Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Ensayo Sobre La Ceguera by José Saramago

32 reviews

diana311's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

jodzy's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

2.25

I really don't like slandering someone's work, especially because Saramago is a Nobel Prize winner, but I really couldn't wait more for this book to be over. Not because it was so gruesome in a good way, that it shook me deeply - it was gruesome in a bad way. 
I listened to the audio book version on Audible (I liked the narrator), therefor I didn't have any experience with the "confusing" writing people are critiquing, so I can't have any say in that. However, I don't quite understand what he was trying to say with this book, I found it rather misanthropic for no good reason. One thing that particularly stood out to me was the way he wrote women characters and his fetishization of extremely disturbing SA scenes, that (in my opinion) brought no real substance to the general story. While reading, it's almost like I felt his enjoyment in writing that.
Overall, I think this book had some good ideas, I liked the concept, but I think the execution could have been done better. I wouldn't recommend this book to others personally, there are other dystopian works that would probably be a more enjoyable (or uncomfortable but valuable) experience. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Excrement, and Sexual harassment

slrsnz's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Saramago is not for everyone, people that need structured readings will certainly struggle with his novels. 

That being said, this is my second book by him and his imagination amazes me. Truly makes you wonder about how fragile society can be in extreme situations like this, and how dependent we are of everyone, how connected we all are in one way or another. The story having a “good ending” doesn’t save the characters from all the hurdles they have yet to go through to return to a modern society. 

Saramago is slowly becoming one of my favorites, you honestly get used to the dialogues and at times to me they flow way smoother than structured ones. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

_ami_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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? No

4.0

That was a very hard read, not because of the lack of quotation marks or paragraphing, but that halfway. I felt sick to my stomach. But it was a great story that explores the human mind and behaviour at these circumstances.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Vomit, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infidelity and Grief

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

Moderate: Ableism, Confinement, Rape, and Police brutality

Minor: Infidelity and Vomit

moscatel's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Continuo a amar o estilo do Saramago, é tão único e cheio de personalidade. Entendo que não seja para todos, por causa dos devaneios e juízos de moral constantes, mas eu acho que tem o seu charme.
Estive o livro todo a tentar formular para que defeito humano é que a cegueira era uma analogia (ou metáfora, não sei bem a diferença) e porque é que só uma personagem não cegou, mas não consegui chegar a nenhuma conclusão.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Grief, Car accident, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia and Suicidal thoughts

stinekristin's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Confinement, Blood, and Medical content

mazzoccatoadele's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infidelity, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

lucimolri's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense 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? No

3.5

Me ha gustado bastante! Mi mayor problema ha sido lo de que no estén marcados los diálogos y que se nota bastante que está escrito por un hombre, if you know what I mean…
Ha sido durillo y tenso, no es para todo el mundo

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

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, Rape, and Sexual harassment