Blindness

Rating:
Summary: Nobel caliber allegory
Review: Jose Saramago presents us with an interesting premise: what if suddenly a society were to become spontaneously and absurdly sightless? How would people respond to each other? What would happen to the structure of the society? Would the powerful and those with weapons suddenly rule? Would the jungle of Thomas Hobbes, in which life is brutish, nasty and short, ultimately prevail? The beauty of the allegory is its stark truth and its reality. I was reminded of the plight of concentration camp prisoners and the people quarantined in The Plague by Camus. I sensed the influence of the existentialists here in works like No Exit by Sartre and the absurdity of Kafka also at play. The blind writer and the blindfolded religious icons intrigued me. I personally don't see such involuntary blindness as total but rather as blind spots. However, the premise of blindness, partial or absolute, diminishes the malevolence of the human condition. Ultimately, not only the realism and the skill with which the characters were drawn but the writer's optimism and redemption made this book really work for me. Saramago has shed new light on the human condition and for that he has made a mighty contribution to literature.This is a memorable and remarkable work -- I highly recommend this as a literary experience that will change your perception of your fellow man.

Rating:
Summary: Only the blind shall see?
Review: The author has an interesting premise but the story doesn't follow through on exploring where people began or how they ended up in their trips of temporary blindness. Even the events of what happens to the victims is uneven and seems incomplete, and in my mind, completely unbelievable. The care you might pony up for victims of this blindness never really reaches the point of satisfaction, especially with the way this novel ends. I almost feel some how the author couldn't figure out how to end the book so he chooses to circumvent it by "turning on the lights". A disappointment.

Rating:
Summary: Blindness by Saramago
Review: Saramago believes that we are blinds that can see so we are unaware of our blindness. As a result we don't do anything to make up for our blindness. As we know blind people devalop other senses to make up for lack of ability to see, but if you are unaware of your blindness it won't occure to you to even try. We are aware of the injustice going on out there we know that many people go hungry while others waste foods and other necessities.We know if you are rich you can almost buy your way out of any situation and if you are poor you can be pushed into any situation. We know that we are poluting the environment and wasting th unreplaceable resources yet we pretend everything is ok. we get up in the morning and we are ready to start all over again as if nothing is wrong. but from time to time we become aware of some situation and start attacking it. For example child labor which was very common now is unacceptable. I think that's what saramago is trying to show us in his blindness.

Rating:
Summary: Blindness is a captivating book
Review: It has been many years since I refused to sleep because I could not stop reading be, but Blindness is the type of book that has me captivated. Others here cite the novel's lack of clear punctuation and grammatical structure as a hindrance; I liken it to an intricate quilt--the more you gaze into it, the more you beauty and detail you see. Initially I thought that this would make a great film, but now realize that Hollywood would feel compelled to put a testosterone-charged male in as the lead, out to save America--and totally ignore the book's dissection of human society, its telling portrayal of human nature. All I can say is read it and try to get some sleep--truly amazing!

Rating:
Summary: Would make a good thriller film
Review: The prose is daunting, because of the way sentences are linked by commas, as if they are long run-on sentences. Aside from that, the story is all plot, and would make a good thriller film. I had some problems with the plot: I would think that people in this situation would share their life stories or anecdotes with each other, but that never happens. Saramago keeps you reading if only to find out what happens next. I'd be interested to hear who you would cast as the doctor, his wife, the woman with dark glasses, etc. And who you would choose to direct the film. [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Thought provoking!
Review: Our neighborhood book club read this book last month. Most rated the book a 4 or 5 but a few rated it a 2. The dark, horrible, frightening circumstances were a bit much for ladies who enjoyed book such as Alias Grace, Snow Falling on Cedars and Memoirs of a Geisha. If you are reviewing this for book club purposes, keep the audience in mind. During our discussion, the BIG question for all of us was, "If this happened today, what kind of person do you think you would become; could you become a leader? We couldn't agree on whether the Dr's wife went blind at the end of the book or not. His writing was ambiguous.

Rating:
Summary: a Stephen King plot by a Nobel prize-winning author
Review: A gripping, terrifying story of a contagion of blindness. I guess it's "literature" because it's an analogy. I just found it a frightfully, and frightening, good read.

Rating:
Summary: What Were They Thinking?
Review: My first thought after finishing BLINDNESS was "Certainly someone in the world wrote something more worthy of a Nobel Prize!" The prize must be as political as its critics claim it is because this book's plot was at the level of a high-school senior's attempt at fantasy. It plodded along through some of the most stilted and ineffective prose I've ever read. Though I finished the novel, my disappointment in the Nobel Prize Committee was such that I threw the book across the room and have yet to pick it up. What a waste! I'll save myself the trouble of wading through any more of Mr. Saramago's work.

Rating:
Summary: Blindness
Review: This book combines Saramagos usual exeptional language with a harsh and grotesque story about a human disaster- people become blind-or,all (exept one) become blind. This book takes aim on presenting the worst sides of humanity, whilst at the same time telling a story about little people that fights together against the dangers of blindness and humanity. I thought of Câpek while i read this book, they share the warning nature of storytelling, trying to wake people from the blindness and coldness we are surrounded with. I reccomend this book to all people who love good storytelling.

Rating:
Summary: What If?
Review: This disturbing book brought only one question to mind....

What if?

Dramatic reading that only made me think and wonder.

I will read more Jose...