Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira by José Saramago

29 reviews

carolab's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Gun violence, Blood, Body horror, Vomit, Death, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

 3 ⭐ CW: sex work, violence, unwanted touching, rape, descriptions of blood, open wounds, and feces, animals eating corpses, quarantine

Blindness by José Saramago is a fiction novel translated from Portuguese to English. I won't lie, this was a rough read for me. The author doesn't use any dialogue tags nor does he even have any of differentiating dialogue from prose other than a comma (of which there are a lot, so good luck) and a capitalized letter. This was a slower read for me, because I often had to reread passages the be sure I understood the dialogue. The story itself was interesting, and I might have enjoyed it more as a movie.

Out of nowhere people are being struck blind, seeing only white instead of darkness. No one knows why or how this occuring, but it seems contagious, so they start some pretty extreme quarantine measures. The first people to go blind are rounded up and placed in an abandoned mental institution without help, doctors, or guidance. They are even barred from leaving by the military, who uses force when they feel threatened.

We follow a core group of people whose names we never learn. We witness the atrocities they witness and experienced when their time in quartile turned to chaos and robbed them of their dignity. Only one person hasn't gone blind, a woman referred to only as the doctor's wife. She alone carries the burden of sight for so many people.

This book was ultimately a story of loss. Loss of sight, loss of dignity, loss of life, loss of civilization, and the futility of it all. I'm glad I read this, but I'm good on reading another book formatted in this way. It might have been alright as an audiobook, if you do those. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Blood, Excrement, and Vomit

Moderate: Sexual content and Sexual harassment

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

rosalind's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Rape, Murder, Violence, Sexual violence, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Vomit, and Excrement

okjuls's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

I wished it was longer, I think the world José built was very well thought and I would really like to read more about it! I also like that it is focused on the characters' challenge to navigate the world they suddently find themselves in, and their friendship and mutual aid. Also there are some trigger warnings, for example for rape (but i think there are more that i can't think of right now).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Rape, Sexual content, and Ableism

Moderate: Blood, Death, and Cursing

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment

tatiana_vbb's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Violence

8odell's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Violence

morgan_07's review against another edition

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

therowdypi's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, and Confinement

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, and Police brutality