, imbued with an atmosphere that brought them a sense of nostalgia for their childhood, something the Portuguese call saudade.
It was easy for Cabral and her family to fall in love with such a beautiful place and the storytelling encapsulated what living in Portugal is really like. The sights, the sounds, the people, and of course the taste of traditional food; experiences all within walking distance from their apartment. Through words, Cabral successfully paints a magical picture of finding your home away from home, discovering new parts of themself along the way, noting that it’s during those organic moments that relationships are formed and sustained.
Throughout this trip, the author describes gaining an understanding of what their Portuguese parents missed about leaving their homeland, developing a sentimentality for what Cabral now recognizes as being a part of their identity. In this case, the author compares themselves to the hyphen between being Portuguese and Canadian, where there exists a duality that has them feeling perpetually out of place. However, that feeling of saudade was probably the heaviest thing they brought back to Canada at the end and of it all, the author’s husband poetically summing it up with, “It’s whatever you feel that you are.”
This is a wonderful book that reminds readers that home is wherever you feel you belong. Portugal is certainly a beautiful country and the hospitality from the people within it can be enough to capture the hearts of everyone that visits. This book encourages any reader to explore historic Lisbon as soon as possible.
Look out for an interview with the writer next week!
Devin Meireles was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, where growing up around the Portuguese diaspora had a profound effect on him. Now he volunteers to carry on the culture and give back to the community. In 2022, he published a book to preserve his rich Portuguese ancestry, which was a narrative nonfiction novel about his grandparents’ immigration to Canada. He has also been featured in literary journals, health magazines, and cultural newspapers. Apart from creative writing, he enjoys adding to a collection of tattoos, banknotes and travel stamps. His profession is in the healthcare industry as an operations leader where his expertise routinely ensures day-to-day business with high level coordination. He lives near Lake Ontario with his wife and dog.