Review on: Blindness by José Saramago
Rating: 4/5
(This book contains mature content. Read at your own risk)
I was surprised and curious to find this book in our family library. I have a ton of books in my personal shelf that I’ve yet to read, yet when I saw this on the free-for-all shelf, I was instantly taken to it. Maybe it was the simple cover, or the thickness of the pages, or maybe it was that it had a Nobel Prize for literature stamped in front. Either way, all it takes is an initial interest in the cover or the title, and the synopsis, to truly get a reader going.
[Warning: Summary Spoiler]
The story begins when one person suddenly goes blind in his car, in the middle of a traffic light. It begins a chain of events as the situation turns out to be contagious and everyone who comes in contact with “patient zero” – the man who drove him home yet ultimately stole his car, patient zero’s wife, the eye doctor to whom the patient’s go to for a diagnosis, as well as the doctor’s patients – start to go blind. When the government begins to realize the outbreak, they try to contain it by placing all those who turned blind, and those they’ve been in contact with, in a run-down asylum. The doctor’s wife also joins him inside, though she feigns being blind to join her husband.
At first, being blind proves difficult but the patients in the asylum find a way to get around the place and their situation. But as more blind people are brought to the asylum, it begins to spell trouble as they have to find a way to live with each other and their situation, especially where food is starting to become a concern as there are too many people and too few supplies.
What makes the situation worse is when a new group comes in and takes command of the food rations, demanding payment from the patients in the form of material possessions, and later in the form of women.
The doctor’s wife has to choose how she helps the patients in the asylum, especially without warning them of her ability to see. And later when they escape from the asylum, she is tasked with helping them find food as they discover that the whole world outside of the asylum has gone blind.
[End of Summary Spoiler]
Blindness. The book literally spells everything out in those 9 letters. But within those 9 letters – that 1 word, the author is able to bring out so much more than what you would expect on a book that talks about being blind. It is able to encompass the ideas of struggle, of morality and conscience, of human nature in all its bareness and simplicity, of love, of fear, among other things. It takes the reader on an emotional journey, one that is beyond simply reading the words off of the book. It is fictional, but at the same time very real, and something readers are sure to understand and to some extent – connect with.
When you read alternate reality-slash-apocalyptic novels, there’s no ONE way to truly read and understand it. Sometimes, it looks fake and unbelievable as heck. Other times, it’s so real that it’s scary. This book is the latter. How Saramago writes the novel, makes the reader believe that the world the characters are in are so real, and so very possible. Everything in the book is real because it’s about real people, worrying about everyday things and trying to find everyday solutions to the problem. I can see the hashtag #thestruggeisreal defining this very book. The struggle is very real – for the characters in the story, and for the readers who are probably trying to figure out if things can get as bad as they do in the book.
For me, it begs the questions: “How low can man go when forced into a situation where there seems to be no solution?”; “What is human nature, and what defines it?” and “Where does morality and conscience come into play when no one is watching?”.
Where does one draw the line when desperation sinks in?
Aside from being a very good read (as a winner of a Nobel Prize for literature, it should be!), the book is very thought-provoking – I can’t remember how many times I thought to myself, “I never thought about it that way“, or “I didn’t consider it was possible, but it is”, and such and such ideas. When faced with the novel Blindness, it’s as if you’re seeing and understanding humanity from a whole different perspective. What’s more, it tackles the very basic traits of human nature, and pits it against the idea of survival of the fittest. In such a world, where does etiquette and morality end, and where does desperation and instinct begin.
