The Good Dictator - Gonçalo J. Nunes Dias

Synopsis:

An unidentified object parked on the moon - and no one seems to know where it came from. Gustavo, a middle-aged computer programmer with a comfortable and grey life, decides to make a list of what he would need to survive a hypothetical attack. He becomes obsessed with the list, spends a fortune, robs a drugstore: his own family thinks he is going insane. However, after the attack, it’s the insane who are well prepared for a new era in society. First book of a trilogy

Review:

So Gonçalo contacted me and I automatically became intrigued with what the book was about that I just couldn't say no. I begun the book a while ago but had to put it on pause whilst I read other books but once I got back to this book I simply could not put it down.

Straight away we are swept up into the world and ways of our main character Gustavo, its done in such a way that we can identify with him. I connected with him instantly, in no specific way for a while but somehow I just felt like Gustavo was my neighbour a man who I knew a lot about and felt emotions towards. This so called average man in fact is nowhere near average after all, he hates his in laws and has fallen out of love with his wife and he treats his job like its more of a nuisance than something paying the bills. But as you read in the Synopsis, the world goes to hell and back, an object parks on the moon and no one knows where it came from, when Gustavo makes  list in preparation for the hypothetical attack he nearly blows the bank and becomes obsessed with the list. He's thought to be crazy but he's not so crazy in the end when the attack happens and everyone is left looking to Gustavo for leadership in a time only he and his 2 friends were prepared for.

I loved Gustavo as a character, he seemed to have all the thought processes I would have in any situation he was in, well or so I believe. I pretty much can only speak of him because that's where my focus is but in relation to his wife, she got on my nerves and I was quite happy with her storyline. Gustavo's friends were great, his closest 2 who were prepared with him were great just for the fact they stood with him on this, they never thought he was crazy or anything, they were on the same wavelength and that alone is hard to find. Gustavo was greatly portrayed, I knew enough about him to feel emotions towards him and support him,  I felt like we were too on the same wavelengths half of the time at least. I'm definitely one person to believe that one day some sort of extinction event will occur in whichever form it may be and that I want to be prepared for it just like Gustavo did but maybe not to so many certain extents ey?

To fully understand what I'm about to say, you might have to go and read this book, but it is so full of home truths and definitely leaves you with food for thought, 85% of the world population dies just in order for the world to heal and start over, the remaining 15% of the population then have to adapt to it, use things to their advantage. It leaves you with a lot to think about in the way we treat the planet, a thing that had given us life and aided us in growth  and how we pretty much throw it back in its face. All I can think of is ideologies and philosophies. What does get me a little is how the women in the book are just there to provide meals and sex and do the most basic of things but I suppose that in a plot like this where the world is simmered down and humans must build up the world once more that that is really all a woman can do for the most part until they make their stand and become equal to the men of the world and break the 'women are just for sex and basic things' thing.

There really isn't anything else I can say about this book, I have no bad thing to say about it except for the portrayal of women at points. its an easy and quick read if you can get into it right away, definitely a book I would recommend to anyone really, just to spread the food for thought. Definitely a 4.8 out of 5, a thoroughly enjoyable book and I can not wait to see what is in store in the next 2 instalments.