Blindness

I’ve been thinking about what kind of book to promote here for a little while and finally decided, why not go with one of my all time faves?!? The title of this book by Jose Saramago might be familiar to some readers as the film version of the story was recently released. Please do not take the critiques of the film as any indication of the quality of the original. As Louis A. Safian has stated: “You can’t tell a book by its movie”!

I first read this book a few years ago and am still searching for another title that can compare to the effect it had on me. Saramago’s work almost always describes events occurring in unnamed cities, which allows the reader to imagine the plot unfolding anywhere they like. In Blindness, there is a sudden and all encompassing epidemic of people losing their vision with no warning. What follows as the “symptoms” spread and infect seemingly everyone is complete and utter chaos. The reaction of city officials is alarming to say the least. In turn, the ability of the citizens to show both great cruelty and great compassion towards one another is amazing.

The follow-up to this book was released in 2006 (“Seeing”), however I found it rather disappointing and struggled to make it through the first 100 pages before eventually giving up. I got the impression it was published in an effort to capitalize on the popularity of “Blindness”. Saramago’s latest book however, entitled “Death with Interruptions” is high on my list of books to be read this summer and I have heard many good reviews of it so far.