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A review by zhoujj
Skylight by José Saramago, Margaret Jull Costa
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
After reading Blindness, I was looking for another novel by Saramago. Skylight was the only one available in the library, so I went with it. To my surprise, it was equally enjoyable to read, although it was a very different experience from Blindness. You can sense that he has yet to fine-tune his writing style here – he was only 31 when he sent this to the publisher (and then they misplaced it, lol); he had four entire decades to build up to his mastery as seen in Blindness. I suppose it's a good starting point to his work, his sentences aren't as long here, the setting much more casual.
Plot-wise, there isn't much going on; the whole book is pretty much about the trivial matters and daily conversations of different characters living under the same building. But the prose kept me hooked, his writing style makes it an effortless read. The drama builds up and gets pretty exciting after chapter 20.And damn, the makeup sex scene in chapter 29 was actually kinda hot HAHA. Overall a fun and light read, with a touch of humour and some armchair philosophy thrown into the mix with housewife gossip.
Plot-wise, there isn't much going on; the whole book is pretty much about the trivial matters and daily conversations of different characters living under the same building. But the prose kept me hooked, his writing style makes it an effortless read. The drama builds up and gets pretty exciting after chapter 20.