Memoirs of the Monastery

The novels of Nobel laureate José Saramago are rich in metaphors. Through them, one can discover oneself, just as through tarot cards. "Memoirs of the Monastery" is often compared to the works of García Márquez "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose." Magical realism intertwines with the Portuguese everyday life of the 18th century. They met when her mother was burned at the stake of the Holy Inquisition. Baltasar Seven Suns and Blimunda Seven Moons are now and forever together. He is a former soldier with a hook instead of his left hand. She is cursed with the gift of seeing "inside" people and objects. While Don Juan V amuses his vanity and drives thousands of his subjects to a grand construction of a monastery, they are assembling a flying machine based on the blueprints of an eccentric priest. The Passarola will soar into the sky when the sun, ether, and the will of a thousand people stolen by Blimunda unite as one. However, the myth of Icarus exists for a reason. One must pay a high price for the dream of the sky.