The Maias (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

Eca de Queiros (Author), Patricia McGowan Pinheiro (Translator), Ann Stevens (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1999 | Series: Penguin Classics

This text depicts the declining fortunes of a landowning family over three generations as they are gradually undermined by hypocrisy, complacency and sexual license.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Portugese (translation)

About the Author

Eca de Quéiros was a 19th-century Portuguese novelist. He was the author of more than 20 books, including To the Capital and The City and the Mountains.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 656 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (July 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 014044694X
• ISBN-13: 978-0140446944
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,750,740 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books ever written, September 28, 2001

By 

Paula (Brazil, living in Portugal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Maias (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

I'm not much of a reader, I must admit that I usualy only read books which I'm very atracted to, and "The Maias", which I had to read this year for school, seemed boring and a big chalenge, seeing it has 636 pages (at least in the original, portuguese edition). The begining is not very fun, it's about descriptions, but then, after a few pages, the story starts to be very interesting, fun, and even intense. Me, the non-addict reader, read 80 pages a day! I could'n put the book away!!! It was so addicting!
It is great and it is written with such a care and genious!
Eça de Queiros is trully one of the best writters from all times.
Write now, he's my personal favourite, from all the World.
I just have to read all of his books!

ps: this is the 1st time I ever support school on making us read a book, beacause if it was not for the school, this marvelous master-piece would go undiscovered for many!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deserves More Recognition, February 23, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Maias (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

Anyone who reads classic literature cannot ignore The Maias. Eca de Queiroz's comparison to Balzac and Tolstoy is spot on. Clearly his best novel, the Maias deals brilliantly with the arocratic nature of people. It is extremely well-written, and reads very quickly. This is a must read for anybody who likes 19th century works.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars impressive how little lisbon has changed in 100 years..., September 24, 2000

By 

Ricardo F. Reis - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Maias (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

it fills me with enormous joy to see how my favourite novel is appreciated around the world. i think eça would be proud of this.

if the maias were a movie (and i'm sure it will be, sooner or later), it would clearly be a "chick-flick"... from this perspective it wouldn't even be very original. the whole romance is actually quite common and not surprising at all (except for the ending, if you're not familiar with eça's own fears and traumas)... what the maias have of spectacularity is the social portrait of portugal in particular of the lisbon society... eça's characters are so plausible and real, even in present days, that one is forced to believe that they are not the product of an ingenious imagination, but the result of a daily observation. this book can surely transport you to lisbon, as it describes the existing mentality in a city that longs for the glamour and importance of a central european capital, like london or paris. what is impressive is that this sense was already prevailing more than a century ago...