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A review by girlpdf
All the Names by José Saramago
4.25
slow and beautiful. saramago's sprawling dialogues are so rich - they make up some of my favourite moments in literature. sometimes the voice of his work feels like it's not my kind of thing — too obvious, too authoritative — but then you get lost in these meandering paragraphs that inevitably draw you back in.
i struggle sometimes with his intense focus on details and mundanity, but the commitment always pays off. the last few chapters of this book really moved me, particularly the appearance of the shepherd and the afternoon in the apartment. the conversations with the ceiling were also great!
the simplicity of the narrative — the war between fear and desire, the need to rescue an ordinary stranger from oblivion, the strange love which motivates that need — was deceptive, like senhor jose's timidity. and of course the book does fun things with God, it wouldn't be a saramago novel without it. nothing hits like cain, but for every book of his i've opened, i've found myself a little nervous that i won't enjoy it. luckily i've always been proven wrong!
i struggle sometimes with his intense focus on details and mundanity, but the commitment always pays off. the last few chapters of this book really moved me, particularly the appearance of the shepherd and the afternoon in the apartment. the conversations with the ceiling were also great!
the simplicity of the narrative — the war between fear and desire, the need to rescue an ordinary stranger from oblivion, the strange love which motivates that need — was deceptive, like senhor jose's timidity. and of course the book does fun things with God, it wouldn't be a saramago novel without it. nothing hits like cain, but for every book of his i've opened, i've found myself a little nervous that i won't enjoy it. luckily i've always been proven wrong!