The Cave (original 2000; udgave 2003)

One would think that reading a book without quotation marks or paragraphs separating speakers would be very difficult and confusing, but this one wasn't. In fact it carried me along quite nicely. Perhaps because the old man and his daughter had lived together long enough that they knew what each other would say and there was no need to separate who said what. Perhaps because their voices were different enough that it was generally obvious who said what. This is not a relationship I have ever experienced, but it is one I almost envy, if 'envy' weren't a pejorative word.
It is a story of common people, villagers, with a simple daily life revolving around their work in their family pottery. Yet Cipriano's regular journeys to the big town show us that this village is on the edge of a zone of environmental destruction caused by the mega-corp that is taking over the city. We don't know where this is located and therefore can easily imagine it is here in our country. We know such a mega-corp. We fear for the continuation of our own village life.
In the first 50 pages I had jotted down dozens of homely aphorisms, charmed by new ways of looking at daily existence. Lo and behold, the author now speaks to the reader (p.56), acknowledging his use of aphorisms and how useless they are in difficult circumstances. I am charmed by the author acknowledging my existence, and, in later passages, taking the time to interrupt his story to explain what he will or will not tell us, meanwhile giving the story time to unfold as it will.
I enjoyed getting to know Cipriano, Marta, and Marcal; their love and support for each other, their good humor in trying times, their acceptance of what the other needs. And even tho I didn't learn enough to become a potter myself, we do learn quite a bit about the steps in creating items from clay the old-fashioned way.
I was, however, very surprised at the ending. Since Cipriano called the repository where he put his reject work a 'cave,' I had imagined people discovering these rejects and cherishing them as unique/quaint/charming. Well, what else could happen to provide a livelihood for this village family? ( )

869.342 SAR

Eh. Saramago is a great writer, but this was well-written & tedious. ( )

قريبا جدا يفتتح للجمهور كهف أفلاطون ، وسيلة جذب حصرية ، وحيدة في العالم ، اشتر تذكرة دخولك"
" كنا سنبيع كل ما تحتاج إليه لولا أننا نفضل أن تحتاج إلي ما لدينا كي نبيعه لك "

سنوفر لك مكانا تستمتع فيه بكل مترفات الحياة ، ستأكل وتشرب وتتسلي بما نريدك أن تراه ، ستجرب أمطارا وثلوجا مصنوعة لك بعناية ، حتي الشواطيء فقد اخترعنا نظام استحداث أمواج ورمالا أيضا.. لأن هدفنا متعتك في النهاية.. ولكن لا تنس .. عليك أن تدفع أيها الأحمق وإلا فكيف نستفيد . مهلا هل تريد الخروج من هذا المركز التجاري الجبار ؟ لم ؟ هل سئمت كل شيء هنا ألم يعجبك المسكن المريح ذا الهواء المنقي المكيف خصيصا لأجلك ؟ أم أن شمسنا وأشجارنا الصناعية لم تلق قبولك ؟
حسنا يمكنك الخروج من جنتنا وتستمتع بالطبيعة الغناء وتعمل في أشغال عفا عليها الزمن وأنت الخاسر حتما لأن الناس لم تعد تحب هذه الأشياء المصنوعة بحب حتي لو طورت نفسك من وجهة نظرك طبعا ستهدر طاقتك في الهواء فبضاعتك لا تلق الرواج الكافي ولهذا لن نشتر منك .. انتهت معاملتنا معك .
أنت تعبث بلا جدوي حقيقة
هذا هو ما تتحدث عنه الرواية الرائعة لساراماجو ، هذه الرواية تقرأ علي مهل ، ستشعر قليلا بالملل ولكنك ستستمتع بالحوارات الداخلية الإنسانية لشخوص الرواية والتي يبرع فيها ساراماجو بشدة
فلا يمكن بأي حال من الأحوال أن نتصور أن نتخلي عن إنسانيتنا ونصبح مجرد دمي صلصال متيبسة .. مكبلين إلي حائط كهف لسنا بأموات ولا أحياء ولا نستطيع الهروب من عالم بلا روح .. فهذا هو قمة البؤس

إن حريتنا تكمن في تحررنا من قوالب الدمي والتي تشكلنا فيها وفقا لأهواء آخرين لم يسألوننا عن رغباتنا وأحلامنا الحقيقية

( )

Jose Saramago’s The Cave flows from thought to thought as though it is made of water. In an elegant yet terse fashion, we are introduced to our main character, Cipriano Algor. Initially, I did not like the way this novel was structured. My main issue was that Saramago used far too few periods in his sentences. I suppose that after so much of the book, the style has grown on me somewhat, but it is still hard to follow who is speaking sometimes. This is especially the case when I read through too fast and miss some of the commas that indicate a change of person.

So Cipriano Algor is an old man of about 64 that works as a potter. He has a daughter and a son-in-law, he finds a dog, names him "Found", he commingles with a beautiful young widow and contemplates his own fate. When Cipriano is actually invited to live in the Center he discovers a mysterious secret that shatters his world. ( )