An 'intellectual hodgepodge' is the best term I could come across to describe the book. However, as I put this, I should also abnegate further connotations, which could be possibly evoked by the suggested tag, no matter what that supposed connotations would be: positive or negative.

This is a book embracing magical realism and socialist realism at once, even though there is a romantic thread running all across the text and one might even say that this is a simple love story. Anyway, I certainly recommend the book; there you can find picturesque description of early 18th century Portugal, a new standpoint to see the Lenten procession of penitents, and the march of enslaved peasants conscripted to work on the royal oath, which is going to be the convent of Mafra. There you can perceive the contrast between different points of views, i.e. those of rulers and those of ruleds; you will encounter dramatized historical characters, viz. Padre Lourenco and maestro Scarlatti; and finally you'll come up against several symbols to be unveiled, e.g. the big bird Passarola and the mystery of how it is fueled with human wills to fly toward the celestial dome, whereto the holly office of inquisition never looks.

However, the book is not an easy one to read, sentences are pretty much large and there are no punctuations save for concurrent commas and points. The interlocutors are not explicitly denoted and sometimes the reader has to read back and forth to fully grasp the ideas. It takes time to be read; yet, I can tell, the reading of the book is worthy of the spent time.

Mafra tem um monumento nacional e a língua portuguesa tem este monumento literário. Das descrições às personagens, passando pela narrativa, tudo é perfeito aqui. E, no fim, apetece abraçar Saramago e agradecer-lhe por isto, por ter escrito um livro que fica a viver em nós, por muito tempo que passe.

Creí que, con Ensayo sobre la ceguera, El evangelio según Jesucristo y Todos los nombres difícilmente mi ranking saramaguiano iba a cambiar (aunque me gustan mucho los 16 libros que le he leído, con excepción de La balsa de piedra y Caín). Memorial del convento me hace replantear mi ranking. Tiene uno de los finales más sorpresivos y tristes que he leído en una novela. Además creo que es la única que recuerdo del portugués donde se mezclan historias múltiples (y muy bien). En casi todas sus obras hay historias de amor y mucha poesía. Pero creo que la mejor historia de amor es esta. Es extraordinaria.