THE YEAR OF THE DEATH OF RICARDO REIS, by Jose Saramago

Portuguese author Jose Saramago was discovered by many outside of his native land when one of his novels, Blindness, was made into a Hollywood film a couple of years ago. He actually has had a long and illustrious career, having also won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998. The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis is a strange, quiet book that is almost plotless. It traces the return of Ricardo, a doctor, from years of "exile" in Brazil to Lisbon as he wanders the streets and has a random set of actions and thoughts. He muses on the realities of homeland, patriotism, the Spanish Civil War, and has immaginary conversations with the spirit of the dead great Portuguese Modernist poet Fernando Pessoa. The book ends, expectedly, with the death of Ricardo Reis. For readers who can enjoy the intropective and sometimes surreal style that Saramago does so well, it is a readable and interesting book.

Click here for a review of the book from The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/book-review--death-in-lisbon-a-poet-disintegrates-the-year-of-the-death-of-ricardo-reis--jose-saramago-tr-giovanni-pontiero-harvill-799-pounds-1538909.html