A fictional account of the life of Christ “illuminated by ferocious wit, gentle passion, and poetry”—from the Nobel Prize-winning author of Skylight (Los Angeles Times Book Review).
For José Saramago, the life of Jesus Christ and the story of his Passion were things of this earth: a child crying, a gust of wind, the caress of a woman half asleep, the bleat of a goat or the bark of a dog, a prayer uttered in the grayish morning light. The Holy Family reflects the real complexities of any family, but this is realism filled with vision, dream, and omen.
Saramago’s deft psychological portrait of a savior who is at once the Son of God and a young man of this earth is an expert interweaving of poetry and irony, spirituality and irreverence. The result is nothing less than a brilliant skeptic’s wry inquest into the meaning of God and of human existence.
“Enough to assure [Saramago] a place in the universal library and in human memory.”—The Nation
“Fiction that engages the mind as well as the spirit.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Mixes magic, myth, and reality into a potent brew.”—Booklist
Praise for José Saramago
“The greatest writer of our time.”—Chicago Tribune
“A literary master.”—The Boston Globe
“Saramago is the most tender of writers . . . With a clear-eyed and compassionate acknowledgment of things as they are, and a quality that can only be termed wisdom. We should be grateful when it is handed to us in such generous measure.”—The New York Times
“Saramago’s fiction operates in a realm not far from fable: the territory of Kafka, Gogol, and Borges.”—Los Angeles Times
For José Saramago, the life of Jesus Christ and the story of his Passion were things of this earth: a child crying, a gust of wind, the caress of a woman half asleep, the bleat of a goat or the bark of a dog, a prayer uttered in the grayish morning light. The Holy Family reflects the real complexities of any family, but this is realism filled with vision, dream, and omen.
Saramago’s deft psychological portrait of a savior who is at once the Son of God and a young man of this earth is an expert interweaving of poetry and irony, spirituality and irreverence. The result is nothing less than a brilliant skeptic’s wry inquest into the meaning of God and of human existence.
“Enough to assure [Saramago] a place in the universal library and in human memory.”—The Nation
“Fiction that engages the mind as well as the spirit.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Mixes magic, myth, and reality into a potent brew.”—Booklist
Praise for José Saramago
“The greatest writer of our time.”—Chicago Tribune
“A literary master.”—The Boston Globe
“Saramago is the most tender of writers . . . With a clear-eyed and compassionate acknowledgment of things as they are, and a quality that can only be termed wisdom. We should be grateful when it is handed to us in such generous measure.”—The New York Times
“Saramago’s fiction operates in a realm not far from fable: the territory of Kafka, Gogol, and Borges.”—Los Angeles Times
Read more
Collapse
About the author
JOSÉ SARAMAGO (1922–2010) was the author of many novels, among them Blindness, All the Names, Baltasar and Blimunda, and The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis. In 1998 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Read more
Collapse
Additional Information
Publisher
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Read more
Collapse
Published on
Sep 28, 1994
Read more
Collapse
Pages
388
Read more
Collapse
ISBN
9780547540047
Read more
Collapse
Language
English
Read more
Collapse
Genres
Fiction / Biographical
Fiction / Literary
Fiction / Psychological
Read more
Collapse
Content protection
This content is DRM protected.
Read more
Collapse
Read aloud
Available on Android devices
Read more
Collapse
Report
Reading information
Smartphones and Tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and Computers
You can read books purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like the Sony eReader or Barnes & Noble Nook, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Please follow the detailed Help center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.