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Loading... Blindness (original 1995; edition 1998)by Jose Saramago
Work detailsBlindness by José Saramago (1995)
2   joannasephine | Apr 26, 2013 |  Harrowing novel about what happens when an epidemic of blindness is spreading in society. People are forced both against each other and together, and both cruelty and dignity feature prominently. (  ) ohernaes | Apr 23, 2013 | What if you notice that you got blind from one moment to another? And everybody you get in touch with gets blind a short time later? That’s the situation the protagonists of Saramago’s Die Stadt der Blinden have to face. The blindness is special, because it’s not a usual darkness, but some kind of white, milky ocean. The reader follows the group of the first blind people on their way: From the moment they were “infected” to the lunatic asylum where they’re put in quarantine and beyond. The novel is an obvious adaptation of Albert Camus’ La peste and it deals with similar topics but in a different form: the absurdity of the plague, the helplessness, the loss of humanity and brutalization of society, and the battle to survive. One main implicit question is: What would you do in that situation? What would you be capable of? Saramago doesn’t give us names or locations and this makes his narration a universally true parable. Die Stadt der Blinden is an extremely intense read. For me it was also very emotional, as the dehumanization and brutalization that took place are sometimes hard to bear. The universal helplessness is haunting. Saramago’s writing style is intriguing and there is much to discover between the lines. Recommendation. (  )1 PersephonesLibrary | Apr 13, 2013 | Just finished this today, not sure what I think. Saramago's treatment of women characters seems facile to me, objectifying. Also, maybe the use of the state of blindness as a metaphor for anything is kind of creepy. I need to think more about this. Anybody read it? (  ) anderlawlor | Apr 9, 2013 | The idea of being blind scares me quite a bit. Not as much as cancer, maybe, but it's up there. Unfortunately, it's quite likely that I will. Which made reading this very uncomfortable for me, because although I know it won't happen like this for me, still... Anyway, Blindness is a very evocative book: the breathless style, which I now know is typical of Saramago's work, suits the story very well, and so does the namelessness of all the protagonists. All of it serves to create that formless blankness of the blindness described in the book. If you've read other post-apocalyptic stuff, especially The Day of the Triffids, this will seem familiar in many ways. The decay of society, the lengths people have to go to -- yes, that's all been done before, but it's worth reading Saramago's version for the unique details he picks out, the unique style of the story. There are some really gorgeous bits as well as the really awful books. Of course, there is a lot of reference to disease, some fairly graphic violence, and there's a pretty horrible mass-rape scene, so if those things might cause you harm, best to avoid this one. I found it worth it, myself. ( ) shanaqui | Apr 9, 2013 | no reviews | add a review
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Saramago's prose takes a bit of adjusting to -- like McCarthy, he doesn't use quote marks, and his punctuation is a bit idiosyncratic. But it didn't annoy me as much as McCarthy's did -- this is a book about blindness, about losing sight (and self), so I felt the blurring between utterances, the whole 'who said what' felt like an accurate reflection of what was going on. Lots of commas and fullstops, but I think that may have been the only marks used. Lots of questions with no question marks -- again, it fits. These are people asking questions that they don't expect to have answered, so it works to have them written down that way.
There are some pretty horrible things depicted, but the magical realism feel to it all allows the horrors to be spoken of but not wallowed in, if that makes sense. The narrator's voice touches on thngs like rape and murder and pillage gently, even compassionately. Not making light of them; or avoiding mentioning them. But not making a fetish out of them either, which is a nice change. You see (a word that gets a lot of weight added to it) because it is right that thgs be witnessed. But you are kept at a slight distance from it all -- the characters being protected from the readers, or the readers protected from the characters, perhaps -- it's a very interesting and skillful technique.
It's not an easy book, or a nice one. But it's also not brutal or horrible, although it considers brutal and horrible things. The reason people read (and should read) dystopian fiction is because it makes us confront the darker sides of humanity, makes us ask ourselves the questions that we don't want to face. This book is a surprisingly effective, almost beautiful example of good dystopian fiction. Well (if a bit strangely) written, and very humane, as well as human. Not a comfortable read, but an important one. (