Blindness

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Summary: How does a book like this win the Nobel Prize?
Review: How in God's name does a book like this win the Nobel Prize. The book would not have been a bad short story. It is way too long for what it has to say, contrived, steeped in skatology, and did not know how to end. Pass on this one.

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Summary: Opening my eyes to the horrors of mankind
Review: I bought this book for a friend's 50th birthday in Germany because it was recommended by the lady in the local bookstore. Jose Saramago had just been named for the Nobel Prize in Literature, and I thought it might be a safe bet. The short synopsis intrigued me so much that shortly thereafter I bought the book for myself (in German). I could not put this book down. It took me to the depths of human evil and to the height of goodness. This book explained so much to me about a generation that came before me and lived through the horrors of World War II (my parents were among those). It is one of the books that I would want every highschool student to read, to give them insight in a world they have never experienced. Full of horrors, yet wonderful!

Rating:
Summary: A good book
Review: If you are persistent enough and determined enough to finish this book it's worth reading.

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Summary: The most important book that I have read recently
Review: A book that sits with you for a while and lives inside your skin. The key messages from this key piece of literature develop along side a world view that is not always consistant with what you see before you.

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Summary: Saramago's and Pontiero's Folly
Review: The translation, although lending an appropriate immediacy to the narrative, is audacious. I say so not because of the fused dialogue, which is hardly innovative (and not at all difficult to follow), but because of the translator's attempt to use what is perhaps an invigoratingly transgressive Portuguese text to push the boundaries of English, a language whose written form is far less forgiving than many others. One would be hard pressed to violate its rules effectively while maintaining too strict an allegiance to the original text. With all due respect to the late Giovanni Pontiero, a capable translator ought to know that artistic transgressions, like words, do not enjoy one-to-one correspondence.

As to Saramago's novel, comparisons to La Peste are unavoidable to the extent that one wonders if time isn't better spent rereading Camus's masterpiece. In the Frenchman's novel, admittedly weakened somewhat by its philosophical agenda, there is at least an overriding spirit of existential résistance; in Blindness, human nature is portrayed not only as predetermined, but as predetermined to be cowardly, depraved, loathsome. The author's images and metaphors are occasionally striking, making one wish they would have been used in the service of something less derivative, less senselessly bleak.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Book
Review: This is a great book. It is about what might happen if people suddenly started going blind for no reason. But of course it is really about how we treat each other when we are afraid. If you like novels about dystopias (like the Handmaid's Tale), you might like this. I read it several months ago and I still find myself thinking about it.

Rating:
Summary: A Harrowing Trip To Familiar Territory
Review: Saramago takes the reader on a frightening journey into a world where disease has caused the social structures to disintegrate. He does a very good job of portraying the horror of such a world, and the desperate struggle that some undertake in order to retain their humanity. The writing he uses to portray this struggle is economical, yet lyrical.

Many other reviewers have commented about the lack of punctuation and names in the book. To them, the lack of these devices detracted from the enjoyment of the book. I thought the author purposely used them in order to impose a form of "blindness" on the reader. As readers, we are use to the visual cues that punctuation and names give to us. By removing them, Saramago gives us the same feelings of loss and confusion that his characters possess. If anything, it makes us emphasize with them more. I recognize that Saramago has used this technique in his other books. But, nowhere did it provide as much emotional impact for me as it did in this book.

While I did enjoy the book, I ultimately felt that I'd been in this setting before. Other authors have explored the potential outcomes for humanity once the social order has been dissolved and (in many ways) did it just as well as Saramago. While I haven't read "The Plague", I thought this same theme was covered in "Lord of the Flies". I'd even go so far as to say that Stephen King touched on the theme in the beginning of "The Stand." I'm not saying that King is as good an author as Saramago. I'm simply saying that the topic is not original, and Saramago has little new to say about it.

I still recommend the book. It is great to read an author who possesses a firm command of language. And, for those who haven't read books that explore the question of what becomes of man once the structures of civilization disappear, this book will prove to be thought provoking. But, if you are familiar with other authors' exploration of that idea, then Blindness may prove somewhat unfulfilling.

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Summary: Good Read on showing how fragile we are...
Review: This book is well written (although without punctuation) and shows us our fragility...also how well functioning systems which sometimes we take for granted can easily fall apart. It goes to show we need all are senses and more to get through this life.

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Summary: Best Book of the Decade
Review: Blindness is one of the best books I have ever read. I consider it at least the best novel of this decade.

Rating:
Summary: One Star Too Many
Review: The worst book I have ever read.

"Oh God, all the human suffering!" is the emotion Jose attempts to invoke. Nothing saddens me more than to see real human suffering, as recently with Kosovo. But here I bought none of it.

It's all to simplistic (blindness-sight), predictable and phoney. This, added to poor grammer (sentences which ran on for pages), empty character development and ridiculous annoying names ("dog of tears" and "boy with a squint"???), it just makes the book that much worse.

In his novel, Jose creates a fictious environment full of excrements. In real life, he offers his book in form of solid waste. Stay clear