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Adina (way behind)'s Reviews > Blindness
Blindness
by
by
Adina (way behind)'s review
bookshelves: dystopia, favorites, portugal, w-mwl-alternative
Oct 01, 2014
bookshelves: dystopia, favorites, portugal, w-mwl-alternative
I finished this masterpiece last week and I let it to sink in a little bit before reviewing it. The power of this book was quite overwhelming at times and I had to stop reading for a few days at a time. I do not think there are many books that disturbed me like this one. Maybe Never Let Me Go but there the message was much more subtle.
Some say that the structure of the book makes it very hard to read. I suppose the voice in my head did quite a good job in reading it as I did not encounter any difficulty to follow the narration. What made it difficult to read at times were the images and smells that were projected into my brain. At some point It seemed that excrement odor was rising from the pages in front of me.
Short version of the plot. One day people start to go blind without any prior symptom. Frightened, the Government tries to restrain the blindness epidemic by isolating the blind people. The quarantine is not successful and more and more people go blind. The book focuses on the life of a few "patients" locked and guarded into a mental institution, among who lives the only person immune to blindness. The loss of sight reduces people to their primal instincts (good or bad) and soon we are witnesses of some unimaginable horrors in the fight for food/supremacy/life and to the demise of all social and moral institutions. However, there are people that still try to help and to keep a bit of humanity and decency.
“If we cannot live entirely like human beings, at least let us do everything in our power not to live entirely like animals.”
I thought that the book is a metaphor of the people that are walking through life without thinking about the violence and cruelty that is in front of them, their ignorance of anything that could menace their civilized life. I believe the book brings forward our fear/avoidance to see our mortality and the insignificance of our lives.
“I don't think we did go blind, I think we are blind, Blind but seeing, Blind people who can see, but do not see.”
“Perhaps only in a world of the blind will things be what they truly are.”
“This is the stuff we’re made of, half indifference and half malice.”
Some say that the structure of the book makes it very hard to read. I suppose the voice in my head did quite a good job in reading it as I did not encounter any difficulty to follow the narration. What made it difficult to read at times were the images and smells that were projected into my brain. At some point It seemed that excrement odor was rising from the pages in front of me.
Short version of the plot. One day people start to go blind without any prior symptom. Frightened, the Government tries to restrain the blindness epidemic by isolating the blind people. The quarantine is not successful and more and more people go blind. The book focuses on the life of a few "patients" locked and guarded into a mental institution, among who lives the only person immune to blindness. The loss of sight reduces people to their primal instincts (good or bad) and soon we are witnesses of some unimaginable horrors in the fight for food/supremacy/life and to the demise of all social and moral institutions. However, there are people that still try to help and to keep a bit of humanity and decency.
“If we cannot live entirely like human beings, at least let us do everything in our power not to live entirely like animals.”
I thought that the book is a metaphor of the people that are walking through life without thinking about the violence and cruelty that is in front of them, their ignorance of anything that could menace their civilized life. I believe the book brings forward our fear/avoidance to see our mortality and the insignificance of our lives.
“I don't think we did go blind, I think we are blind, Blind but seeing, Blind people who can see, but do not see.”
“Perhaps only in a world of the blind will things be what they truly are.”
“This is the stuff we’re made of, half indifference and half malice.”
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Reading Progress
October 1, 2014
– Shelved as:
to-read
October 1, 2014
– Shelved
March 27, 2015
– Shelved as:
dystopia
September 15, 2015
–
Started Reading
September 30, 2015
–
56.75%
"“Perhaps only in a world of the blind will things be what they truly are.”"
page
185
October 8, 2015
–
Finished Reading
May 5, 2017
– Shelved as:
favorites
October 8, 2018
– Shelved as:
portugal
August 30, 2019
– Shelved as:
w-mwl-alternative
Comments Showing 1-42 of 42 (42 new)
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by
Ammara
(new)
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rated it 5 stars
Nov 21, 2016 05:49AM
Great review. I completely agree it's a masterpiece. You have mentioned my all favourite lines ♡.
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Ammara wrote: "Great review. I completely agree it's a masterpiece. You have mentioned my all favourite lines ♡."Thank you. I could have quoted so much more but I decided to stop to the ones that impacted me the most.
I almost got this at the library this weekend...but passed it up in favor of a few others. I'll have to see if it's there next time. Nice review.
Donna wrote: "I almost got this at the library this weekend...but passed it up in favor of a few others. I'll have to see if it's there next time. Nice review."You should try it. However, you should probably be in a certain type of mood to read it.
Wonderful review, Adina.
Lizzy wrote: "Wonderful review, Adina." Thanks.
So incredibly cool that you read this book! I read parts of this masterpiece many years ago and what parts I read were disturbing and have indeed stayed with me. This is going to be a hard book to forget because I truly believe you understood and "nailed" it with your review. Nice one, Adina!
Shaun wrote: "So incredibly cool that you read this book! I read parts of this masterpiece many years ago and what parts I read were disturbing and have indeed stayed with me. This is going to be a hard book to ..." Thank you. It is a book that will stay with me for a long time. You should read the whole novel. It is worth it.
A lovely encapsulation of what this book really does evoke in us, Adina. It had a similar impact on me; powerful, inspiring and lasting. As you have so beautifully pointed out, Saramago can write with such prowess that despite being marauded by images of gross decay and violence, one is compelled to continue the journey in the hope of hope. Thanks for bringing my back my memories of this very special book.
Seemita wrote: "A lovely encapsulation of what this book really does evoke in us, Adina. It had a similar impact on me; powerful, inspiring and lasting. As you have so beautifully pointed out, Saramago can write w..." Thank you for your beautiful words. You have a wonderful language to express your thoughts.
Sounds like a powerful read, have it on my radar.
Steven wrote: "Sounds like a powerful read, have it on my radar." It is very powerful and disturbing. I hope you will get to it some day.
Diana wrote: "fab review!! :-)" Thank you!
Great review! Glad you enjoyed it. I’m reading it now and finding it incredibly difficult. The formatting is definitely part of it. Just makes me want to skim everything.
Sarah wrote: "Great review! Glad you enjoyed it. I’m reading it now and finding it incredibly difficult. The formatting is definitely part of it. Just makes me want to skim everything." I found it surprisingly easy to read and the pace was a lot more alert than I expected. I don't know how to help you. For me, the voice in the back of my head did the job of finding the right punctuation where it wasn't. It is a beautiful book and worth reading but don't struggle too much. There are other books that might talk to you more.
Adina...by stepping back to let the nature of this tome sink in, you have written a magnificent review! Thank you!
Fran wrote: "Adina...by stepping back to let the nature of this tome sink in, you have written a magnificent review! Thank you!" Thank you.
wow, what a captivating review! I love the quotes you have chosen. Sounds like a powerful story, something that really makes you ponder. A wonderful review Adina 😊👌🏾
Svetlana wrote: "wow, what a captivating review! I love the quotes you have chosen. Sounds like a powerful story, something that really makes you ponder. A wonderful review Adina 😊👌🏾" Thank you. It is a powerful story although it might take a bit of getting used to the writing style.
Such a good review and it's one of my favourite books as well! Definitely agree with everything you said... feel like it's one I will reread sooner or later. P.S. Well, thank you for accepting my friendship request!
Michelle wrote: "Such a good review and it's one of my favourite books as well! Definitely agree with everything you said... feel like it's one I will reread sooner or later. P.S. Well, thank you for accepting my..." Thank you Muchelle. I would like to re-read this at some point as well but I will probably prefer reading another of his works.
I've tried to read this several times before but couldn't get a grip on it but I think it's a good time to try it again this weekend.
just_me wrote: "I've tried to read this several times before but couldn't get a grip on it but I think it's a good time to try it again this weekend." i hope this time it will be better. if not then forget about it. Too many books out there.
Very well written review, Adina !
Thank you Kevin and Kavita.
Excellent review! Have started reading Blindness, found your review inspiring
Tuti wrote: "Excellent review! Have started reading Blindness, found your review inspiring" i hope it will touch you.
Excellent review, Adina! I just finished this one and I think you nailed it with your review. Nice job, Lady! Your review rocked my world!!! No kidding.
Adina, I apologize in advance for bothering you again. You cited to two (2) quotes in your review above: 1) "If we cannot live entirely like human beings, at least let us do everything in our power not to live entirely like animals." AND 2) "This is the stuff we're made of, half indifference and half malice." Do you happen to know where these quotes are in "Blindness"? I am doing a review for our local book club and found your quotes were so appropriate for the review, but, regretfully, cannot find them in the book having searched the entire book twice now. Adina, any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Shaun wrote: "Adina, I apologize in advance for bothering you again. You cited to two (2) quotes in your review above: 1) "If we cannot live entirely like human beings, at least let us do everything in our power..." Thank you. It is hard to tell you where i found the quotes because my book is in Romanian. I found the translation in GR quotes or I translated them. Unfortunately, even if tell you the page you will not find them in the same place. And as this book does not have chapters....
That’s OK. I went on-line this morning and found where the entire book is available to read on-line and did a quick search. I was able to find them in my copy. In short, it’s all good here. Thank you for responding, Adina. I look forward to reading more of your reviews in the future.
JV wrote: "Terrific review, Adina! 🥰" Thanks JV.
Wow! Incredible review, Adina. Sounds really intense.
Valerie wrote: "Wow! Incredible review, Adina. Sounds really intense." It is. The lack of punctuation also helps with the atmosphere. it makes it harder to stop reading.
Thank you for reviewing this, Adina! I'm adding this to my wishlist.
Farah wrote: "Thank you for reviewing this, Adina! I'm adding this to my wishlist." I hope you will like it.
True, it’s a book hard to digest, I unconsciously stopped reading after a particular scene and only finished it weeks later.
André wrote: "True, it’s a book hard to digest, I unconsciously stopped reading after a particular scene and only finished it weeks later." Glad you came back to it. That happened to me with Ishiguro, Never let me Go. It was too much anguish but I retuned to it and gave it 5 stars in the end.
Excellent review, Adina, and to read it all the way through is an accomplishment. Very nice.
Joseph wrote: "Excellent review, Adina, and to read it all the way through is an accomplishment. Very nice." Thank you.
