cnyreader 's review for:

Blindness by Henry Green
3.0

John is a student at boarding school and in the middle of his last year, is blinded in a fluke accident. This short novel shows us a bit of his life before blindness, but mostly how he and his family (including servants, because it's that kind of family) adjust.

Green wrote this as an undergrad at Oxford, which explains the accuracy with which he portrays the young man's mindset. He also writes about John and his family's mourning of John's sight in a way that feels very, very real. It's easy to empathize with each character and assume their perspective.

Food: this is reminiscent of my experience eating a home made Ukrainian meal for the first time. I didn't know what I was eating and had very little context for what to expect. I had to trust my host to guide me in what I was eating and how to go about consuming it.