Lazy Post, reviewing an audiobook I finished recently, about the Lisbon Earthquake.
As the name suggests, the book is organised around the event that literally shook Lisbon and figuratively shook its empire in the middle of the eighteenth century. The day itself is described well, albeit undramatically, and the Marquês de Pombal’s life and legacy gets laid out, including the grizzly bits. Smashing people’s arms and legs with hammers, burning them alive. Oh, and rebuilding the city in line with modern techniques. He’s… Well, to borrow another term from the young folk, “morally grey”.
Anyway, so far so good, but it could have been more focused. I guess his thinking was that a lot of readers wouldn’t know the background so he gives us a tour of the main points of Portuguese history but he doesn’t section it off, he just sort of rambles back in the middle of the book. Maybe the general history stuff would have been better as an optional preamble to the main book. That way, he could have really drilled down both in the horror and chaos of the day itself and on the technical details of how they recovered. I want details, dammit!
My favourite aspect was his summary of how the different groups explained the event. We sometimes think our age is uniquely divided and that the two sides in our political disputes operate with different worldviews and different sets of facts, but in 1755 we have catholics fulminating about how God sent the earthquake for allowing the protestant heretics into Portugal and meanwhile in England, at memorials services for lost Port wine merchants, the vicars are telling their flocks it’s no wonder Portugal was ruined when it is full of dreadful popish idolatry.
Some things never change.
The audiobook reader gets a solid 8/10 for trying with the pronunciation. He obviously doesn’t speak portuguese, but he’s put the effort in to learn the ground rules of portuguese pronunciation and it shows. Instead of just saying all the names like they were Mexican drug lords in Breaking Bad, he pushes in the right direction. He gets a lot wrong, but he’s tried and I appreciate that.
