Rating: 
Summary: Saramago's Hell, it's GREAT!
Review: Brilliant writing from a man with a very interesting imagination of what Hell must actually be like. From "the amber light" to the "Dog of tears" you'll find yourself rooting for the Doctor's wife, crying for the girl with the dark glasses and hoping for the man with the black patch. While reading you can almost see Saramago walking around his office, or flat, or wherever he does his writing, with his eyes closed bumping into walls. It would be a shame to miss the point of this first class novel, which Saramago fittingly wraps up in the last few pages; and that is that us, the reader, the world, the people in "Anytown, AnyCountry" need to not just see, but to look, to comprehend, to realize, and to enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Five stars for the dog of tears.
Review: This is another boonie dog book review from Wolfie and Kansas. "Blindness" by Jose Saramago is a bit deeper than most of the books we review. However, not only is "Blindness" a powerful book for noncanine animals of primate derivation, but there are some aspects of the book that appeal to our species."Blindness" is about a plague that turns humans blind, causing human society to collapse. This book shows that a species which relies primarily upon one sense, sight, is inferior to a species that can also get by with highly developed senses of smell and hearing. Indeed, in some places in "Blindness", it seemed that packs of dogs were about to inherit the earth. Canine readers will also be pleased that Saramago introduces a scene-stealing canine character, "the dog of tears", late in the book. This dog displays more moral sense than many of the human characters, and provides some respite from the novel's compelling, but generally grim, tone.
Rating:
Summary: You just can't stop reading!
Review: A fabulous story, specially if you can read it in portuguese. Probably the best portuguese writer, Saramago displays the horror of blindness, the suspense of getting blind and the fear of those who can see. You MUST read too the stone raft. We're all very proud of you, José Saramago, keep on writing the way you do !
Rating:
Summary: The most perturb book I have ever read
Review: I read the book in Portuguese, our native language, Saramago and my own. I was here in Japan, in a envirnoment where we have to re-define our beliefs everyday. Our little world is a mess of anguishes, religions, desperations and fears, nothing compared with the amphetamian voyage that Saramago conducts throught this allucino-genius book. Who sees and who doesn't? Who feels? And feels what? Where are we? Untill when we will see? Orwellian someone said, apocalyptic I would say. Highly recommended, before and after the Nobel Prize.
Rating:
Summary: Nobel Prize well-earned, a long time in coming
Review: The novel BLINDNESS is an engrossing, tortuous ride, at some points Orwellian, others steeped deeply in religious significance. There are so many powerful parts, I do not know where to begin recounting them -- I urge all readers of fine literature to start their Saramago experience with this novel! The little hooks that Saramago puts at the end of each chapter force the reader ever onward, to a conclusion that is gripping, scary, and a perfect culmination to a wild, emotionally taxing ride.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most exciting experiences of reading in my life
Review: When I was 15-years old, Albert Camus's "The Plague" has been one of the most impressive reading I have ever made. In that time, J.P. Sartre was also one of my favorites. But Camus was better writter than Sartre. Now, both these French authors are boring for me. Saramago's "Essay on the Blindness" (translation of the Portuguese title) is just one of the most fascinating and most achieved metaphoric report on our human condition. For Camus and Sartre, without God, Man is condemned to freedom. Saramago is not a philosopher: is a great writer and a great man, giving us a lesson of hope. We are alone and blind, but condemned to live togheter, and to build up togheter the freedom by changing our ugly, violent and unfair world. You need to discover one of the most representative and innovative authors of modern Portuguese literature (Also quite dificult to translate for the other languages). I have read this novel without stopping!... Congratulations Jose Saramago for giving us the first Nobel Prize for the 800 years-old Portuguese literature. José, you don't need the award. But, you know, Nobel is marketing, power and...business for a lot of people!
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Summary: This book is a fantastic picture of the human nature.
Review: Fiction novel full of imagination wich pictures a profound picture of the human nature. Very pleasant to read. The story is about a hypothetical situation in wich all people of one city became blind and the way they manage to survive.
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Summary: The state of humanitiy's blindness
Review: At the end of the century, Man is still being his own wolf. Main social and ecological problems continued to bee forgotten. Superficial issues drown humanity. We are jumping in the dark. The dark side of the human spirit.This book is about this and about everything. OBRIGADO SARAMAGO!
Rating:
Summary: Chilling, suspenseful and engrossing
Review: I read this book in Portuguese. It's the tale of what happens when an entire country rapidly goes blind. Assuming that the translation does justice to it, it will be wonderful to read. It reminds me of Albert Camus's "The Plague" in that, although it's great literature in its own right, it could also qualify as a chilling work of quasi-science fiction. It's not for the squeamish, though, any more than "The Plague" was! I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant...one of the greatest books of the decade
Review: This book is really a masterpiece. It has been a real success in Europe and Latin America, and i'm sure it's gonna be huge in the U.S. A tale about life, pain and the human spirit. Saramago is a genius. Read it before he gets the Nobel prize.
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