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dereksilva 's review for:
Baltasar and Blimunda
by José Saramago, Giovanni Pontiero
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
This was a highly enjoyable read for me. The writing was light and, even with some typos in the ebook version, this was very easy to read. There were some great lines and ideas sprinkled throughout, especially as relates to the narrator questioning people who act or think in a certain way only because that is how they have always been taught to act or think. My favorite aspect of the book was the narrator. The narration feels conversational, like someone is just telling you a story at a party (or perhaps like an author who is telling a story and doesn't know any better than you exactly where it will end up). At different points the narrator felt like they were just sharing a stream of consciousness that's tangential to the story. At other times the narration was very direct, like a storyteller skipping over details because they know you want to get to the good bits. There were also moments when it felt like someone was telling you some gossip, but they knew more than they're letting on and want to be coy to avoid spoiling the reveal.
I do have some qualms though. Since Saramago doesn't use much punctuation, it can be difficult to distinguish who's speaking during long back-and-forth dialogue. It does seem to me that certain sections would have been easier to follow in the original portuguese vs in the english translation, but that definitely wouldn't solve every instance of confusion. There are also times when Saramago describing something for just a beat or two longer than I would like. My eyes did glaze over a couple of times. As with basically every book I read, I feel it could have been shorter (though this perhaps had less cuttable material than most books).
I do have some qualms though. Since Saramago doesn't use much punctuation, it can be difficult to distinguish who's speaking during long back-and-forth dialogue. It does seem to me that certain sections would have been easier to follow in the original portuguese vs in the english translation, but that definitely wouldn't solve every instance of confusion. There are also times when Saramago describing something for just a beat or two longer than I would like. My eyes did glaze over a couple of times. As with basically every book I read, I feel it could have been shorter (though this perhaps had less cuttable material than most books).