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It is the wet dream of every anarchist: a society without government, without coercion and repression, where everything runs by itself, where everyone knows his place and does his duty. In this book Saramago outlines such a situation in an unnamed capital. The city is completely abandoned by the government, in a panic reaction because in two successive elections the citizens had voted blank. The focus is not so much on the anarchist virtues, but on the cramped and especially cynical way in which the politicians and government leaders respond to this tacit popular uprising.

Saramago here unleashes his most fierce sarcastic talents, resulting in hilarious conversations between ministers of government, in which the world is turned upside down, showing how gruesome the exercise of power can be. Simply delicious! This part deserves at least 3 stars in my (harsh) rating system.

But after about 200 pages the author suddenly changes tack and turns the story into a sequel to his masterly novel Blindness. Out of the blue a number of characters from that novel emerge again. It is not entirely clear to me what the point of this is, and what it adds to the story. In addition, Saramago gets lost in side intrigues about a at first stern, but then very conscentious police officer. No, this "Seeing" � apart from the absurd sarcasm in the first half of the novel � does not reach the level of the fabulous "Blindness". (rating 2.5 stars)