Baltasar and Blimunda [Paperback]

BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA is the story of King Joao V and his wife, Dona Maria, and their efforts to produce an heir. It is the story of Padre Bartolomeu Lourenco, a priest who dreams of soaring above the clouds...literally. It is the story of Domenico Scarlatti and his efforts to teach the King's daughter to be a musician...and to help Padre Bartolomeu fly. It is the story of the Inquisition and unbelievably harsh autos-da-fe. But, more than anything else, BALTASA AND BLIMUNDA is the story of Baltasar and Blimunda and the unquenchable and undying love they shared. BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA is a book bursting at the seams with richness, with imagination, with fantasy, with love. It is a book of beautifully braided plot strands that come to life in vivid and heartbreaking detail.

BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA contains both comedy and tragedy and the book opens on a comic note as poor King Joao implores the Franciscan friars to intercede with heaven on his behalf so that he will be granted an heir. If they are successful, he tells them, he will build them an enormous convent in Mafra. The king gets his wish and the convent is built.

While the Portuguese peasants are building the convent, Padre Bartolomeu, who risks certain death by denouncing the Holy Trinity, decides that he can, and will, build a machine that will allow him to soar above the clouds of both Portugal and the Inquisition. He decides to call it "the Passarola," which, in Portuguese means, "big bird." Helping him are Scarlatti as well as the young lovers, Baltasar and Blimunda, both of whom have been touched by tragedy. Baltasar has lost a hand in war and Blimunda, who is clairvoyant, has lost her mother. Fittingly, Baltasar and Blimunda want to live the same life, breathe the same air and die the same death.

Not only does BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA contain wonderfully braided plot lines, these plot lines are scattered with rich, and sometimes harshly cruel, set pieces of autos-da-fe, bullfights, scenes of battle, and, the voice of Saramago, himself, as narrator, giving us jokes, sardonic insights and much needed doses of sometimes harsh realism.

BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA covers a span of many years and, as the book nears its end, it loses much of the comedy that was apparent in its early pages and becomes quite dark, though it still retains its beautifully poetic and lyrical qualities. This is a beautiful, wondrous and enchanting novel. I found all of the plot lines to be wonderfully written and very memorable, however, the love story between Baltasar and Blimunda simply soars. There is magic in the very best of books and BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA certainly contains more than one dose of magic.

Saramago's trademark prose is in evidence in BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA, but don't think the long sentences and lack of standard punctuation make Saramago an author "difficult" to read or understand. He's not. His prose is so perfect that reading it seems almost effortless. He is an author who demands little from his readers, but gives so very much.

BALTASAR AND BLIMUNDA is one of the most beautiful books I've ever read. I absolutely cherish it and I would recommend it without hesitation to anyone. You really haven't experienced Saramago in all his greatness until you've experienced this beautiful and unforgettable book.