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amandaalexandre5

Mommy, am I cult?

A former literary snob making her way back to commercial reads.

Currently reading

The Silver Linings Playbook
Matthew Quick
You Should Pity Us Instead
Amy Gustine

A cidade e as serras

A cidade e as serras - Eça de Queirós Abandoned at 31%.

Eça is a great writer, and you should read [b:Cousin Bazilio: A Domestic Episode|716282|Cousin Bazilio A Domestic Episode|Eça de Queirós|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348632344s/716282.jpg|702533], [b:The Maias|99243|The Maias|Eça de Queirós|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348543067s/99243.jpg|1238374] or, my favorite, [b:The Crime of Father Amaro|1008335|The Crime of Father Amaro|Eça de Queirós|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348332174s/1008335.jpg|1064530]. I don't care if you have to forage the land for old editions, learn Portuguese or make a pact with the devil: if you are serious about getting acquainted with books worth reading, [a:Eça de Queirós|6913270|Eça de Queirós|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1360063685p2/6913270.jpg] is a name you can't ignore .


Of course, that doesn't mean I'd love every single thing he wrote. [b:A Cidade e as Serras|1092477|A Cidade e as Serras|Eça de Queirós|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1244543352s/1092477.jpg|1079192] is an incomplete work, sold like it was a finished work. Not to diminish Eça's merits: he died mid-editing the book, and we can't blame the guy for dying. So what we have in hands is a narrative that is not even half polished, since by the page 20 I could already see that his prose became prolix and lacked the certain bite and hilarity that the beginning had.


I know there is some interesting criticism in this book, but the way it's delivered put me off (again, not the guy's fault, it is a first draft). And I have to confess, I'm not a fan of this lyric, sensory Eça. I like my Eça ruthless, mocking and uncomfortably empathetic. I see a little bit of this Eça in [b:A Cidade e as Serras|1092477|A Cidade e as Serras|Eça de Queirós|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1244543352s/1092477.jpg|1079192], but not enough.