Don Casmurro (1899)

Sir Pigheaded and the Art of Digression
Review of the Daunt Books paperback edition (2015) of the Portuguese language original (1899)

After 6 weeks of very, very slow reading, I had to take this book down the mementoize route.
mementoize
məˈmenˌtōˈīz/
verb / neologism
Definitions:
• 1. to tell a story in reverse order, as in the film “Memento” (2000) by director Christopher Nolan.
“Christopher Nolan didn’t invent reverse chronology story telling, but his film title “Memento” is the easiest to make into a verb: mementoize."
• 2. to read a book in reverse order to finish it, especially when reading it in forward order is not very interesting or compelling.
“The book was so dull I had to mementoize it in order to get through it."
The first 2/3rds of the book took me 6 weeks to read. There was really nothing happening for most of that time. The boy Bentinho is promised to the priesthood by his mother, instead falls in love with the neighbour girl, he plots and schemes to get out of the seminary so that he can marry. The crisis and resolution doesn't arrive until about 25 pages from the end and after losing patience I read backwards from the end chapter by chapter until I got there. Then the rest (reading again forwards) went faster as I at least knew when something was going to happen. The crisis is given away in the book's synopsis so no spoilers from me here.

So I can understand it being quite ahead of its time for 1899. It is meta with the author regularly addressing the reader and even making suggestions of what to review, assess and notice. Maybe if you are Catholic it all means more or something. I was just waiting for something to happen while the digressions just carried on. Unfortunately it was simply not the style of plot I could really enjoy. I'm in the minority here based on the overall reviews and ratings, so don't let this discourage you if you are an adventurous reader.

I read Dom Casmurro as part of a blind subscription to independent bookshop Shakespeare and Company's 2020 Year of Reading Lost Treasures. ( )

Foi da Tia Leni Nascimento

"Dom Casmurro" é instigante. Gira em torno de um episódio aparentemente banal - a suspeita de Bentinho de que sua esposa Capitu tenha cometido adultério com Escobar, seu melhor amigo. É o próprio Bentinho - o Dom Casmurro - quem narra a história. Depois de velho, ele decide resgatar sua vida reconstituindo sua antiga casa e relatando suas memórias.

Bentinho; Capitu; Escobar

Bento Santiago tells of his relationship with the beautiful neighbor girl, Capitu, from childhood to adulthood. I've heard about this novel a lot, and it did live up to what I had heard, theme- and story-wise, but unfortunately, it didn't capture me like a classic normally does. The beginning two thirds tend to go round and round in circles - how to get Bento out of seminary - and then the pace speeds up at the end and turns into a jealousy story. I may have to improve my Portuguese enough to give this another try in the original. The characters are well done, though, so those who read for characters should put it on the list. ( )