‘Skylight’: Startling discovery is a readers gift

When a Lisbon publisher moved offices after 30 years, they made a startling discovery: the first manuscript written by Nobel Prize winning author Jose Saramago, which he had submitted for publication some 36 years prior when he was a struggling, unknown writer.

And while the story of 'Skylight's” (Houghton Mifflin, $26) disappearance and re-emergence is intriguing, especially for young writers keen on publication and swift responses, the novel itself is even more beguiling, as it follows the simple, heartbreaking trajectories of the lives lived in six different apartments. Now available for the first time in the United States, 'Skylight” is a moving, textured novel revealing the swift inner workings of each apartment and how lives intersects in strange and beautiful ways.

Set in 1950s Lisbon, 'Skylight” opens and closes with the story of Silvestre and his wife, Mariana, a loving couple who, like many in the building, are struggling to manage expenses. The residents in each apartment face their own trials: Sisters Amelia and Candida work to adjust to their new, frugal surroundings after the death of Candida's husband; Carmen and Emilio feel trapped in a loveless marriage; Lida struggles to form an identity for herself outside of relationship with her rich lover.

Then a seemingly small event happens in each apartment (they take in a border; their daughter gets a new job; someone reads a new book from the library), that sends ripples through the family, the apartment, and eventually the entire building.

Only the most gifted of writers are able to respectfully explore the depths of a seemingly average citizen (Robinson and Marquez and Springsteen come to mind), and Saramago is certainly among them. The seeds of his future greatness can be easily seen in 'Skylight,” as he slowly unfurls each character's life, revealing its beauty, its complication, and its worth, such as in this reflection from Abel, Silvestre's border:

'A full life! Who can genuinely claim to live a full life? We all wear around our neck the yoke of monotony, we all have hopes, though heaven knows what for! Yes, we all have hopes!”

And we all have stories worth telling. But it takes a master like Saramago to tell them so well.