Customer Reviews

The Cave

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In this metaphysical and surrealistic novel, Saramago transforms Plato's Allegory of the Cave into a contemporary novel about Cipriano Algor, a man in his sixties who lives in a small village, where he practices his trade as a potter. Living in tune with nature as he digs clay from the earth, works it with his hands, and fires it in an old, family-owned kiln, Cipriano suddenly finds himself without a livelihood when a mysterious and all-powerful Center rejects his real pottery in favor of longer-lasting plastic. And when Cipriano's real life in his small village is also sacrificed for a totally controlled life in an apartment in the Center, Saramago vividly illustrates how the shadows of artificial things are often mistaken for reality in contemporary society, which does not favor "inquisitive ones," searching for life's essence.

Despite the novel's allegorical structure and didactic message, Saramago creates warm characters who inspire the belief that the good, kind, and sensitive souls of the world can survive, and perhaps triumph on some level. Love and family matter here, despite Cipriano's belief that he is "merely the largest of the bits of clay [in the yard], a small dry clod that will crumble with the slightest pressure." Though he is a molder of clay, he recognizes that there are also forces being exerted on him.

Filled with meditations on literature, reading, the creative process, experimentation, and individuality, the novel is both intellectually exciting and very challenging. Unfortunately, Saramago's style is more daunting than his message. Omitting all quotation marks, question marks, and the conventions of paragraphing and sentence structure, he challenges the reader to distill the reality of his message from the shadows of his style.

Dialogue involving three characters, internal comments on the dialogue by the author, shifts in point of view (even including the dog's view, on occasion), in addition to the on-going developing action, often take place within a single, page-long sentence. Page after page of unbroken, gray type give the reader little "breathing room" and often require rereading, a process reminiscent of Cipriano's working in his pottery and reworking his clay to get it right. Readers considering this book will want to take the time to look up Plato's Allegory of the Cave (many copies of which are available on-line) in order to appreciate its intricacies fully. Mary Whipple

Jose Saramago is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I consider his novel Blindness to be one of the best novels I've read in the past five years. The Cave only continues the growth of my respect for him.

I often find when I read one of Saramago's novels that I am reminded of other authors I enjoy. Blindness reminds me of The Plague by Camus and The Cave reminds me of The Castle by Kafka. I don't know if this is Saramago's intention. Perhaps I am reading too much into things. But Saramago is not writing lesser version of old stories. He always has a unique take and, if anything, his stories are more accessible.

In The Cave there are two key locations--the village where the main character, Cipriano Algor, works in his traditional pottery, and The Center. The Center is an ultra-modern complex of living and shopping whose residents never need to leave. Even though most of the action takes place at the village, it is The Center that is the focus of the majority of attention. It dominates the landscape both literally and figuratively. Cipriano sells his wares there and has no control over if and what the bureaucrats of The Center will buy. When his dishes are no longer wanted, he tries to sell ceramic dolls. When these are not a success, he moves to The Center with his daughter and son-in-law but, after an eerie discovery, they leave The Center forever.

And yet, Saramago is not creating an allegory of traditional vs. modern. He is telling the story of people. In his unique style of long paragraphs with little punctuation, he creates a number of very vivid characters--not only Cipriano but also his daughter, Marta; son-in-law, Marcal; and the widow, Isaura. Even the dog, Found, is a brilliant creation with a will of his own.

Admittedly, I don't believe I have plumbed the depths of this novel. The meaning of the discovery at The Center that inspires them to run away is a bit of a mystery to me. But I like a story that leaves me something to chew on. This is a novel I will come back to and read again. Saramago is that rare author who writes books worth re-reading.

This one is different. First, there's the writing style. Forget punctuation. Forget paragraphs. Forget chapter headings. Saramago's prose comes at you like packets of bits and bytes down a fiber pipe. Think Rushdie on steroids. Next, there's Algor Cipriano, the potter. Our introduction to him begins with Algor's ramblings; some are spoken; others are not. His thoughts mold our view of Algor. He is 64, widowed, with a married daughter. He is independent, hard working, loyal and noble. He is a man you can like. But, Algor's worker peasant ways are the old ways. More and more people are moving to high rises in the New Town. The swank population there prefers mass produced items over hand-made pottery. Algor is rapidly becoming obsolete, useless, old. He has two choices: retire to the New Town where he can live in a tiny apartment with his daughter and son-in-law or re-mold himself into something more marketable. His struggle is profoundly moving. He knows that he must change, keep up with modern times, but wait. Wait. As he gets a closer look at the new town Center, he is convinced that the new way is false. It's a trap. Why would anyone want to live in a high-rise cubit---a cave---even if it does have 500 cable channels, a slick Micro-wave oven, simulated rain forest, and an indoor ski jump? The new town residents, in Algor's estimation, are not seeing reality. They are dupes, consumed by consumerism. The Cave is not a pretty tale, but it is one where you'll enjoy the spelunking.

The story starts out in a simple fashion, Cipriano Algor, a widower in his sixties and a potter by trade, is on the verge of losing his livelihood. He lives with his daughter, Marta, and his son-in-law, Marcal, who is a security guard at the Centre, a huge complex in the city where people live, work, and most importantly shop and consume without ever having to go outside. For quite awhile the Centre had been Cipriano's only buyer of his earthenware crafts, their contract with him demanding that he sell to the Centre exclusively, and then one day his contract is abruptly cancelled. At the same time, his son-in-law is expecting a promotion to resident guard which would involve leaving the pottery and moving the family into the Centre, but even so Cipriano and Marta make a last attempt to save the pottery from extinction. More than just a story about aging, or traditional ways versus modern life, the suspense builds throughout this short novel as the reader is drawn into the lives and feelings of very realistic human beings..

The close to nature life of the village and the globalized Centre are in total contrast and the drive from the village to the Centre is unforgettable, first passing the so-called green belt where nothing is green (and the insides of the strawberries grown there are white), then through the industrial belt, then the shanty town where the poor live, then through the city itself to the impenetrable fortress called the Centre. Consumers are barraged with advertising slogans and expect to find everything (or a copy of everything) that can be bought from anywhere in the world as well as every imaginable form of entertainment including a casino, a racing track for cars, a beach with waves - even sensations, like being in a tornado, or a blizzard can be experienced inside the Centre. Most of the apartments in the Centre do not even have windows that look out, many of the residents prefer a view of the inside of the Centre itself, and half the dwellings have no windows at all.

I had never before heard of Plato's story of the cave, but I have learned about it since finishing this novel and once seen the connection is striking, just the way the people in the cave are able to see only shadows on the wall which they mistake for reality, so the people in the center see and experience only artificial life, all in all quite a comment on global capitalism. This was my fourth book by Jose Saramago and once again I am struck by his slow and subtle but very powerful style as a writer.

In Book VII of his REPUBLIC, Plato observes in his allegory of the cave that the strangers imprisoned there "are just like us." This is also the central theme of Portugese writer, Jose Saramago's new, allegorical novel. Cipriano Algor is an aging potter who lives with his daughter, Marta, his son-in-law, Marcal, and a "very conscientious, sensitive . . . almost human" (p. 307) dog named Found outside The Center, an imposing complex of arcades, shops, staircases, escalators, cafes, terraces, movie theaters, discotheques, big-screen tvs, electronic games, billboards, mannequins, a church, a casino, a gymnasium, a roller coaster, and a zoo (p. 241). Marcal works there as a security guard, and Cipriano sells his earthenware pots and jugs there until he is told that they are "worthless." People prefer plastic. Cipriano decides to make ceramic dolls instead.

In his novel, Saramago's frequent allusions to Plato's cave transition from metaphorical to literal. After Marcal receives a promotion, Cipriano moves to The Center with his daughter and her husband, leaving Found behind. Cipriano soon discovers that, in The Center, residents actually prefer windows with a view of The Center itself, finding that view "much more pleasant" (p. 238). Some people, he learns, "never see the light of day" (p. 241). During excavation, Plato's cave is literally unearthed beneath The Center, containing six bodies imprisoned there with ropes, and "as if a metal spike had been put through their skulls to keep them fixed to the stone" (p. 292). When Plato's cave becomes a tourist attraction, Cipriano and his family leave The Center to "start a new life a long way from here" (p. 305).

Readers familiar with Plato's allegory of the cave will perhaps appreciate Saramago's novel most, although other readers who think there's more to existence than big city life and shopping malls will surely enjoy exploring this CAVE.

G. Merritt

I would just like to comment on one or two aspects of Saramago's The Cave, which I adored. I had just read Blindness--a brilliant book, certainly, but so bleak and cruel (in these cruel times, when the news constantly comments on brutal rapes, torture and inhumanity, the bleakness was even more hard to take!) so I was a bit hesitant to read The Cave. However, as a ceramist and teacher of ceramics history, I was completely enchanted by the detailed descriptions of the workings of the old pottery. Saramago truly understands the work of country or small-scale potteries. The fact that the once-common product of small-scale manufacturers has all-but disappeared from our lives contributes, no doubt, to the confusion that met many readers (perhaps they are like the consumers in The Centre, who preferred plastic to hand made earthenware?) Ceramics, clay and pottery are used throughout as metaphors--as strong as any other metaphors and as legitimate. Even if you do not understand or find interesting all of the details on pottery production, the sensitivity with which the emotional lives of the family members are described is incredibly tender and engaging. I found no difficulty with the style--it was very easy to fall into and follow, if you responded to the emotional states of the characters. And, for me, one of the best parts of all was the luminous dog, Found, whose thoughts and unconditional love provided humour and a very positive aspect of the book (countering the bleakness of Blindness.) Some readers did not like the diversions, but I found them wonderful--the use of language, the multiple ideas played with by the author made reading the book more like having a rich conversation with a closer friend. I loved it!

I know, those who love Saramago unconditionally will be upset at this assessment, but this book could easily have been a short story or novella and got the same points across while being more to the point and powerful.

I guess coming straight off Blindness, which, to me, is one of the best books ever written, this one just came up short (or long, actually).

Also, and everyone has commented on this aspect of the book, but glowingly, the comment on modern capitalism and the contrast between the center and the potter are making points so OBVIOUS that they almost make no point at all. Capitalism bad. Little guy good. It's that simple. I think he could've been a little more subtle.

I will say, I loved the character development and the idea of the "Center" (although, like I said, it's significance was painfully overt). What I didn't like was the ending, because I think it was cryptic for its own sake and didn't make the rest of the story add up.

Jose Saramago is a demanding, difficult, and immensely rewarding writer. He seems to have endless access to metaphors for the human condition in the time in which he writes. While his stories are not complex in surface content - these are tales that are about people coping with life as it is in this time - they are told with a technique that requires much concentration from the reader. He refuses to use quotation marks or even sentence breaks, creating extended pages of dialogue that become frustratingly confusing to the rapid scanner/reader. Exploring Saramago requires time, thought, and introspection to appreciate the journey on which he takes us.

THE CAVE adresses the homogenization of life globally as current technology strips the world of the individual's creativity, family unit, concept of homeland, conventional marriage and relationships, and poetry of the unique. In place of these we have Centers (terrifyingly close to our myriad Shopping Malls across the world that all house the same stores selling the same goods to the brainwashed public) and a seemingly dark landscape of untended remnants of what we once knew as civilization and history. Sound familiar? Well that is where Saramago places his novels, in that Kafkaesque netherland which appears to be daily encroaching our planet. Yet his characters are drawn with such tenderness ( a craftsman potter, his daughter and her husband, a wandering dog they name Found, and a sweet widow who shares the simplicity of courting and tenderness with the potter)that belief in love and values are in safe hands. The gradual dissolution of the potter's craft of making things unique, from the land, bludgeoned by the Practical Preference for Plastic, and the accompanying move from the beauty of the country home by the kiln and Mulberry tree to the sterility of the police state Center and the devastating effect this has on this simple family unity is basically the story here. But it is the gripping surprise at the end of this novel -the epiphany of Plato - that makes reading this book so rewarding.

Saramago is a brilliant thinker and craftsman but he is definitely not for the casual reader of simple fiction. This is a combination of philosphy and literature that demands much from the reader. The rewards, however, far outweigh the time-consuming work!

Cipriano Algor is an aging potter, working a small kiln inherited from his ancestors, in a tiny village. He lives there with his beloved daughter, Marta, who helps him in the pottery business, and his son-in-law, Marcal Gacho, who works as a security guard at The Center. Ah yes, The Center, where everyone wants to be. The urban utopia where all the latest methods are used, where people live and shop and enjoy endless entertainments. And the place where Cipriano sells his pottery. Oh yes, Marcal is expecting a promotion, and then--well--the whole family can move to an apartment in this wonderful city within a city.

Then, one day, Cipriano is told that his pottery isn't needed any more. People want cheaper stuff, plastics that last longer. What will he do? How will he support himself? And what will happen to the nurturing rural life they've enjoyed in the village? Without revealing any more of the plot, I'll just say that they go through many struggles and learn a lot. The importance of love, for example. And that things are not what they seem.

Author Jose Saramago writes in his usual, somewhat difficult style (long stretches of print without paragraphs and minimal punctuation), but you get used to it. It's a kind of author's stream-of-consciousness, where dialogue takes place without quotation marks. In the hands of this author it works. He tells an engaging tale that can be undestood on many levels. A tale about our world, with its mad commercialism and the pursuit of profit over everything else. The characters are charming and you quickly become involved in their developing relationships and struggles. Did I mention? There's a dog in the story, and maybe even a love interest for the aging potter. But you'll just have to read it.

Saramago is a genius of course, and his works are unforgettable. I enjoyed this one and I recommend it highly. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.

"The Cave" by Nobel Prize winning writer Jose Saramago deals with family closeness and anonymous, implacable bureaucracy.

The story is about a close family of a widowed father, Cipriano Algor, living with his married daughter, Marta and her husband Marcal. Father and daughter run a traditional, old-fashioned pottery business in a country village. Marcal works as a security guard in The Centre, which also buys products from the pottery. The book begins when The Centre unexpectedly cancels its crockery orders from the pottery. Father and daughter get a reprieve when The Centre agrees to test consumer interest in new figurines that Marta convinces her reluctant father to make.

Looming over everything is the all-powerful, implacable Centre. The Centre is a huge complex of apartments, shops and entertainment facilities, where residents are supervised and spied upon by security staff. There are rules and arbitrary decisions.

Marcal will get an apartment in The Centre allocated to him when his expected promotion comes through. He and Marta want Cipriano to come to live with them and close down the failing pottery. Cipriano is reluctant to accept that times have moved on and traditional crafts like his pottery are becoming a thing of the past. His reluctance to move is complicated by a developing, but fragile, relationship between Cipriano and the widow Isaura Estudiosa.

Marta and Cipriano can almost read each other's minds. Each one is constantly in the other's thoughts. Their care and love for each other is very moving. When Marta prepares food for the family, it is almost a sacred expression of her love. It is not seen as either the subjugation of women; or as a thankless chore grudgingly performed as cooking is often seen in "sophisticated" urban societies - if it is even done at all. A lost dog, Found, attaches itself to the family and becomes an acute and much-loved observer.

Marcal is almost an outsider to this relationship at first, but he comes to share fully in its inclusiveness as the book unfolds.

The loving, caring, supportive family contrasts vividly with the uncaring, authoritarian and unpredictable Centre. But ultimately the human spirit triumphs over the Kafka-like Centre and its soul-less bureaucrats. Here Saramago deals with themes that will be familiar to readers of his other books.

Another theme deals with the destruction of traditional ways by modernism and its impact on those deemed "surplus to requirements." Cipriano almost despairs when his whole life, his craftsmanship and his honest work are dismissed by The Centre as no longer relevant, and even contemptible. He feels that his life is over, so why let his love for Isaura develop. Better to put it aside as the foolish thoughts of an old man.

The style and language are extremely simple - as are the other books by Saramago that I have reviewed (Blindness, Seeing). The book is written as virtually a continuous narrative, with minimal punctuation. Reading it requires some concentration. This technique forces the reader to slow down and absorb the text.