Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Blindness by José Saramago

24 reviews

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

dan2's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence

morgan_07's review

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

2.0

I read this book as a part of a book club and I think if it weren't for that factor, I probably would've put the book down. I can appreciate the concept and development of the book, but it was pretty slow and the punctuation style was difficult at times. This book was also extremely heavy and could definitely be considered triggering - going into it, I knew it would be like this at times, but not to the extent that it was. I would recommend the novel though to mature fans of Lord of the Flies, as I do see a lot of similarity in between the two books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Physical abuse, and Police brutality

Minor: Alcohol and Excrement

gershgorin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence

Minor: Blood, Confinement, Excrement, Gore, Infidelity, Police brutality, and Vomit