Overall Rating- 4 out of 5 starsIt won the Nobel Prize for Literature. It's written by a foreign guy. It uses limited punctuation and refrains from quotation marks. Run-ons abound. These things should make an outstanding book, right? A true staple of 21st century literature! But does it?
Well, maybe.
I admit that my expectations going into Blindness (Harvest Book)
by José Saramago were pretty darn high. I was expecting nothing short of a masterpiece. And what I got was... good, but not exactly a life changer. There were lots of very memorable moments, and some thoroughly haunting scenes, but I honestly couldn't help feeling a sense of deja vu by the end of the book. I've read so many books that show some big event bringing out the true nature of man in all its revolting glory, and this, although very good, seemed at times like more of the same.
The plot line was interesting, however. The idea was that the whole world goes blind through some kind of epidemic, hence the title. Through some stroke of luck, one woman is immune to the blindness and acts as a sort of guide to her husband, and later a whole group of blind followers. The book mainly talks about how, once everyone starts to become blind, morals and order go out the window, and every man is left to fend for himself. There is a lot of violence in the book, and there are some pretty disturbing scenes, some of them sexual.
I guess what really got me in the end was... the end. It was a little sudden. And a little confusing. I was expecting some kind of explanation or moral, but I didn't really get one. Maybe it was there and I just didn't get it. As it was, it made the whole blindness thing seem like an excuse to write about the horrors of human nature and the prevailing goodness that exists, etc. But, maybe I just need to read the sequel (Seeing).
Overall, it was a good book. Just not the fantastic marvel I was expecting. Please do tell me if you read it and loved it more than I. If you haven't read it, I would suggest you do, but be warned that it is not light and fluffy reading. As I said, some parts are pretty disturbing, and you are going to want to read it when you don't have a billion other things on your mind.
Well, maybe.
I admit that my expectations going into Blindness (Harvest Book)
by José Saramago were pretty darn high. I was expecting nothing short of a masterpiece. And what I got was... good, but not exactly a life changer. There were lots of very memorable moments, and some thoroughly haunting scenes, but I honestly couldn't help feeling a sense of deja vu by the end of the book. I've read so many books that show some big event bringing out the true nature of man in all its revolting glory, and this, although very good, seemed at times like more of the same.The plot line was interesting, however. The idea was that the whole world goes blind through some kind of epidemic, hence the title. Through some stroke of luck, one woman is immune to the blindness and acts as a sort of guide to her husband, and later a whole group of blind followers. The book mainly talks about how, once everyone starts to become blind, morals and order go out the window, and every man is left to fend for himself. There is a lot of violence in the book, and there are some pretty disturbing scenes, some of them sexual.
I guess what really got me in the end was... the end. It was a little sudden. And a little confusing. I was expecting some kind of explanation or moral, but I didn't really get one. Maybe it was there and I just didn't get it. As it was, it made the whole blindness thing seem like an excuse to write about the horrors of human nature and the prevailing goodness that exists, etc. But, maybe I just need to read the sequel (Seeing).
Overall, it was a good book. Just not the fantastic marvel I was expecting. Please do tell me if you read it and loved it more than I. If you haven't read it, I would suggest you do, but be warned that it is not light and fluffy reading. As I said, some parts are pretty disturbing, and you are going to want to read it when you don't have a billion other things on your mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment