Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - Blindness

Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Blindness by José Saramago

27 reviews

moscatel's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Continuo a amar o estilo do Saramago, é tão único e cheio de personalidade. Entendo que não seja para todos, por causa dos devaneios e juízos de moral constantes, mas eu acho que tem o seu charme.
Estive o livro todo a tentar formular para que defeito humano é que a cegueira era uma analogia (ou metáfora, não sei bem a diferença) e porque é que só uma personagem não cegou, mas não consegui chegar a nenhuma conclusão.

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stinekristin's review against another edition

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dark reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No

2.0

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mazzoccatoadele's review

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challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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lucimolri's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense 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? No

3.5

Me ha gustado bastante! Mi mayor problema ha sido lo de que no estén marcados los diálogos y que se nota bastante que está escrito por un hombre, if you know what I mean…
Ha sido durillo y tenso, no es para todo el mundo

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nannahnannah's review against another edition

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1.0

Y I K E S.

Spoonies beware!
This book is terribly exhausting to read, and if you have trouble keeping your place when reading or have trouble reading long paragraphs, spare yourself the spoons and don't read this book. It's not worth it, I promise!

So this book begins with one man (with no name; nobody in this book has a name. They're referred to as "doctor", "the doctor's wife", "the boy with a squint", etc.) who suddenly sees only whiteness. This "blindness" spreads like a virus, and soon everybody has it. The Ministry tries to contain it at first, putting those affected into quarantine - in a mental asylum, no less.

Now, this book is written in an infuriating way that gets old after . . . say, 10 pages. There's almost no periods. Run-ons are everywhere. No quotation marks. No new paragraphs to differentiate who's saying what. No new sentences to differentiate who's saying what. I don't know about you, but that right there sounds like a dystopia. Again, spoonies beware! I have tired eyes and chronic fatigue, so I had to have a bookmark keep track of my reading line, or else there would be no way I could keep my place in this no-paragraph mess of meandering words.

It's also impossible to enjoy or at least become engaged by because it's so damn sexist and ableist!! The men had titles like "doctor", "the first blind man", etc., while the women had these: "first blind man's wife", "doctor's wife", etc. The narrator also had to tell the audience how surprising it was that the sex worker had good relations with her parents, given her career. ?? I don't even want to get into that right now.

There was also a scene that other reviewers here have talked about much more eloquently than I could - a scene so violently disgusting that I can't believe this book is so highly praised. It's a rape scene, where women line up and "volunteer" to be raped by some ruffians in exchange so that they and their husbands can get some food. Of course, this scene had to be described in such vivid detail that I'm 100% sure it was some sick thing the author put in to jack off to. I usually don't input such disgusting things into my reviews but in this case . . . it was that disgusting.

And the ableism! This man had to have hated blind people to such a degree I can't even fathom. Let this be a lesson to all: don't use disabilities as metaphors for whatever gross thing in humanity you want to point out! Just don't do it. Don't.

I can't even count the number of times the word "blind" was used to point out something terrible in humanity, or even so bluntly as just to point out how awful being blind was. That to be blind was to be dead, and vice versa. Let's find one quote though . . . here's one: "What is your name, Blind people do not need a name." Beautiful.

Not to mention, in the end

everyone regained their sight! Oh boy what an ending! This probably started the magical cure trope, I don't know. It's sure annoying in any case. The protagonists learned their lessons, so their "disability was cured"!

Amazing, give the book a prize!

This book was an awful reading experience. And so ableist I can't recommend it to anyone. Please read something by an actually blind author.

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