ineslibrary 's review for:

Memorial do Convento by José Saramago

4.0

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3,8/5 stars

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.
The characters were likable and made the reader root for them, at least I did.
There were some really emotional scenes in it as well, specially the ending, which was just tragic and heartbreaking.

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.