A review by leilatre
Blindness by José Saramago

3.0

This book was hard to read. I understand that blindness was used as an allegory, but I did find myself fighting the premise a lot that society would fall apart if everyone suddenly went blind. I was unsettled by the negative implications his writing had towards actual blind people, and didn't think that one paragraph over halfway through the book that tried to say the radical fall of society in his scenario was because EVERYONE went blind at once should let him off the hook.

The parts that involved sexual violence were particularly harrowing, and the unending discussion of filth was also not super enjoyable. Now that I've finished the book, I can appreciate the interesting philosophical ideas raised by it, but I'm also thankful that I don't have to get back into the state of mind that I had while reading it.

I really enjoyed Saramego's quieter, more internal writing in All The Names. I prefer to stick to that one when thinking of him as an author.