Reviews

Ensaio sobre a Lucidez by José Saramago

moscatel's review

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

3.5

estou satisfeito, mas soube um pouco a pouco

manells_'s review

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

5.0

beabaptistaa's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

se eu leio mais um livro mid EU É QUE VOU ANDAR AOS TIROS

conceito? genial. escrita saramagueira-filosofeira? no ponto. a narrativa em concreto? uma desgraça….. o que é que acontece quando mais de metade de uma população vota em branco? temos caos! queremos fazer um comentário político! mas, na minha humilde opinião, o meu amigo saramago perdeu-se completamente. os momentos mais altos foram o início e as ligações finais com o ensaio sobre a cegueira, tirando isso, foi praticamente encher chouriças, até chegarmos a um final super apressado, que apesar de fazer sentido com o resto, aparece muito a correr para fechar esta história que tinha tanto potencial. 

continuo curiosa com os outros livros dele epa mas passava muito bem sem ter lido este.

raquelf's review

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4.0

A cegueira de sempre.

autumndream's review against another edition

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4.0

Memorable quote:

"As I've learned in this job, not only are the people in government never put off by what we judge to be absurd, they make use of absurdities to dull consciences and to destroy reason." -Superintendent

tnorthcu's review against another edition

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4.0

This book was not as engaging as Blindness, but it was still pretty good. The plot did not move as quickly and I had a hard time staying focused. There are very few paragraph breaks and huge parts of the text that are dedicated to the government and are (probably accurately) written in a dry, sort of boring tone. The concept behind the book is interesting. The ending was (as in blindness) a bit abrupt and unsatisfactory. But, looking beyond all that, the concept makes the book worth reading. I would certainly recommend Blindness over Seeing though.

bibliocinephile's review against another edition

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4.0

i’m all for a book with an ending that’s open for interpretation. i love books with tragic endings or nuanced endings or subtle endings. however, the ending of this one was a bit too esoteric. the incredible pickup in pace in the last 5 pages after a slog of a third act was refreshing and very enjoyable, but it abruptly stopped somewhere that felt unfinished. however, the book itself is genius and i would be remiss to knock down stars for one iffy ending. the style is beautiful and unique, and highly specific yet still detached musings of the political figures makes them easily transportable into any modern country—a scary thought given how accurate a web of deceit and lies saramago creates. a stunning satire and a satire that’s a departure from ones i normally read! excellent.

lem0ngirl's review

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slow-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

beatrice0607's review against another edition

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challenging reflective tense slow-paced

2.75

delaguila19's review against another edition

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4.0

El ensayo sobre la lucidez empieza con un evento inverosimil: La votacion en blanco consigue la mayoria. Los votantes de una ciudad sin nombre(como nos tiene acostumbrado Saramago), sin un motivo aparente votan en blanco en la elecciones municipales y esto es un golpe a la democracia segun los politicos de los tres partidos, la derecha el centro y la izquierda. El gobierno organiza una segunda eleccion que es lo que corresponde en esos casos y el resultado sigue siendo el mismo, y es alli donde las cosas se complican.
La novela tiene una trama muy interesante y explora el evento en primera instancia desde la perspective de la clase politica dominante, el presidente el primer ministro y todo el gabinete , tienen reuniones para tomar accion,aveces los dialogos son un poco densos, pero saramago tiene esa habilidad de volver a enganchar al lector con una descripcion de la sitiacion desde la perspectiva del narrador omnisciente y eso le da siempre una cuota de interes a la lectura.
Donde la trama se pone mas interesante es obviamente en los ultimos captitulos, donde ya los presonajes se tornan mas humanos, quiero decir que ya no son los politicos que toman decisiones apresuradas o hasta autoritarias, es en los capitulos finales donde se ve la escencia de lo que se plantea con la situacion del voto en blanco. supongo que cada lector puede interpretarlo de formas distintas, en lo personal me inclino a pensar que las balas no pueden acabar con un ideal.