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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
Apesar de achar muitos momentos demasiado arrastados, não posso deixar de aplaudir de pé este grande senhor pela obra que escreveu. Que nunca se deixe de estudar esta obra e que se passe a incutir mais Saramago aos leitores.
Embora tenha achado que a história pudesse ter sido contada em menos páginas, se calhar não o foi pois perderia um pouco o seu encanto. Todas as personagens, das principais às secundárias, foram interessantes e cativantes, principalmente Blimunda e o Padre Bartolomeu.
Ir de mente aberta para este livro é essencial. Eu não percebi nada nos primeiros dois capítulos, mas após o capítulo três, fui sugada para a história e não consegui parar de ler. Gostei do quão realista soou e de muitas das descrições. Definitivamente o melhor livro nas obras estruturantes do secundário.
O tema principal é o conflito entre a "história oficial" e os indivíduos que verdadeiramente contribuíram para que essa versão fosse possível, entre a construção do rei e a construção de gente normal (se é que é possível classificar Baltasar e Blimunda assim); os humanos não são examinadas como números, mas sim como pessoas, com a imensa complexidade que isso implica. Todo o livro - a escrita, os personagens, o enredo - tudo corrobora essa visão, e isso é feito brilhantemente.
A escrita é maravilhosa; toda página tem uma frase - ou muitas - sublinhadas na minha cópia física. A quebra de padrão e de sintaxe, a troca de narrador e os narradores em si, o diálogo, a metalinguagem, as divagações filosóficas, a ironia e as críticas não poderiam estar em outro livro que não esse.
Os personagens são inesquecíveis, tal qual seu relacionamento. Baltasar Sete Sois e Blimunda Sete Luas são os únicos protagonistas dignos de estar nessa história e a encabeçar.
Esse livro lembrou-me do porquê eu amo literatura; e não se diga mais do que ficou dito.
Not only so, but it is also, and without a doubt, overly long. Whilst it's deviations can't be faulted for irrelevance, as they make sense in context, and occasionally in poignance, and again, only so for the most sophisticated reader, this just makes "Memorial do Convento" feel dull and arduous.
It's very clear the only reason it is in the mandatory reading of the portuguese 12th grade is because the author is the only nobel winner in our country, because otherwise the book is clearly inappropriate mostly because of lack of appeal and even remote empathy from the students towards it's content. Utterly impossible for the general public to relate to and painfully obviously not written with this age group or target audience in mind.
The plot is boring, there's really no other way to put it, the actual plot is boring. The unorthodox punctuation is a pain but I came to appreciate it in the sense that without it I probably wouldn't have finished the book: since the plot is uninteresting the lack of punctuation literally forces you to keep reading, otherwise you'll get (even more) lost mid-sentence so all in all, not such a terrible thing, more like a necessary evil.
The one thing I did enjoy about this, and not just this book in particular but all of José Saramago's writing, is that every single sentence is ironic, there's always sarcasm in there somehow, he is always criticising or making fun of something, often very serious topics. It's this twisted sense of humour that makes his books readable, at least the ones I've suffered through.
This book takes place during Portugal's richest reign in History, on the 18th century, and it tells the story of the construction of a portuguese monument, a convent, to be exact.
In this book we read through different realities and from different types of narrators. We get to follow the King and the court in more of a historical setting and then we follow a completely fictional plot, by reading about a very odd couple that helps a priest build a flying machine.
I'm not gonna lie, this book was very dense and slow paced, it dragged a lot, like most literally "classics" do, but it was a great solid read.
What I enjoyed most about this novel was the constant sarcasm and social criticism the author applied to his writing, I thought it was quite brilliant to be honest, and I could relate to it.
This author is known for being against religion and that was one of the biggest themes in this book. The plot took place during a scary time of our history, in which the catholic church chased and violently killed all people accused of heresies. At the same time, there was a lot of criticism regarding the monarchy and the social disparities that divided society.
In conclusion I really enjoyed this book, came to the conclusion that it deserves its' place as one of the most important books in our literature and even though I'm not a fan of the writing style (without the punctuation) it truly shows what a genius José Saramago was. Again, my biggest problem with this book was the pace.
