Well, I don’t usually leave books unfinished but this has been excruciating. I have 30 pages left and I truly cannot carry on. I refuse to. I do not often feel the rage from books. But hey, there’s always a first time. I know, it’s won a Nobel prize and I know it’s considered a masterpiece. I thought it was horrid.
First and foremost, the style: I know this is some sort of Saramago signature style and I’m probably too dumb to get it but punctuation was invented for a reason and I believe that his style is not beautiful enough to justify the grammatical abuse. Plus, it’s exhausting, trying to keep up with who said what...
In terms of topic do not misunderstand me: I have no objections to doom literature about the collapse of society and the emotional and spiritual blindness that this is obviously an allegory for (I’m dumb but not that dumb...) My favourite book as a kid was Lord of the flies (I was a weird kid.). So it’s not the topic. But I really, truly hated it. The characters left me completely disinterested. The style really wasn’t for me and throughout the story you had this: “this is so deep and meaningful but I am a simple guy writing a story” vibe that made it painful.
I’ll keep it short: books like that are the reason I am always suspicious when something is described as a masterpiece. On my way home I will be donating my copy to a charity shop. Maybe by raising money for a charity this book can undo some of the harm it has caused.
313 days remaining – 12 books down, 1 unfinished, 88 left.
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