What's the general consensus on Mr. Saramago, /lit/? Thinking

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>Saramago joined the Portuguese Communist Party in 1969 and remained a member until the end of his life.[11] He was a self-confessed pessimist

when he wasn't tipping his fedora he was writing hamfisted political bullshit

>>7464867
the cave was good, at least the last 50 pages

>>7464867
Blindness

>>7464917
agreed

>>7464867
One of the greatest writers of the last century. Raised from the Ground, The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, Balthasar and Blimunda...

Gospel According to Jesus Christ was good
Elephant's Journey wasn't

that's all i've read from him

One of the best writers. Incredibly genuine and -actually- sincere without any of the pretentious bullshit you'd get form, say, a DFW.

Communicates deep themes very simply, with a lot of room for reflection. Unadorned but still interesting prose, some stylistic quirks to keep things spicy.

Start with Blindness, then read Seeing and Death with Interruptions. If you're still down with his stuff read Gospel According to Jesus Christ and Cain (a bit fedora-y, but not obnoxious), and then just go whichever way you want.

>>7464867
He's fedora. No wonder the swedes liked him.

>>7464917
Yeah.

>>7466379
I don't read his non-fiction. Wasn't bad, wasn't good.

Start with blindness or the gospel.

Protip: The year of the death of Ricardo Reis may be his best. Not his most accessible, certainly his funniest.

stephen king with less punctuation

>>7464867
hateful and ignorant antisemite

means nothing to me

>>7466525
only an islamophobe would think this

>>7464867

I've only read Baltasar and Blimunda and I hated it but then again I was in high-school and it was mandatory...

If I had to retry him I'd probably pick up The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis though, because I've had lots of trustworthy good feedback, unlike his other works