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Scary!

Sounds brilliant! Great review and love the Stephen Fry quote - nice touch.

It's going to be under my to-read list! Have you seen the movie? I didn't know it was adapted from a book until today.

Great review - I'm adding to my TBR pile!

This review wants to make me read it more than the short content!

We read this in Literature Class. It really was disturbing.

Litchick (is stuck in the 19th century) wrote: ""Talk about blind panic..."

Ba-da-bum. I love the idea of this concept, but I feel like I'd be one of those who found the writing style really distracting. Great review, Em ^_^"

You know you love what I did there ;) And thanks, I can see why it would be off-putting but it just worked for me this time.

One of my favourite books of all time! Amazing. Humans are really just like animals when society breaks down and chaos reigns.

I read the book back in college. It's amazing what happens in such little time when people are in a panic like that.

Now that you've read the book, I suggest watching the movie as well.

One of the best portuguese autors and this book is really amazing, glad you liked it !

I remember reading this when it first came out and thinking how a simple concept turned into such a wonderful book. In this world it's the last ones who can see that are virtual gods. If we were all blind would racism exist and/or what form would it take?!? I thought the movie version was well done. Delightful review.

I really loved this book too! Saramago is an amazing writer. I have several other books by him I need to get to.
I wanted to ask you what you thought of the translation, I read it in Spanish so it wasn't a big deal since the original is in Portugue, which is really similar.

This book is on my To-read list, really interesting story. Going to source this ASAP. Great review by the way :)

I have now added this to my to-read list thanks to your review! Worried about the writing style but it sounds like a brilliant storyline so I'll definitely give it a go. :)

i love the movie . i did not know it was a book. he he / lovely review, emily

What Rogier said - the plot sounded really familiar and then I realized that I had watched the movie! ('Twas pretty good too.) Shall definitely check out the book now!

I'm gonna have to check out the film now too, can't resist... ;)

It's interesting that you took notice of the main characteristics of Saramago's writing. As a student of Literature in Portuguese, I've heard about them on and on, but they really are essential in most of his works. One of the most amazing things about him, in my opinion, is how he creates those scenarios that might seem impossible at first, but he really makes them work, and with that he shows the deep structure of society and human life. There's another work from him that I think you might like; I don't know if there is a translation to English, but the title in Portuguese is As Intermitências da Morte. It's the same "formula" of dystopia, I guess, but it's actually a quite light and fun read. Anyway, thanks for making this review and giving the opportunity to more people to know this brilliant author of Portuguese literature.

The writing style was painful to read at first, but I was soon paying too much attention to the horror of the plot to notice. Nice review, Emily. That Stephen Fry quote sums up this book perfectly!

I remember seeing the movie version of this, so disturbing, I must read the book too.

Maxine wrote: "I remember seeing the movie version of this, so disturbing, I must read the book too."

This book is interesting. I know the movies is passed in tv some days ago. I prefer to read the book, as soon as possible, and after that watch the movie.

What do you think about the movie?

Did you read often Saramago? What do you think about their books?

I'm so happy that you loved to read this book. Specially since the author is portuguese just like me (nothing really related to book but ok xD) :)

Going blind is one of my biggest fears so this book will probably absolutely terrify me. But your review has me intrigued! I always trust your reviews so I think I will definitely pick this up! (:

For the longest time, I didn't even know this was a book and so I made the mistake of watching the movie. I typically always read the books first and your review really makes me wish I had done that. Still, it's going on my to-read list now. Great review :)

The writing style drove me crazy at first, but then I realized how symbolic it was, leaving the reader wandering through the text with little direction, like the characters with there lack of sight, and that made it more enjoyable. So glad you reviewed and enjoyed this one!

I saw the movie and I was completely horrified and a bit confused..

Thank you for your review! You inspired me to read it and I LOVED the book so much!

Lee ~(now all your love is wasted? then who the hell was I?)~ wrote: "Thank you for your review! You inspired me to read it and I LOVED the book so much!"

No problem! I'm glad you enjoyed it :)

This book is so scary and so... realistic. Completely agree. This book is so realistic it's actually scary.

You know, the writing style in this book is just Saramago's writing style. I first thought, like you,that it was like a metaphor to the book, but then I found out that's just how he writes all of his works.

Great review! :)

I really liked this book but it is worth noting that the 'writing style' is his normal way of writing and not a technique used symbolically to enhance the concept of blindness.

As usual, great review !

Wonderful review - beautifully written. You've made me want to read the book, and you've also set a new standard for my own write-ups. Thank you!

Emily May wrote; "Just imagine that you are going about your daily life as you always do; it's a normal day, everything should be as it always is."

It would be very helpful to know whether or not it was a good bathroom day.

this is a thousand times better than the actual summary

As a Portuguese reader, it's great seeing foreigners reviewing a book by one of the not-so-many-authors-as-we'd-like being published internationally. And a great review! A quick note, though, about Saramago's writing style... He's known for the almost lack of punctuation and the rest, it's not exclusive to that novel.

Ricardo wrote: "As a Portuguese reader, it's great seeing foreigners reviewing a book by one of the not-so-many-authors-as-we'd-like being published internationally. And a great review! A quick note, though, about..."

Thank you! And yeah, I am familiar with Saramago's experimental styles. I like that he does something different. I should also mention that I just edited this review to correct grammatical errors, but I actually read it 5 years ago :)

I’m intrigued, for sure, but also wonder to say he thinks you might be able to help with. First, if one has developed vision problems, do you think that this would be too intense for that particular reader? Secondly, how do you think this will translate in an audiobook?

My first experience with the excellent Bird Box was as an audiobook, and I found it to be the perfect media for that particular plot. Without the physical geography of pages so that one could glance ahead and see, for example, “I have seven pages left to go with this chapter�� The author and narrator had you wandering around blind and therefore subject to great and horrible surprises.

Your thoughts? Thanks, mamacita.

Ugh!! Sorry for typos...am dictating to Siri.

LeAnne wrote: "I’m intrigued, for sure, but also wonder to say he thinks you might be able to help with. First, if one has developed vision problems, do you think that this would be too intense for that particula..."

That's a good question, actually. This was unsettling for someone like me - who isn't blind - so it does seem like it would be quite intense for those who are.

I'm not an audiobook listener myself but I would imagine this works great on audio. It probably intensifies the "blind panic", as I put it.

This is such an insightful review, Emily! I am surely adding it to my TBR list.

Such a wonderful book! It's one of my favorites!

Added to my ever increasing to read list. As always, thanks for such a great review 😊

I’ve been having such a hard time finishing this book. It’s been 3 months! Which it is a good book so far, but I just never crave to pick it back up. Your review definitely makes me want to give it another chance.

Wow, this book sounds *incredibly* ableist. Not only is it demonizing disability, and using blindness in an incredibly ableist, fear-mongering way, but then the book demonizes all of society once this disability becomes prevalent.

I just want to say, as a person who has many friends and family members who are legally blind, that blindness is not the end of the world. Blind people are still fully human beings who can live full and wonderful lives.

And the idea that all of society is a bunch of monsters? Or that we would all become monsters if we were physically disabled? Or that we all turn into monsters when something really, really scary happens that no one can explain? The f*ck?? What kind of bullsh*t is this?? When 9/11 happened, plenty of people ran *into* the buildings to help people get out, trying to save lives. There were 19 hijackers that day, and there were **hundreds and hundreds and hundreds** of people who stepped up as heroes, to save the lives of people who were absolute strangers. And some of those heroes are still dying from lung conditions and other health problems caused by the dust they breathed from the debris.

But I guess the author of this book would assume that 9/11 should have turned us all into monsters, because scary situation = everyone becomes evil. And in this ableist book, blindness = scary situation, not a condition that people happen to live with every day.

A friend gave me this book two years ago, telling me it was one of her all-time favorites. I had *no* idea what it was about. I also had no idea it had been turned into a movie. I'm glad I read this review because I'm going to throw this book in the garbage. I don't need this kind of ableist propaganda in my life.

Losing your vision doesn't turn you into an animal. And I personally know and love too many people who volunteer as firefighters and EMTs, and teachers who take shooter-defense-training to protect the children they teach, to subscribe to some bullsh*t message that humanity is just a bunch of assholes ready to kill each other at any moment. F*ck this book and f*ck its ableist messaging. I would never give this book to anyone I knew who was blind. I would cut my own arm off first.

Melissa wrote: "Wow, this book sounds *incredibly* ableist. Not only is it demonizing disability, and using blindness in an incredibly ableist, fear-mongering way, but then the book demonizes all of society once t..."

Wow, I'm sorry you see it that way without even having read it Melissa. I think it is a very empathetic and thoughtful book that is nowhere near as black and white as you seem to have assumed. It does not demonize all society - in fact, there are many good people in the book - but shows how this situation could be manipulated by a few.

I also find it strange that you think it is "being blind" that turns some people in this book into monsters. It's not. It's not being seen. It's a lack of shame; a lack of judgement; a lack of accountability. Blindness isn't demonized; anonymity and shamelessness is. I think there are interesting parallels you can draw between this and today's internet trolls.

Emily May wrote: "I also find it strange that you think it is "being blind" that turns some people in this book into monsters."

I was referring to the last statement of your review, which notes that it is the spread of blindness that leads to "the disintegration of society" in this novel. I also read a comment above that states: "One of my favourite books of all time! Amazing. Humans are really just like animals when society breaks down and chaos reigns."

I looked for some comments by disability studies writers in regards to this book, and here is what one person states of this novel:

"Really interesting, but very problematic�� frequently sexist and blindness exists only as a metaphor for the worst side of human nature. People who experience this white blindness quickly become animals, shitting their beds, hording food, lashing out violently. In fact, the author has them referring to one another as animals: when one character asks the other his name, he responds “what use would names be to us, no dog recognizes another dog�� by name (52). So throughout the story, people are referred to by a descriptor. Predictably, the married women are referred to as [whoever’s] wife, and not as autonomous beings. Even the doctor’s wife, whom I will refer to as the woman who could see, is nothing more than her husband’s job."

In my own comment about this book, I used the word "monster," but as the other comment used the word "animals" and that is also used by this other writer, it seems like the word "animal" would be more appropriate. But in this instance, "animal" and "monster" are used in similar ways.

The above quote was taken from a writer who also had this to say, in regards to their own study of ableism in this book:

"I shall examine how this novel constructs blindness metaphorically, exploring the links Saramago draws between physical and moral blindness, sight and humanity. I shall then explore the problems with employing disabilities as metaphors, and how this common trend speaks to the ways in which disability haunts our culture. In doing so, I hope to tease out the ableism upon which stories such as these are predicated, in the belief that doing so is the necessary first step to expelling these traits."

I don't think I'm the only reader who looked at a summary like yours regarding the content of this book and decided this book was incredibly ableist. I understand that we all have our own opinions of books, and feel differently about things. For me, this book is ableist and I would never recommend it to anyone who was blind or had a disability that required them to receive assistance with their basic needs.

When information like this is in a book: "People who experience this white blindness quickly become animals, shitting their beds, hording food, lashing out violently." -- then I definitely want nothing to do with it.

Melissa wrote: "Emily May wrote: "I also find it strange that you think it is "being blind" that turns some people in this book into monsters."

I was referring to the last statement of your review, which notes th..."

I understand your decision not to read it. I didn't interpret it the way the disability studies writers did, but then I am aware of my privilege on that matter. It's actually been five years since I read it (I just edited some of the grammar in my old reviews), so maybe I should reread it with new perspective? While from memory I don't believe that blindness is demonized or that blind people are portrayed as animals, I definitely cannot argue with the fact that disability is used as an exploratory metaphor.

Thanks for the food for thought, as always.

Loved your review, Emily. Saramago was genious.