Skylight

The inklings of Saramago’s style swell throughout … Skylight shines. – New York Times

Unmistakably Saramago … There is no shortage of wonders to be found in [Skylight]. – Washington Post

A fascinating and startlingly mature work … The book is a gem. – Boston Globe

Lisbon, late 1940s. The inhabitants of a faded apartment building are struggling to make ends meet: Silvio the cobbler and his wife take in a disaffected young lodger; Dona Lidia, a retired prostitute, is kept by a businessman with a roving eye. Humble salesman Emilio’s Spanish wife is in a permanent rage; beautiful Claudinha’s boss lusts for her; Justina and her womanizer husband live at war with each other. Happy marriages, abusive relationships, jealousy, gossip, love–Skylight is a portrait of ordinary people painted by the master of the quotidian, a great observer of the immense beauty and profound hardship of the modern world.

The gifted young Saramago makes these characters click together in a way that’s extremely sympathetic. – NPR, All Things Considered

It was only a matter of time before a work of such extraordinary honesty and perception would make its way into the world. – San Francisco Chronicle