Because Saramago is mostly known as a novelist, the bulk of the criticism about his writings focuses on his many novels, which have been translated into over thirty languages and have been praised worldwide. Although the overtly political nature of some of his works has provoked censure from conservative critics who have denounced his writings as Communistic and anti-religious, many reviews of Saramago's work have been positive. According to the official Nobel Prize website, in awarding the author the Nobel Prize in 1998, the Swedish Academy lauded the author, “who with parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony continually enables us once again to apprehend an elusory reality.”

Many critics have noted Saramago's use of universal themes and his drive to portray common human experiences. Writing in Portuguese Studies Luis Rebelo de Sousa states, “Next to the innovatory character of Saramago's style—a style that keeps changing...