Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #137662 in Books
• Published on: 1998-09-17
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Synopsis
Lisbon. 1936. Ricardo Reis is a doctor, returning to his native Portugal from Brazil after 16 years away. But what kind of doctor is he? His companions include: the ghost of the poet Pessoa; a girl with a paralysed hand; and the hotel chambermaid, who slips into his bed at night.

Customer Reviews

Long, but rewarding
It has taken me a long time to finish this as it becomes quite hard to put it down and pick it up again. This is because Saramago's writing style is a unique one; he is often rambling, paragraphs continuing for pages upon end and seem to never really result in anything,which can make it hard to get into the mood for a Saramgo read.

But I found I got the most of this book by reading in sittings, rather than in short blocks, and it is thoroughly rewarding: poetic, philosophical, political. The atmosphere and scenes that Saramago creates is (are) fantastic. Only the fact that it is fairly unaccessible at first is why I can't give this 5 stars. Having read the Gospel According to Jesus Christ, I'd recommend that first.

Saramago's Best
This is my favourite of all Saramago's novels. First of all because I love the poetry of Fernando Pessoa and this book evolves around Pessoa and one of his famous heteronyms, Ricardo Reis. This is already a fantastic begining: the novel's main character is not a living person, but a fictionalized person made by some other author! This being Saramago, the set of the story has a strong social and ideological background. In this matter, this book is a metaphor of the rising of the portuguese fascist regime. Then there is Saramago's ironic sense of humour: this a very funny serious book!
As I read the book in portuguese, I don't know how well Saramago's rich and detailed speech translates in other languages, since some of the attraction of this book remains in the hedonistic plasure of reading a so wonderfully writen story!

The best book I have read
Ricardo Reis' quest in Lisbon during the dictatorship is a perfect portrait. The people, the athmosphere and the whole plot are so delicately drawn that I read it twice in a row just for the sheer pleasure of it.