He is NOT a nice person and he is endlessly quibbling with God and blaming all of his wrongdoings on God, who is also not a very 'nice', um, God? Saramago can write VERY subversive books (The Gospel According to Jesus Christ. Basically the lead character Cain goes around on his donkey creating havoc wherever he goes.

I have listened to it quite a few times and I always get a kick out of this re-imagining of Genesis. This woman who we know from centuries of paintings and scripture as the docile, loving, silent, long-suffering, obedient, worshipful mother of Christ becomes a tragic heroine with the relentless eloquence of Electra or Medea or Antigone, in a portrait so vivid and convincing that our image of Mary will be forever transformed. She does not agree that her son is the Son of God nor that his death was 'worth it' nor that the 'group of misfits he gathered around him, men who could not look a woman in the eye,' were holy disciples. They are her keepers, providing her with food and shelter and visiting her regularly. She has no interest in collaborating with the authors of the Gospel. In the ancient town of Ephesus, Mary lives alone, years after her son's crucifixion. Meryl Streep’s performance of Colm Tóibín's acclaimed portrait of Mary is hailed by the New York Times Book Review as “an ideal audiobook,” presenting the three-time Academy Award-winner in “yet another great role.” Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Colm Tóibín's The Testament of Mary presents Mary as a solitary older woman still seeking to understand the events that become the narrative of the New Testament and the foundation of Christianity.

José saramago cain