Cain

By: José Saramago

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Paperback | 28 June 2023

At a Glance

Paperback
159 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
20.32 x 13.34 x 1.27

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The last novel by Nobel Prize-winner Jose Saramago, Cain daringly reimagines the characters and narratives of the Old Testament.

Saramago's tale runs from the Garden of Eden, when God realizes he has forgotten to give Adam and Eve the gift of speech, to the moment when Noah's Ark lands on the dry peak of Ararat. Cain, the despised, the murderer, is Saramago's protagonist.

Condemned to wander forever after he kills his brother Abel, Cain makes his way through the world in the company of a personable donkey. He is a witness to and participant in the stories of Isaac and Abraham, the destruction of the Tower of Babel, Moses and the golden calf, the trials of Job. The rapacious Queen Lilith takes him as her lover. An old man with two sheep on a rope crosses his path. And again and again, Cain encounters a God whose actions seem callous, cruel, and unjust. He confronts Him, he argues with Him. "And one thing we know for certain," Saramago writes, "is that they continued to argue and are arguing still."

A startling book--sensual, funny--and in all ways a fitting end to Saramago's extraordinary career.

Industry Reviews

"Cain's vagabond journey builds to a stunning climax that, like the book itself, is a fitting capstone to a remarkable career." -Publishers Weekly, starred "Saramago transforms familiar stories boldly, but with an intricate respect for their power and for the mysterious power of storytelling itself. Far from merely inverting the biblical tales or turning them inside out, he folds and refolds them in a prismatic, shadowly light."-Robert Pinsky, New York Times Book Review

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Cain

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

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