A review by holdensc65
Blindness by José Saramago

4.0

Disturbing, thought provoking, and at times hopeful, this book is unlike anything I've read before. With any kind of social pretenses stripped away, it is an exploration of humans in their rawest form. As said at the end of the book, they were always blind, they just could not see. Greed, hatred, rape, selfishness, any ugly aspect of humanity is exaggerated and brought to the surface as a result of the blindness. Consequently, this also makes moments of kindness or heroism all the more poignant. As another reviewer had said, by the author not reacting the events of the book the audience is forced to have their own reactions. This book forces the reader to have an honest look into humanity and reveals many of the qualities we often turn a blind eye to. The only thing preventing me from giving this book a 5/5 rating is the writing style. By removing conventional writing structures, such as line breaks, quotation marks, and character names, Saramago mimics a sense of blindness and disorientation for the reader. While effective, it also has the effect of making the book difficult to read, and at times like a task.