Claraboya
Resumen del Libro
Dawn breaks over Lisbon one mid-20th century morning. The novelist looks out the window in a neighborhood, there is nothing to indicate this day will be any different: Silvestre, the shoe-maker, opens the door to his workshop, Adriana leaves for work while in her home three woman begin another full day of sewing, Justina is looking at another long bout of fighting with her brutal husband, Lidia, the kept woman, and Carmen, the Spaniard, lost in nostalgic thoughts? Discreetly, the novelists gaze travels downward. Suddenly, he stops beinga humble witness to become each one of the neighborhoods characters. Witheach chapter he jumps from one house to the next, from one person to another, to reveal a world ruled by need, by great frustrations and small illusions, by a longing for a time that wasnt any better than this one. Everything is cloaked by the dreary silence of the dictatorship, Beethovens symphonies, and a question from Pessoa: Should all of us be married, futile, and taxable? Saramago finished writing Claraboya when he was 31 years old. He deliveredthe manuscript to an editorial only to receive a response forty years later, once he was an already established and renowned author. The patient and highly-detailed writing masterfully portrays an era markedby despair. Claraboya anticipates the dazzling elements of Saramagos universe and the virtuous mind that will later give birth to a wealth of masterpieces. In these pages we hear Jose Saramagos voice, recognize his characters, and identify the clarity and compassion that, according to theSwedish Academy, distinguish his work.
