dorothy_gale's review against another edition
4.0
4.4 STARS; THE BOOK WITH THE DARK GLASSES. I burned through 80% of this book in a single day, partly due to a road trip, and partly because it made our current Coronavirus pandemic feel so much more tolerable. Again, I can't help but think of my grandmother and her desire to continue getting monthly eye injections to prevent blurry vision -- if she couldn't see, life was certainly less worthy to live. I had never considered the possibility of a blindness pandemic, and this Portuguese author painted the realities superbly. SCARY AF! This book had a 4.14-star average by 216,989 reviewers when I finished it. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys Dystopian novels, or anyone who thinks the Coronavirus pandemic is the worst thing ever.
José Saramago is a Nobel Laureate, having been awarded just three years after this book was published when he was 76 years old. I will be adding Seeing to my to-read list because I need to know what happens next! I did watch the 2008 movie version of Blindness and have to say they did a pretty good job. Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo are some of my favorite peeps though.
José Saramago is a Nobel Laureate, having been awarded just three years after this book was published when he was 76 years old. I will be adding Seeing to my to-read list because I need to know what happens next! I did watch the 2008 movie version of Blindness and have to say they did a pretty good job. Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo are some of my favorite peeps though.
bbboeken's review against another edition
2.0
Een zeer... conventioneel boek, met een soms wat irritante manier van vertellen. Zowel het plot als de personages wijken niet af van wat er binnen de verwachtingen ligt. Een boek uit 1995, vertaald in 1998, en eigenlijk leest dit al redelijk verouderd.
savshelfinger's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
lawlipop7's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
ccryan's review against another edition
Almost didn’t finish this. Incredibly well written, but gut wrenching to read at certain parts.
soaad's review against another edition
5.0
#ريفيو
#العمى
#جوزيه_ساراماجو
♧تخيل أن تكون ممسكًا بمقود سيارتك بإنتظار إشارة المرور ثم فجأة يستحيل كل شيء إلى أبيض وكأنك سقطت في بحر حليبي... لقد عميت ..♧
♡هذا بالضبط ما حدث للأعمى الأول...بدايه اللعنة أو الوباء فسرعان ما بدأ ينتشر بين كل من حوله ... الشخص الذي أوصله بعد ما عمى في وسط الشارع.. زوجته ..طبيب العيون و من كان في العيادة...لقد أصبح وباء ولا حل سوى الحجر الصحي..❄
♡جمع كل من عموا و المشتبه فى أنهم خالطوهم فى مشفى مجانين قديمة!! من بينهم زوجة الطبيب التي كانت الوحيدة في جناح العميان مبصرة..ولكن لن ينطبق عليها المثل القائل "الأعور في بلد العميان ملك " لأنها و بعد ما ستراه ستتمنى أن تعمي..
#العمى
#جوزيه_ساراماجو
♧تخيل أن تكون ممسكًا بمقود سيارتك بإنتظار إشارة المرور ثم فجأة يستحيل كل شيء إلى أبيض وكأنك سقطت في بحر حليبي... لقد عميت ..♧
♡هذا بالضبط ما حدث للأعمى الأول...بدايه اللعنة أو الوباء فسرعان ما بدأ ينتشر بين كل من حوله ... الشخص الذي أوصله بعد ما عمى في وسط الشارع.. زوجته ..طبيب العيون و من كان في العيادة...لقد أصبح وباء ولا حل سوى الحجر الصحي..❄
♡جمع كل من عموا و المشتبه فى أنهم خالطوهم فى مشفى مجانين قديمة!! من بينهم زوجة الطبيب التي كانت الوحيدة في جناح العميان مبصرة..ولكن لن ينطبق عليها المثل القائل "الأعور في بلد العميان ملك " لأنها و بعد ما ستراه ستتمنى أن تعمي..
jbmorgan86's review against another edition
5.0
Lock Stephen King, Cormac McCarthy, Albert Camus, and George Orwell in a room together and tell them to come up with a novel. The result could easily be Jose Saramago's Blindness. In a nutshell, the whole world goes blind and sees only white. Humans are reduced down to their primal state: filth, hatred, rape, murder, etc.
There are no monsters, aliens, ghosts, werewolves, nor ax murderers in this novel and yet its is possibly the most horrifying novel I've ever read. Saramago uses blindness as tool to reveal what humanity is really like under the surface: "Perhaps only in a world of the blind will things be what they truly are." The blindness does not make people animals, it reveals that they (we?) are animals: "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."
This book is not for the faint of heart. Much of the novel is gag-worthy. However, there is so much to "chew on" here. Particularly of interest, to me, was a scene in which some of the characters enter a church and the paintings of the saints are vandalized with a streak of white paint over the eyes:
I see [the priest] going from one to the other, climbing up the altars and tying bandages with a double knot so that they do not come undone and slip off, applying two coats of paint to the pictures in order to make the white night into which they are plunged still thicker, that priest must have committed the worst sacrilege of all times and all religions, the fairest and most radically human, coming here to declare that, ultimately, God does not deserve to see."
There are no monsters, aliens, ghosts, werewolves, nor ax murderers in this novel and yet its is possibly the most horrifying novel I've ever read. Saramago uses blindness as tool to reveal what humanity is really like under the surface: "Perhaps only in a world of the blind will things be what they truly are." The blindness does not make people animals, it reveals that they (we?) are animals: "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."
This book is not for the faint of heart. Much of the novel is gag-worthy. However, there is so much to "chew on" here. Particularly of interest, to me, was a scene in which some of the characters enter a church and the paintings of the saints are vandalized with a streak of white paint over the eyes:
I see [the priest] going from one to the other, climbing up the altars and tying bandages with a double knot so that they do not come undone and slip off, applying two coats of paint to the pictures in order to make the white night into which they are plunged still thicker, that priest must have committed the worst sacrilege of all times and all religions, the fairest and most radically human, coming here to declare that, ultimately, God does not deserve to see."
guinness74's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
An almost perfect book. An incredible work that is reminiscent of the early days of COVID, it has the grit of Upton Sinclair mixed with the wildness of Golding’s ‘Lord of the Flies.’ A terrifying pandemic begins slowly but increases exponentially turning the world blind in Saramago’s novel. Chaos reigns as attempts are made to stanch the ‘infection,’ but the world continues to spin.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual assault, Violence, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Ableism, Confinement, Rape, and Police brutality
Minor: Infidelity and Vomit
catarinadsimoes's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0