Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Blindheten by José Saramago

6 reviews

bugzecat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

No spoilers but the ending felt like it was rushed and finished prematurely and left me wanting and disappointed. There was also an astounding amount of ableism and harmful untrue stereotypes in this book that had me rolling my eyes and getting aggravated frequently. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Death, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Ableism, and Confinement

thenoboshow's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I found this book hard to look away from in some sort of morbid fascination. This book hits different after living through a pandemic teeming with selfish idiots. "This is exactly what would happen if this were to happen." An unfortunate mantra throught the reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, Chronic illness, Confinement, Excrement, Sexual violence, Ableism, Medical content, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, and Sexism

Moderate: Misogyny, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, and Infidelity

mariahribeiro's review against another edition

i literally cannot phisically finish this book because i despise it and it makes me fee terrible

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Violence, Misogyny, Gore, Rape, Excrement, and Death

annihilatrix's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

Truly just so much poop and rape and poop.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Violence, Vomit, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexism, Physical abuse, Grief, Sexual assault, Rape, Emotional abuse, Chronic illness, Cannibalism, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Police brutality, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Fatphobia, and Ableism

csteidl93's review against another edition

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Physical abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Vomit, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Sexual content

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

shelvedbysara's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Review: This book is emotional torture, but it is brilliant. It provides such a visceral depiction of human suffering and of the fight for survival. The eminent presence of death makes the reading experience quite tense and even agonising - sometimes it’s hard to put some distance between your world and and the one you're absorbed in for you can feel the characters’ pain as if you were experiencing it yourself. The white blindness is also a great metaphor and Saramago uncovers its’ subtle meaning quite brilliantly by questioning whether the blindness of the eyes is also one of the mind.

Summary: When a man goes mysteriously blind as he is driving home, an epidemic of white blindness spreads around the country. The first cases are transferred to a closed complex to complete a period of quarantine and they form a group whose journey we follow throughout the entire narrative. They are nameless people living in a nameless city during a nameless era in time. Only their experiences are ever labelled - blindness, abuse, suffering, despair, hope - which grants them a universal meaning. Ensaios Sobre a Cegueira (Blindness) is a literary analysis of what it means to be blinded not just by eyes that cannot see, but also by fear.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infidelity and Vomit