The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis by Jose Saramago

Synopsis

The year: 1936. Europe dances while Spain edges toward civil war and an invidious homegrown dictator establishes himself in Portugal. The city: Lisbon--gray, colorless, chimerical.

In the midst of this surreal setting is Ricardo Reis, a middle-aged doctor and poet who has returned to his native country after sixteen years in Brazil. Instead of receiving patients in an office, he spends hours walking steep, rain-filled streets. He has a love affair with the hotel chambermaid who slips into his bed at night. He is haunted by a young woman with a mysterious paralysis of her left hand. And he is visited by the ghostly presence of a celebrated Portuguese poet, recently deceased. Can Ricardo Reis live in a world bent on destroying itself?

In this novel, Jose Saramago, follows the exploits of Ricardo Reis who has returned to Portugal from Brazil. Ricardo Reis is actually a heteronym or secondary identity of Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa. I found the narration interesting. It seems more voyeuristic than most novels that I can remember. All through the story the struggle between Communism and Fascism is playing out. Reis a monarchist and is torn in the struggle. As the General Franco's army is advancing upon the Leftist government of Spain he cannot decide whether he takes pleasure in the victories of the Fascists or the defeat of the Lefists. His feelings are summed up by the line, "To be pleased that my enemy is beset doesn't mean that I applaud the besetter."

This morning I woke up with about fifty pages of this book left to read and I found myself distracted time after time. For instance, I had to eat breakfast, I'll finish that program I was watching, I need to order a ticket for the Braves game that I'm going to during vacation, I wonder who is pitching in the Braves game, etc. etc. But finally I finished.

So next up is Sentimental Education by Gustave Flaubert.

 

Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

Cue "Ode to Joy" please!

I've finally finished Portrait of a Lady by Henry James. There were times when I honestly thought I would not finish this book. I don't know why this book was so hard but it took me the better part of two months to finish. I mean the story (heroine rejects several honorable suitors, heroine marries a buffoon, heroine realizes she's married a buffoon, and heroine becomes unhappy with said buffoon husband) isn't exactly in my wheelhouse as it were. But I've read a couple of Jane Austen books and they didn't give me this much trouble. I recently got promoted at work so maybe that took away from reading time I had to use a great deal of discipline not to put the book away and go to different book, but I persevered and here I sit finished. 

Next up is The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis by Jose Saramago. Incidentally I'm going to have to decide since this is a Portugeuse novel whether in my head I should pronounce the title character's name as Hicardo Heis as I believe many Brazilians at least pronounce R's as H's.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

Finished Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson. I expected a book about a drug-fueled romp through Vegas to be more fun. It did not seem like the characters were having a good time.

Next up will be Portrait of a Lady by Henry James.

War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

Finished War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. This book has been adapted into many movies and the infamous radio broadcast by Orson Welles. It's hard for me to imagine that people actually fell for that. I mean the broadcast had a disclaimer that there was not really an Martian invasion taking place and yet a surprising number of people really believed Martians were invading.

Next up is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson.

Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks

Finished Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks. It's a fictionalized account of abolitionist John Brown's exploits as told by Brown's son Owen to Brown biographer Oswald Garrison Villard's assistant Miss Mayo. The narrator recounts Brown's exploits from his failed business ventures to his settling in upstate New York (where the title derives as a mountain overlooking the Brown homestead was called the Cloudsplitter) to his actions in Kansas and ultimately the failed siege of Harper's Ferry in Virginia (now West Virginia). Throughout the saga Owen acts as his father's right-hand man and at times serves as the prod to marauders' violence.

Next up is War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells.

Main Street by Sinclair Lewis

Just finished Mainstreet by Sinclair Lewis. Its the story of a woman from the city who marries and moves to a small prairie town in Minnesota. The hum-drum country live and the towns unwillingness to modernize quickly annoys her. She begins to constantly plan to leave for a more sophisticated venue.

Next up is Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks.

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

Finished The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. I'd heard of this book before I read it, but I thought it was about World War II when in fact it was about Vietnam. It is labeled as a work of fiction which is drawn from O'Brien's service during Vietnam.

Next up is Main Street by Sinclair Lewis.