I'd recommend this book to anyone. Absolutely inspired stuff - works both as a chilling satire and a page-turning thriller of sorts. Parts of it are very uncomfortable indeed, but Saramago retains a dark humour and sense of humanity throughout. At a mere 300 pages or so, it won't even take you long to get through it.
Feb 15, 2007
former user says
The story starts with a man standing at the traffic lights of an unnamed city. As he is standing there, he suddenly goes blind, but with a white milky blindness. As people try to help him, it turns out to be contageous and passes on from person to person, causing panic in the city.
It is a story about human nature in extreme conditions. How the city and its people fall apart from the loss of just one of our senses. How some people resort to their most basic animal instincts, whilst others hold hope amist the deepest of despair. It is written simply, horrifically, but is very believable.
Jrim
Tokyo: A Certain Style
Monocle Magazine
Comments on Blindness - Jose Saramago
Apr 10, 2007
Feb 15, 2007
It is a story about human nature in extreme conditions. How the city and its people fall apart from the loss of just one of our senses. How some people resort to their most basic animal instincts, whilst others hold hope amist the deepest of despair. It is written simply, horrifically, but is very believable.