Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Blindness by José Saramago

17 reviews

teawiththefates's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

1.0

This is the absolute bleakest view of humanity and I hated it. As well, I found the stylistic choices made it impossible to read - every page was a wall of text with almost no differentiation to signal who was speaking. The audio version made it more accessible but because of the incredibly dark content, I would never have finished this book if it wasn’t what my book club was reading that month. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Ableism, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Excrement, Sexual assault, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Violence

flygonjinn's review

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

0.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Pandemic/Epidemic, Ableism, and Excrement

Moderate: Infidelity, Medical trauma, and Mental illness

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

silversomber's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful sad slow-paced

5.0

It can take a little adjusting to the lack of quotation marks for speech, but that is one of the only 'faults' I can think of. This is book is beautiful, sad, and a look into humanity at it's core- the darkest parts and the lightest. Reflecting back on it post pandemic gives it new light, seeing how that first sweeping panic and uncertainty gripped the world, and the last impact it can leave.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Violence, Ableism, and Sexual assault

guinness74's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

An almost perfect book. An incredible work that is reminiscent of the early days of COVID, it has the grit of Upton Sinclair mixed with the wildness of Golding’s ‘Lord of the Flies.’ A terrifying pandemic begins slowly but increases exponentially turning the world blind in Saramago’s novel. Chaos reigns as attempts are made to stanch the ‘infection,’ but the world continues to spin. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual assault, Violence, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Ableism, Confinement, Rape, and Police brutality

Minor: Infidelity and Vomit

booitsnathalie's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Excrement, Sexual assault, Confinement, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Murder, Ableism, and Blood

Minor: Suicide

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

nannahnannah's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Sexual harassment, and Rape

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

joshsimp's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad slow-paced

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

2.5

I suspect José has never met a blind person

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Gore, and Murder

Minor: Abandonment