To be any less opaque would spoil the plot and Deborah Levy’s craftsmanship. For the first half of the novel, these frequent time slips are perplexing, but clarity comes in a poignant reveal. Dazed and out of sync with the present, he confuses German with English, receives phone calls from other decades, slips Beatles lyrics into his recollections, and finds himself able to recall information from the future: the Berlin Wall will fall, he will one day grow three different types of tomatoes in a garden he doesn’t yet own. As Saul recounts the events of the days, weeks, and years following the accident, it becomes apparent the car knocked something loose within him. Body scraped, brain rattled, it’s unclear how much damage has been done, but while his aches and bruises linger, life goes on. It’s 1988 and Saul Adler is hit by a car while crossing Abbey Road. The Man Who Saw Everything begins with an accident.
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