While Saramago's writing can be challenging to sift through, at times, the message in the story is always there, waiting for you to see it.

This one had a lot going on: there was perseverance (to what end?); life, again -- to what end?; and death. Life and death treated as a matter-of-fact business; searching for meaning when maybe the whole point is that no one really knows what it is.

A good read overall. But I'll wait a bit before throwing another Saramago read into the mix.