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A review by abhishekjain
Blindness by José Saramago
4.0
Procrastination sometimes helps. I'm glad I didn't read it back in 2019 when it was suggested to me. If I did, I would have stocked firearms (hyperbole) at my house after the news of the pandemic. It was such a surprise to find that this novel was about a pandemic. But much much worse that what we have now. Apocalyptic. Of course I had already seen the movie Contagion and the pandemic seems very much the same except with lesser intensity, mortality and hopelessness, but this story is dystopic on another level. How bad things can get? What can hell feel and 'look' like? The book has answers.
A crude analysis makes me think that this story is amalgamation of 'Tragedy of the Commons' and Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs. We live with the ill effects of the former and have seen it during the early days of the pandemic when people were stupidly fighting for toilet papers. Stupidity is just a perception and it is relative after all but on all accounts it was stupid. And if we bring in the latter, we can see how we degenerate from being humans to animals as soon as our food and safety is compromised. This novel explores this graphically.
This novel is violent. But living in this violent world with so many violent movies, games, news and for some maybe experiences, it would not come as a shock. But it doesn't mean that the novel is not stirring and disturbing. It is. And it churned my belly to the point that I had to take a break from reading.
Sometimes I wonder why I stop reading intermittently when this gives the same level of experience as watching a movie. Some of you may contest, but read this one and you may be agree. The descriptions are vivid and graphic. The writer hasn't shied away from describing the grotesque - be it the human nature or the environment.
Also, I liked the fact that writer has kept the focus entirely on the characters and not wandered away to the city or the political scene or the mechanism of things. Just plain experiences of the characters who were nameless btw. First of a kind for me. There are things which I couldn't understand as to why some characters behaved the way they did but I think that requires some more reflection to understand the point of view the author has.
The world described is apocalyptic and that serves as a positive note to me that things could get worse. And even if they do, things get better too. If it comes to survival, we need and should put every ounce of energy to survive. But survive like the doctor's wife and not like the blind accountant. And that is a big difference. The difference of making an oasis of heaven in a hellish world. And I think only that counts. If only we all could try to make our own little pockets of heaven - little colorful and joyful pixels. The pixels might coalesce and paint one big heavenly picture of humanity.
This book is a good read. Be ready to get disturbed and thoughtful afterwards.
A crude analysis makes me think that this story is amalgamation of 'Tragedy of the Commons' and Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs. We live with the ill effects of the former and have seen it during the early days of the pandemic when people were stupidly fighting for toilet papers. Stupidity is just a perception and it is relative after all but on all accounts it was stupid. And if we bring in the latter, we can see how we degenerate from being humans to animals as soon as our food and safety is compromised. This novel explores this graphically.
This novel is violent. But living in this violent world with so many violent movies, games, news and for some maybe experiences, it would not come as a shock. But it doesn't mean that the novel is not stirring and disturbing. It is. And it churned my belly to the point that I had to take a break from reading.
Sometimes I wonder why I stop reading intermittently when this gives the same level of experience as watching a movie. Some of you may contest, but read this one and you may be agree. The descriptions are vivid and graphic. The writer hasn't shied away from describing the grotesque - be it the human nature or the environment.
Also, I liked the fact that writer has kept the focus entirely on the characters and not wandered away to the city or the political scene or the mechanism of things. Just plain experiences of the characters who were nameless btw. First of a kind for me. There are things which I couldn't understand as to why some characters behaved the way they did but I think that requires some more reflection to understand the point of view the author has.
The world described is apocalyptic and that serves as a positive note to me that things could get worse. And even if they do, things get better too. If it comes to survival, we need and should put every ounce of energy to survive. But survive like the doctor's wife and not like the blind accountant. And that is a big difference. The difference of making an oasis of heaven in a hellish world. And I think only that counts. If only we all could try to make our own little pockets of heaven - little colorful and joyful pixels. The pixels might coalesce and paint one big heavenly picture of humanity.
This book is a good read. Be ready to get disturbed and thoughtful afterwards.