Blindness - Rambling Readers

Fionnáin reviewed Blindness by José Saramago

Visionary

5 stars

Blindness tells of an epidemic where the world sees white. The result is a societal dystopia, first in quarantine and then in a world of the blind. Food is scarce, filth is everywhere, and any small injury could be fatal.

José Saramago was one of a kind, a unique storyteller and gifted artist who always had something to say, and always said it with such a brilliant prose, translated with equal skill by his two main translators. This is among his best books, an example of how he can make the societal personal, and can make even a very unlikely story seem deeply real and troubling.

Beta Block : Bookwyrm reviewed Die Stadt der Blinden by José Saramago

Ziemlich deprimierend

4 stars

Das Buch während einer echten Pandemie zu lesen, kickt auch noch mal anders.

Hier greift eine Seuche um sich, die die Menschen plötzlich blind werden lässt. Zuerst versucht man, die Infizierten in Quarantäne zu stecken, doch nach und nach bricht alles zusammen und das schlechteste im Menschen kommt zum Vorschein. Nur eine Frau die nicht blind ist (aber so tut als ob, damit sie bei ihrem Mann bleiben kann), hat zumindest die Möglichkeit, den anderen ein wenig zu helfen und geht dabei weit über ihre Grenzen.

crabbygirl reviewed Blindness by José Saramago

Review of 'Blindness' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

the plot alone of this book makes a great hook: a dystopian future brought about by contagious blindness. it's got all the hallmarks of a survival story without invoking zombies or a plague. when a character worries that fear of going blind might actually cause the blindness (and then goes blind), the reader becomes doubly afraid for themselves; it's no longer a book you are reading but an immediate and tangible Armageddon that could befall you in the next second.
this book reminded me of The Alchemist in that it has a loose story structure where many contemplations hang. there must be something about the Portuguese language that makes it compatible with philosophical thinking; perhaps there is an abundance of proverbs? There were many proverbs about sight or being blind, both explicit and implied, in the story. And even that was an exercise in philosophy because so many of our …

the plot alone of this book makes a great hook: a dystopian future brought about by contagious blindness. it's got all the hallmarks of a survival story without invoking zombies or a plague. when a character worries that fear of going blind might actually cause the blindness (and then goes blind), the reader becomes doubly afraid for themselves; it's no longer a book you are reading but an immediate and tangible Armageddon that could befall you in the next second.
this book reminded me of The Alchemist in that it has a loose story structure where many contemplations hang. there must be something about the Portuguese language that makes it compatible with philosophical thinking; perhaps there is an abundance of proverbs? There were many proverbs about sight or being blind, both explicit and implied, in the story. And even that was an exercise in philosophy because so many of our touchstones and sayings that take for granted sight become meaningless. and shared meaning is the basis of language so a lot of language disappears with the loss of sight, which leads to a type of loss in humanity, or at least what humanity used to be before the world losses it's sight.

Sean Randall reviewed Blindness by José Saramago

Review of 'Blindness' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Very freaky to read, being blind myself. It got the blindness organisations (particular the US ones) up in arms. Personally I can't see what their problem is, it's not a very flattering portrayal of blind people, but it isn't intended to be. A great literary work, though, perhaps.

onepointzero

rated it

March 8, 2019

IXI

rated it

Dec. 21, 2019

Mat

rated it

May 15, 2011