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José Saramago: All The Names

Dogmatix

Dogmatix

New Member
Started this book over the weekend. Must say I enjoy Saramago quite a bit so of course I'm biased. This book is very typical Saramago with the loosely structured to absent punctuation, the sparse character descriptions, and it's Kafka"esque" mundane-yet-somehow-bizzare setting.

I can say just within the first 80 pages or so this book is far superior to Blindness (Which I also enjoyed quite a lot). If you've read The Double, then you will appreciate the main characters obsession with finding a woman who's name appears on an index card accidentally pilfered from the Registry of Births, Marriages, and Deaths.

So has anyone read this? Anyone considering it?
 
Nobel Prize winning book. I have not read Saramago yet but I will soon- Blindness. Question: Since you are a big fan of his, which of his novels is your favorite?
 
I have read it. But I won't say anything till your done. I'll only say I really enjoyed Blindness better.
 
AquaBlue said:
Nobel Prize winning book. I have not read Saramago yet but I will soon- Blindness. Question: Since you are a big fan of his, which of his novels is your favorite?
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Well there are still a few of his that I have yet to read but so far I'd have to say The Double is by far my favorite. The ending is so surprising. I also have The Stone raft and Seeing in my TBR pile.

I'm just about 3/4 of the way through All the Names and should have it finished up by tommorrow. I'll give a full review then.
 
Finished up today. Really enjoyed this book. Again as I said very typical Saramago. The imagery of the endless piles of papers, the dirt and dust at the registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths was haunting and the lightly sketched characters had a strange depth to them despite how little description was actually used. Then ending was poignant if a bit eerie. All in all a great book.
 
for some reason, when I went to a bookstore today the name os this novel was all what I can recall!
but couldn't find it there!

I'll try looking for it. coz it sounds cool
 
The imagery of the endless piles of papers, the dirt and dust at the registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths was haunting and the lightly sketched characters had a strange depth to them despite how little description was actually used. Then ending was poignant if a bit eerie.
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I'm glad to hear the positive reviews. I just picked up Blindness, All The Names, and The Double. But, your description also leads me to wonder whether or not you've read any Borges? If not, you should.
 
funes said:
But, your description also leads me to wonder whether or not you've read any Borges? If not, you should.
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I've not but I will definitely check into it. Thanks for the tip. Enjoy the Saramago!
 
drmjwdvm said:
I can say just within the first 80 pages or so this book is far superior to Blindness (Which I also enjoyed quite a lot). If you've read The Double, then you will appreciate the main characters obsession with finding a woman who's name appears on an index card accidentally pilfered from the Registry of Births, Marriages, and Deaths.
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I have both The Double and All The Names sitting in my pile, this post leads me to believe I should read The Double first? True?
 
drmjwdvm said:
Let me know what you think whenyou finish.
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Well, I finally finished this book. It always takes me twice as long to finish his books than any other author. Anyway, I really liked it. Although I was kinda hoping for a slightly different ending, (and if I had any clue as to how to use the spoiler thingy, i would post it) I was still happy with it.
As for All The Names, that one was ok....not as good as The Double, but still ok. Right now I have The Stone Raft waiting to be read, but I need a short break in between his books.:rolleyes:
 
Sofia said:
As for All The Names, that one was ok....not as good as The Double, but still ok. Right now I have The Stone Raft waiting to be read, but I need a short break in between his books.:rolleyes:
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I also have that in my pile ehre on my desk. And I, like you, also don't read him back to back. Actually I don't like to read many authors back to back. Anyway I'm glad you liked The Double:)
 
Dogmatix said:
I've not but I will definitely check into it. Thanks for the tip. Enjoy the Saramago!
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In The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis there's a special treat there for Borges fans :)

To me Saramago is Borges if Borges had ever bothered to write novels instead of short fiction.
 
AquaBlue said:
Nobel Prize winning book. I have not read Saramago yet but I will soon- Blindness. Question: Since you are a big fan of his, which of his novels is your favorite?
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Hi, I'm not Dogmatix, but I am a Saramago fan. Much as I love his later writing, I will always hold a candle for his first work to be translated into English - Baltasar and Blimunda.

I love this book because it lacks the *overt* political and moral analysis of his later works (but it wouldn't be a Saramago book if it didn't touch on morality, would it?). It is essentially a love story (with a lot more, including a flying machine as its centrepiece) set in 18th century Portugal. I love its meadering, whimsical, fantabulist structure. It's one of those books I think about every now and then, and think to myself, "I must read it again"; as if the three times I've already read it were not enough!

Regards.
The Doogster
 
perplexed - all the names

while i thoroughly enjoyed every word in each lengthy sentence of 'all the names' - i have to admit to being at a lost to cleary grasp the ending. i feel that i am stuck on the literal ending -- what the words say - as opposed to what they mean. i am a novice to the this thread-post thing, so i am not sure if it is a faux pas to discuss reflections regarding the end of a given book.

nevertheless, i would welcome any clues that you readers out there could offer to interpreting the end of 'all the names.'
 
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