Caim

The lord, also known as god, created adam and eve, but due to tiredness of the act of creation or perhaps other minor distractions forgot to bestow them with the gift of speech, so to remedy that just stuck unceremoniously his tongue into them. However it seemed bizarre it worked excessively well but what adam did with his new art, Let’s go to bed, he said to eve. Typical. Ok, ok he probably couldn’t say how lovely dressed you are since they were naked, but still, though they hadn’t bed to [...]

The life of a god isn’t as easy as you think, said God to Cain.When Cain meets an angel and enters into an argument about the oblation god has ordered Abraham to make of his own son, the angel, feeling trapped, mutters under his breath, Oh no, a rationalist, and tries to sneak away to complete the divine mission with which he’s charged. The angel might have turned a deaf ear to Cain’s cold logic, but you, the angelic reader, have no recourse but to subject yourself to his grilling.The hero [...]

The Mark of CAIN SaramagoI enjoyed revisiting Genesis accompanying Saramago’s Cain. With this rebellious murderer who, after all, is a man who seeks justice, we are offered to time-travel with him through that first Book of Everything. We jump forwards and jump backwards in the genesis narrative, and every time there is a change in gear the reader is given a jolt. And a new breath and freshness sweeps over this reverted genesis.Saramago’s Cain is a disappointed man. And it is his disappointm [...]

Ukoliko razmišljate u dogmatskim okvirima, ova knjiga nije za vas, i bolje je nemojte čitati nego da joj dajete jednu ili dve zvezdice Ako i pročitate poželećete da spalite ovu knjigu ili da vidite njenog autora na lomači Zaobiđite je i zanemarite ove silne zvezdice - ova knjiga nije za vasKao što napisah u jednom usputnom komentaru ova knjiga je brutalna, otrovna, ironična, satirična Saramago kao da se kroz ovo satirično sagledavanje Starog zaveta pita da li čovečanstvo, od samog s [...]

I get Saramago's genius. Way late*, yeah, but I FINALLY GET IT!(cue to me running barefoot downhill, waving arms, surrendering to literary genius at long last)Sacrilegious, funny--the prose finally twines itself with my alert reader's sensitivity the cascade of commas, the deficit of paragraphs, capitalizations, periods: all the magician's tricks finally seem to me to be EARNED. Previously, I've been uninspired by "The History of the Siege of Lisbon" and "The Double": the acrobatics leading to n [...]

José Saramago is certainly not the first writer to question the logic of the old testament, the legitimacy of the Lord's pronouncements, and the merits of the prophets who interpreted those pronouncements for the benefit of the descendants of Adam and Eve, and sometime later, for the benefit of descendants of the very small gene pool of Noah’s family who survived the Flood and repopulated the earth when everyone else was drowned, but Saramago is possibly one of the most creative and original [...]

Το πιο απολαυστικό βιβλίο που έχω διαβάσει εδώ και καιρό. Ο Saramago είναι ιδιοφυής, με υψηλό επίπεδο χιούμορ. Μέσα από τους διαλόγους των ηρώων θέτει με ιδιαίτερη μαεστρία διλήμματα περί θρησκείας και γενικότερα πολύ τροφή για σκέψη. Κάποιος θρησκευόμενος μπορεί να τον βρει π� [...]

A Portuguese MidrashSaramago’s Cain is a traditional Midrash, a meditative, speculative commentary on the Torah, the first five books of the Jewish and Christian bibles. Despite its often comedic, mostly polemic assessment of the God of the Torah, conventionally ascribed to Moses, Saramago isn’t the first or the most strident critic to take seriously the personality of Yahweh and what it might imply for humanity and the rest of creation. The most remarkable aspect of the work isn’t its con [...]

مقاصد الآلهة عميقة الغور!أرى بها "أولاد حارتنا" أخرى، لكن هذه أقوى وأعمق بالطبع والفرق كبير.

Tenho andado a ler os livros que me restam a conta-gotas, tenho pavor de chegar ao fim sabendo que quem escreveu estes não estará por cá para escrever novos. Que falta me fará.Não há desculpas para não ler Saramago "porque é difícil", estes romances mais recentes "As intermitências da morte", "A viagem do elefante", "Caim", são tão fáceis de ler como andar de bicicleta. É preciso aprender mas depois não custa nada e nunca mais se esquece. Caim não é o meu preferido, mas é com c [...]

Πρωτη επαφη με τον Σαραμαγκου κ προφανως δε θα ειναι η τελευταια. Τι να πω;;; Ο ανθρωπος παιζει σε αλλα μηκη εξαιρετικη και ευφυεστατη γραφη. Μου αρεσε που ειχε κ μια δοση χιουμορ. Δε θα αναφερθω στο θρησκευτικο κομματι. Σε καμια περιπτωση δε με ενοχλησε η αλλοιωση κ εκμοντερν� [...]

We all know that Cain was the firstborn of Adam and Eve. He was a farmer and he killed Abel, the first human to die, because of jealousy due to later being more favored by God. That made him the first human murderer and he was condemned by God and made him roam the earth forever. This book, the last book completed by Nobel laureate Jose de Suosa Saramago (1922-2010) before his death, Cain is about him and his journey after the killing. Like Forrest Gump, the wandering Cain of Saramago witnessed [...]

In 'Cain', published just a few months before Saramago’s death, the author gets to argue with God one last time. On this occasion his jibes are aimed the god of the Old Testament, who, as we all know, is an easy target. This god is cruel, proud, jealous, vindictive, inconsistent and often simply petty.Saramago hires Cain to call out god on all his sins and errors beginning with Cain’s own sorry story which made him go down in history as the first murderer of the worst kind. But weren’t the [...]

The Bible is a playground of stories, of characters, of parables, of moral dilemmas. Some take it literally, the WORD OF GOD. Some think it nonsense. Highly entertaining nonsense. But nonsense nonetheless.Saramago, in this his final work, thinks it nonsense. He has tapped this mine before, in The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, but here he goes again, telling the story of Cain and Abel but then projecting Cain as an observer and sometime participant on other Bible stories. Thus: Cain shows up [...]

O primeiro livro de Saramago que consegui ler na integra! E que estreia foi esta.Consigo perceber o porque deste livro ser tão polémico. Saramago parte de um personagem que, como todos sabemos matou o seu irmão, mas em vez de seguir o percurso ditado no evangelho ele vai pôr Caim a deambular entre passado, presente e futuro ou vários presentes como ele lhes chama e vai testemunhar eventos e fazer uma reflexão: qual é o papel de Deus para a Humanidade? Deus é-nos apresentado pela Igreja c [...]

يقول ساراماغو في حوار معه إن الكتاب المقدس ما هو إلا دليل للقسوة البشرية ويقول أيضا أن العالم سيكون أكثر سلاما لو كنا جميعا من الملحدين ويزيد على ذلك أنا ملحد ولكني لستُ غبيا وعلى أساس هذا النكران للأديان جاءت هذه الرواية ورواية الأنجيل يرويه المسيح والتي كتب فيها ساراماغو � [...]

Cain and Abel (1946) - Keith Vaughan”Caim” publicado em 2009 foi o último romance que José Saramago (1922 – 2010) escreveu num texto que tal como ”O Evangelho Segundo Jesus Cristo” (1991) aborda a Bíblia, no âmbito óbvio da sua origem portuguesa e o poder religioso e cultural da Igreja Católica e do catolicismo.A polémica que suscitou ”Caim” acaba por ser mais simbólica do que efectivamente justificada em conformidade com uma interpretação católica assente na intolerânc [...]

منذ انتهائي من تك الرواية وبالتحديد منذ نصف ساعة فقط وأنا جالسة لا أعلم ما سأكتبه في المراجعة الخاصة بها ، فهناك بعض الأعمال التي لا يمكن التعليق عليها بشيء بعد الانتهاء من قراءتها خاصة عندما يكون بها كل هذا الكم من الجنون والسخرية حسناً واضح من عنوان الرواية أنها تتحدث عن ق� [...]

Saramago, Kabil'de yine en iyi yaptığı şeyi yapıyor ve herkesin bildiği hikayeleri ters düz edip önümüze koyuyor. Ona göre Tanrı fazlasıyla kusurlu ve insanlarla oynuyor. Yazar bunu göstermek için, kutsal kitaplardaki belli başlı olaylara Kabil'le birlikte tanıklık etmek üzere bir yolculuğa çıkarıyor bizi. Zaman zaman bizi metne yabancılaştırmak ve bunun bir kurgu olduğunu hatırlatmak için ilginç yöntemler kullanıyor, meleklerin kanatlarının arıza yaptığın� [...]

Verdict is the same after second read still 5 stars and spot on my favorites list. Blasphemy, religious satire and poisonously dark humor, what's there not to love?

Compared to The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, Saramago is a lot more laid back here, a lot less subtle, like he's shooting fish in a barrel. But as far as contradictions and inconsistencies go, The Old Testament (or as Saramago calls it, The Book of Nonsense) is pretty low-hanging fruit. Whether it's God's destruction of innocent children in Sodom and Gomorrah, while choosing to save only the "honourable" Lot (who had earlier offered his daughters' virginity to the mob, and who later sleeps [...]

Κορυφαίο! Πραγματική απόλαυση η ανάγνωση αυτού του ασύλληπτουσε σε έμπνευση έργου του Σ. όπου με πρωταγωνιστή τον περιπλανωμενο Κάιν ο συγγραφέας διασχίζει επεισόδια της εβραϊκής προϊστορίας και δίνοντας στο πρόσωπο του ήρωα την μορφή του ανθρώπου που διαφωνεί με το ίδιο [...]

(review in English below)Brilhante!Este livro contém reflexões sobre a relação entre Deus e a humanidade, que a maioria de nós já terá feito mas que nunca conseguiria exprimir com tanta graça e ironia. Chorei a rir no primeiro capítulo. Gostei muito. Agora tenho de ler o Evangelho segundo Jesus Cristo, que está na fila há uns anos largosGenious!This book is full of considerations on the relation between God and Mankind, that most of us have probably thought of, but would never be able [...]

Dusundurucu ve sorgulayici bir eser Teolojiye farkli acilardan yaklasip degisik bakis acilarini yakalamak istiyorsaniz mutlaka okumalisiniz Saramago'nun kendine has bir anlatim uslubu var. Sizi bir kere icine cektiginde satirlarin nasil akip gittigini, sayfalarin nasil gectigini anlamayacaksiniz. Satir aralarinda pek cok aforizma yakaladim, ama bu incelemeyi mobil yazdigim icin buraya hepsimi tek tek girme sansim yok. Sadece: "Hic varmamaktansa gec varmak yegdir" diye bir ornek yazmis olayimAdem [...]

I've just read some pages, and I surely can envision much to come, of the same. It starts quoting Hebrews 11:4. “By faith, Abel offered God a sacrifice…d by faith Abel, though dead, still speaks". A quote from the Book of "rubbish/non-sense", according to Saramago. An imperfect Creation, that's the main issue: (1) God got aware later that Adam and Eve (in the book: adam and eve) didn’t speak: so God made a tongue (both the muscle and the idiom); afterwards the creation. (2) God corrected l [...]

Cain kills his brother Abel in a fit of jealousy and is forced to wander the earth in penance. This book shows us what Cain did next. We see him pass through many of the key events of the Old Testament. He is there for example at the testing of Job, the razing of the walls of Jericho and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.Throughout he is in dialogue with God. He understands not how the God of love and justice can be capricious, spiteful, jealous and uncaring - or as Tim Minchin memorably put [...]

مش ممكن خالص والله!

"Blessed are those who choose sedition because theirs is the kingdom of Earth."CAIN is to the Old Testament as DECAMERON is to 14th century (Catholic) Church. One could argue, quite easily that it is blasphemous. Cain is the protagonist in this time traveling jaunt through the highlights of 'What was God thinking?' in the Old Testament. This is small taste as Cain witnesses a discussion between Abraham and Isaac:"Father, I don't understand this religion, But you have to, my son you have no choic [...]

God is ineffable, say his disciples. In Saramago's recreation of the old testament, god is snide, foppish, vicious, capricious, puerile, contemptuous, crabby, and a slouch at multi-tasking (and no iconic capital letters for this merry band of pranksters). This short but adventure-packed novella presents a new twist on the story of cain, the fratricidal brother. Weed out all the boring parts of Genesis, feature all the greatest hits, and place cain as the ubiquitous character. Actually, cain even [...]

Este pequeno romance relata-nos um conjunto de episódios bíblicos, da perspectiva de Caim e do confronto entre a humanidade e um deus poderoso mas tão imperfeito quanto os humanos. Um deus prepotente, caprichoso, manipulador, rancoroso, arbitrário, sentenciador injusto e muitas vezes cruel. Um deus que, nas palavras de Caim, não é transparente e não nos ama. O tom é extremamente provocador e sarcástico, e foram muitas as passagens que me fizeram soltar o riso. Uma obra despretensiosa, s [...]