Book Review
Jan. 10th, 2008 09:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariThe Cave
by Jose Saramago
Saramago has a very distinctive prose style: long sentences and even longer paragraphs (they often span multiple pages), lack of quotes and carriage returns to distinguish the dialog. His writing is a bit rambly, freely interspersing dialog and action with reflective commentary, tangential musings, and philosophical asides. It won't appeal to everyone, but I like it and think it really works.
The Cave is about Cipriano, an aging potter, his daughter Marta, and his son-in-law Marcal. They live in the countryside outside of a large city. The city is dominated by The Center, a vast building that is both Kafka-esque and reminiscent of Philip K. Dick's dystopias. It contains both residential space and what is essentially a huge mall and entertainment complex. The plot of the book is based upon the family's interactions with The Center as suppliers of pottery and later as residents.
The Cave is one of those books whose greatness is not apparent until the end. The title refers to Plato's Allegory of the Cave. The Center, with the artifice of its entertainment and shops and its control over the lives of its residents, is Plato's Cave. Saramago uses this paralell to make a lot of interesting criticisms of rampant consumerism, unchecked capitalism, and the replacement of handcrafted goods with mass-produced cheap imitations. He has a lot of fascinating things to say about the effect of these things on individuals, families, and societies.
by Jose Saramago
Saramago has a very distinctive prose style: long sentences and even longer paragraphs (they often span multiple pages), lack of quotes and carriage returns to distinguish the dialog. His writing is a bit rambly, freely interspersing dialog and action with reflective commentary, tangential musings, and philosophical asides. It won't appeal to everyone, but I like it and think it really works.
The Cave is about Cipriano, an aging potter, his daughter Marta, and his son-in-law Marcal. They live in the countryside outside of a large city. The city is dominated by The Center, a vast building that is both Kafka-esque and reminiscent of Philip K. Dick's dystopias. It contains both residential space and what is essentially a huge mall and entertainment complex. The plot of the book is based upon the family's interactions with The Center as suppliers of pottery and later as residents.
The Cave is one of those books whose greatness is not apparent until the end. The title refers to Plato's Allegory of the Cave. The Center, with the artifice of its entertainment and shops and its control over the lives of its residents, is Plato's Cave. Saramago uses this paralell to make a lot of interesting criticisms of rampant consumerism, unchecked capitalism, and the replacement of handcrafted goods with mass-produced cheap imitations. He has a lot of fascinating things to say about the effect of these things on individuals, families, and societies.
