Blindness

by José Saramago

Paperback, 309 pages

English language

Published Aug. 31, 2017 by Vintage Classics.

ISBN:: 978-0-09-957358-6

(35 reviews)

A driver waiting at the traffic lights goes blind. An ophthalmologist tries to diagnose his distinctive white blindness, but is affected before he can read the textbooks. It becomes a contagion, spreading throughout the city. Trying to step the epidemic, the authorities her the afflicted into a mental asylum where the wards are terrorised by blind thugs. And when fire destroys the asylum, the inmates burst forth and the last links with a supposedly civilised society are snapped.

No food, no water, no government, no order. This is not anarchy, this is blindness.

26 editions

Beta Block : Bookwyrm reviewed Die Stadt der Blinden by José Saramago

Ziemlich deprimierend

4 stars

Das Buch während einer echten Pandemie zu lesen, kickt auch noch mal anders.

Hier greift eine Seuche um sich, die die Menschen plötzlich blind werden lässt. Zuerst versucht man, die Infizierten in Quarantäne zu stecken, doch nach und nach bricht alles zusammen und das schlechteste im Menschen kommt zum Vorschein. Nur eine Frau die nicht blind ist (aber so tut als ob, damit sie bei ihrem Mann bleiben kann), hat zumindest die Möglichkeit, den anderen ein wenig zu helfen und geht dabei weit über ihre Grenzen.

moftasa reviewed Blindness by José Saramago

Review of 'Blindness' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

One can think of COVID-19 as a pandemic of the loss of the sense of smell, what if it was a another sense? Saramago wrote this story. Loved the writing and I couldn't put it down (finished it in two days). Nothing, from what we know about how people, the body or epidemics work, is realistic and it is of course quite cruel to blind people but still a damn good story.

Ellemir reviewed Die Stadt der Blinden by José Saramago

Review of 'Die Stadt der Blinden' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Dieses Buch wollte ich schon lange lesen - und ich wurde nicht enttäuscht. Zunächst war es schwer, in den Erzählstil hereinzukommen, der aber wunderbar zu der Geschichte passte: Der Text wirkt wenig strukturiert, mit langen Sätzen, nicht durch Interpunktion angezeigte wörtliche Rede, Kapitelunterteilungen. Außerdem haben die Figuren keine Namen. Für mich hat aber genau das das Gefühl, in eine fremde Welt gestoßen zu sein, in der keine der früheren Regeln mehr gelten und in der man das Gefühl hat, im Chaos zu versinken, noch verstärkt.
Erschreckend realistisch finde ich den Umgang der Gesellschaft mit den Erblindeten, die in eine Art Internierungslager gesteckt werden. Allerdings steht der Umgang der Blinden untereinander dem kaum nach - die Bande, die die Versorgung kontrolliert und jede Form von Vorteil für sich herauszuschlagen versucht, ganz gleich wie widerwärtig, ist nicht weniger schockierend.

Ein sehr heftiges Buch - aber definitiv lesenswert.

Clara reviewed Ensaio sobre a cegueira by José Saramago (O campo da palavra)

Review of 'Ensaio sobre a cegueira' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Blew my mind. It was a lot more... Fucked up? Than what I expected"Nobel Prize" literature to be. Super weird and kinda hard to read, but with a unique voice for the unique situation of the characters. Very good!

eusergiofontes reviewed Ensaio sobre a cegueira by José Saramago (O campo da palavra)

Review of 'Ensaio sobre a cegueira' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

www.goodreads.com/review/list/17476943-s-rgio-fontes?utf8=%E2%9C%93&search%5Bquery%5D=ensaio#

Niklas reviewed Blindness by José Saramago

Review of 'Blindness' on 'LibraryThing'

5 stars

If one can say anything about this book without spoiling some of the elements, Iâd say you cannot even move past the first page, so for those paranoid, read no further!

This is an absolutely marvellous book on a seemingly rampant blindness that leave its victims in a visual sea of milky white. Saramago delves into what this blindness means on many levels, foremost individually as well as for society in large, and shows humanity from within its core in a variety of ways.

To me, this book displays humankind and the surrounding world at the base level. When stripped of sight, our senses are shocked, and then, as through cooking, reduced to display our core values.

I havenât read Saramago prior to this novel, but I hear his way of writing is the same almost everywhere: long sentences, few punctuations and no quotation marks to show whoâs saying what …

trotskyAKAbronstein reviewed Blindness by José Saramago

Review of 'Blindness' on Goodreads

4 stars

Unfortunately I'd seen the film, so it'd been kinda ruined. Would have been 4 or 5 stars otherwise.

It's tight, economical, clear and overall well done. Almost sculptured at times. Character development and small spiritual journeys. Unique. All good.

Has a weird 'morality', lots of sayings and religious references, interrogations about good and evil, and hell scenes for the wicked and, later, the innocent. This morality and the hints and reality of the bad being punished was interesting but didn't really add anything.

Niklas reviewed Blindness by José Saramago

Review of 'Blindness' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

If one can say anything about this book without spoiling some of the elements, I’d say you cannot even move past the first page, so for those paranoid, read no further!

This is an absolutely marvellous book on a seemingly rampant blindness that leave its victims in a visual sea of milky white. Saramago delves into what this blindness means on many levels, foremost individually as well as for society in large, and shows humanity from within its core in a variety of ways.

To me, this book displays humankind and the surrounding world at the base level. When stripped of sight, our senses are shocked, and then, as through cooking, reduced to display our core values.

I haven’t read Saramago prior to this novel, but I hear his way of writing is the same almost everywhere: long sentences, few punctuations and no quotation marks to show who’s saying what …