Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Ensaio sobre a cegueira by José Saramago

8 reviews

jayvdw's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.25

What happens when the world turns blind in a matter of weeks? That is the question the book tries to answer. It is an interesting delve into human nature when exposed to a sudden and drastic change in one's senses and conditions. 

The book is very interesting and a lot of different events take place. It takes a little while before the main character, the doctor's wife, is presented. The only person left who can see but presents to be blind. Through her eyes we see the conditions put on the blind, the first hastily put up quarantine, fuelled by fear, the conditions that followed, and the world just shortly after everyone has turned blind in a matter of weeks.

The book however is written difficultly, what is said is only separated by a comma before and after the text, and it is not written down who said what. The task of figuring this out is left to the reader. This style fits very well with the book's themes and puts the reader into the mind of the blind. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Murder, and Sexual harassment

soffeg6's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

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. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Pandemic/Epidemic

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.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Bullying, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Panic attacks/disorders

mariahribeiro's review

i literally cannot phisically finish this book because i despise it and it makes me fee terrible

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Excrement, and Injury/Injury detail

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.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Cannibalism, and Medical trauma

csteidl93's review against another edition

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

shelvedbysara's review

challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Review: This book is emotional torture, but it is brilliant. It provides such a visceral depiction of human suffering and of the fight for survival. The eminent presence of death makes the reading experience quite tense and even agonising - sometimes it’s hard to put some distance between your world and and the one you're absorbed in for you can feel the characters’ pain as if you were experiencing it yourself. The white blindness is also a great metaphor and Saramago uncovers its’ subtle meaning quite brilliantly by questioning whether the blindness of the eyes is also one of the mind.

Summary: When a man goes mysteriously blind as he is driving home, an epidemic of white blindness spreads around the country. The first cases are transferred to a closed complex to complete a period of quarantine and they form a group whose journey we follow throughout the entire narrative. They are nameless people living in a nameless city during a nameless era in time. Only their experiences are ever labelled - blindness, abuse, suffering, despair, hope - which grants them a universal meaning. Ensaios Sobre a Cegueira (Blindness) is a literary analysis of what it means to be blinded not just by eyes that cannot see, but also by fear.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infidelity and Vomit