Jorge's Reviews > A Cidade e as Serras

Let me begin by saying that I read this book in the original Portuguese version and I pity the translators since the kind of writing seems a bit complex (it is not a Saramago though…). I actually bought The City and the Mountains (in the original “A Cidade e as Serras”) on the country house that inspired this book. I quite recommend the visit if you are exploring the Douro Region of Portugal. I believe there are hourly guided tours and you can meet a living relative of Eça de Queirós (granddaughter I believe…) that is very friendly and talkative. Here is the Google Maps Link: https://www.google.pt/maps/place/Fund...
But back to the book, The City and the Mountains is a quite light-hearted story of a man’s disillusion with the technical wonders of his time. Being a very wealthy man, Jacinto seeks every exquisite luxury, delicacy or invention that the city of Paris has to offer (and there are quite a lot of those). Still, he finds himself in a constant state of boredom, unable to appreciate any of the urban splendors offer by the City of Light. We view all this from the eyes of his down-to-earth friend Zé Fernandes that enjoys his friend’s company and luxurious lifestyle, but longs to return to his rural farm in the Douro Valley. When Jacinto is reaching a truly depressive state of mind, he decides to travel to Portugal, to his country estate, near Zé Fernandes’. After some humorous mishaps, Jacinto arrives in the Douro Valley, stripped from every confort and belonging and is set to return to Paris in the next day, horrified by the rural and backward settings he encounters. However, he never returns and is enthralled by the valley natural beauties and landscape.
Considering my previous experience with this author, this is a very positive and even happy book that I very much enjoyed reading (especially since I also love the Douro Valley).
I’m giving it 5 stars, but it’s more 4.5.