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blackjessamine's review against another edition
5.0
La natura umana
Probabilmente non ha senso che io aggiunga i miei pochi, bistrattati e banali centesimi a questo fiume colmo di recensioni interessantissime e molto approfondite.
Quello che so è che "Cecità" lo lessi per la prima volta durante l'estate successiva alla mia maturità: avevo un diploma di maturità in tasca, ma quello che mi ha davvero aperto gli occhi (che brutto gioco di parole) credo sia stato proprio questo romanzo.
Saramago mi ha travolta, stravolta, accecata e illuminata. Mi ha costretta a fermarmi per riprendere fiato, per asciugarmi le lacrime e per riflettere a lungo su tante, tante cose.
Sono passati tanti anni da quell'estate, ma la voglia – e il timore – di ritornare fra quelle pagine non mi ha mai abbandonata.
Purtroppo l'audiolettura toglie moltissimo spazio alla prosa di Saramago, che è una prosa immersiva, una prosa dal ritmo serrato in cui il lettore deve immergersi e trovare la propria dimensione. Un audiolibro toglie questo spaesamento, offre una guida e un tracciato fin troppo stabile, e questo è davvero un peccato.
La grandezza di "Cecità" però rimane, rimane e continua a sconvolgere.
Probabilmente non ha senso che io aggiunga i miei pochi, bistrattati e banali centesimi a questo fiume colmo di recensioni interessantissime e molto approfondite.
Quello che so è che "Cecità" lo lessi per la prima volta durante l'estate successiva alla mia maturità: avevo un diploma di maturità in tasca, ma quello che mi ha davvero aperto gli occhi (che brutto gioco di parole) credo sia stato proprio questo romanzo.
Saramago mi ha travolta, stravolta, accecata e illuminata. Mi ha costretta a fermarmi per riprendere fiato, per asciugarmi le lacrime e per riflettere a lungo su tante, tante cose.
Sono passati tanti anni da quell'estate, ma la voglia – e il timore – di ritornare fra quelle pagine non mi ha mai abbandonata.
Purtroppo l'audiolettura toglie moltissimo spazio alla prosa di Saramago, che è una prosa immersiva, una prosa dal ritmo serrato in cui il lettore deve immergersi e trovare la propria dimensione. Un audiolibro toglie questo spaesamento, offre una guida e un tracciato fin troppo stabile, e questo è davvero un peccato.
La grandezza di "Cecità" però rimane, rimane e continua a sconvolgere.
dyno8426's review against another edition
3.0
What made me pick up this book based was the description on the back cover of this book - certain human beings start getting affected by an unknown, untraceable "white" blindness. In order to contain it, the society tries to quarantine the affected people but it rises exponentially until it ends up consuming the entire human population. The idea behind the story is interesting enough -
later conveying the fragility of organization that we witness in our societies through the panic and chaos that ensues because of the rising epidemic. While the idea of blindness is initially recognized as pitiful and tragedy embedded with helplessness, it quickly shows how it breaks down the foundations of morals and ethics in the society as well. How looking and being looked at is an essential part of the judgement which keeps our interactions in tracks. It consistently builds on the symbolism of the eyes being windows to the soul. When no one is looking, what all can humans resort to? Rendered blind with everyone else as blind around you, what all is questionable and what all is allowed in order to survive. We see all these speculations coming into action throughout the story. The lives of the quarantined blind people become hauntingly depressing. With no one to see where one is going, the feeble ties to civilization are severed. It was a repetitive reminder of the filth, putrefaction and disarray that will become part of our lives because humans would resort back to the primitive goals of getting food, relieving themselves and leading nomadic search for survival. Another idea which gets conveyed is how connected the body and the "soul" of a person truly is. How our idea of feeling human is dependent on the physicality of the lives that we lead, rather than whatever cognitive definition we manifest in our minds. Connecting it to the classic theme of the savagery unleashed within us when desperation comes our way.
While all of this was appealing and consistently reminded in the book, the story was pretty weak. It felt more of a survival story, where the main characters are living just to see the end, and they literary "see" to the end (terrible pun to release the disappointment). It puts these interesting ideas up front but never faces it fully. Also, the weird writing style which makes it dense to read and not pleasantly unique for me (a long sequence of conversation punctuated neither with quotes nor with full stops, just commas). It promised to be thought-provoking but turned out to be shallow in addressing these thoughts. Apocalyptic fiction is an indulgence of mine and this book was a major letdown in that respect.
later conveying the fragility of organization that we witness in our societies through the panic and chaos that ensues because of the rising epidemic. While the idea of blindness is initially recognized as pitiful and tragedy embedded with helplessness, it quickly shows how it breaks down the foundations of morals and ethics in the society as well. How looking and being looked at is an essential part of the judgement which keeps our interactions in tracks. It consistently builds on the symbolism of the eyes being windows to the soul. When no one is looking, what all can humans resort to? Rendered blind with everyone else as blind around you, what all is questionable and what all is allowed in order to survive. We see all these speculations coming into action throughout the story. The lives of the quarantined blind people become hauntingly depressing. With no one to see where one is going, the feeble ties to civilization are severed. It was a repetitive reminder of the filth, putrefaction and disarray that will become part of our lives because humans would resort back to the primitive goals of getting food, relieving themselves and leading nomadic search for survival. Another idea which gets conveyed is how connected the body and the "soul" of a person truly is. How our idea of feeling human is dependent on the physicality of the lives that we lead, rather than whatever cognitive definition we manifest in our minds. Connecting it to the classic theme of the savagery unleashed within us when desperation comes our way.
While all of this was appealing and consistently reminded in the book, the story was pretty weak. It felt more of a survival story, where the main characters are living just to see the end, and they literary "see" to the end (terrible pun to release the disappointment). It puts these interesting ideas up front but never faces it fully. Also, the weird writing style which makes it dense to read and not pleasantly unique for me (a long sequence of conversation punctuated neither with quotes nor with full stops, just commas). It promised to be thought-provoking but turned out to be shallow in addressing these thoughts. Apocalyptic fiction is an indulgence of mine and this book was a major letdown in that respect.
elysehdez19's review against another edition
5.0
¡QUÉ LIBRAZO!
José Saramago es uno de mis autores favoritos aunque siento que no he leído lo suficiente de él. Por alguna razón no había leído su libro más elogiado y conocido. Sin embargo, ahora que ya conozco más sobre la escritura de él pude disfrutar mucho más este libro.
La premisa ya es bastante conocida, y realmente eso no es tan importante como todo lo que Saramago nos va contando y la manera en cómo se va viviendo.
Confieso que tuve que dejar de leer el libro en más de una ocasión por la crudeza de los eventos plasmados.
José Saramago es uno de mis autores favoritos aunque siento que no he leído lo suficiente de él. Por alguna razón no había leído su libro más elogiado y conocido. Sin embargo, ahora que ya conozco más sobre la escritura de él pude disfrutar mucho más este libro.
La premisa ya es bastante conocida, y realmente eso no es tan importante como todo lo que Saramago nos va contando y la manera en cómo se va viviendo.
Confieso que tuve que dejar de leer el libro en más de una ocasión por la crudeza de los eventos plasmados.
franziska_piffer's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
cossmo's review
adventurous
challenging
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
suzzeb22's review
2.0
I must confess to not getting the gist of this book at all. I tried. Certainly did. The beginning has so much promise. But, honestly, people do not behave in these ways. Be it in trying times, under duress, life threatening situations, whatever, they just don't. Okay, so this must be an allegory for something else. But what? Please explain!
lalexare's review against another edition
5.0
Scritto in maniera magistrale, con una scrittura non scorrevole, non convenzionale, fatta di periodi molto lunghi che conferiscono una certa complessità all'opera, senza che questo ne penalizzi comunque la leggibilità.
Un testo crudo, che descrive in maniera spietata la disumanizzazione di un'umanità che ha improvvisamente e misteriosamente perso il senso della vista, e non sa se lo riacquisterà mai.
"Secondo me non siamo diventati ciechi, secondo me lo siamo, ciechi che, pur vedendo, non vedono".
Un testo crudo, che descrive in maniera spietata la disumanizzazione di un'umanità che ha improvvisamente e misteriosamente perso il senso della vista, e non sa se lo riacquisterà mai.
"Secondo me non siamo diventati ciechi, secondo me lo siamo, ciechi che, pur vedendo, non vedono".
sberek's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25