The first book written by José Saramago in 1952, but the last he publish, posthumous.
It was lost for about forty years, the publisher only got back to him
when he was already an acclaimed author.
The story revolves around a building in Lisbon were the many lives of its very particular residents becomes to unravel. Through jumping from apartment to apartment in each chapter we can see tiny worlds forming in each house all of them with their internal wars and blissful moments.
Full of wit, tragedy, longing, the very worldly necessities of their every day lives, Saramago explores what became the omnipresent theme in all his novels, the beauty and hideousness that is the human condition.
His clear and powerful voice is already there, lazed with beauty and grace we become witness to the birth of one of the most illustrious literary genius of this century. For my money it is the second best novel I have ever read by the master Saramago second only to “Ensayos sobre la ceguera”.
So that’s 10,140 pages down, 39,602 pages to go.
Total Pages : 121,720 pages
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