Blindness by

[benvincent]

Has anyone read the book or seen the movie? I just saw it and now I really want to read the book. I think the story is terrific, and am interested in how Jose Saramago is able to put such a 'visual' synopsis into writing.

From Wikipedia:

"Blindness is a 2008 dramatic thriller film that is an adaptation of the 1995 novel of the same name by José Saramago about a society suffering an epidemic of blindness. The film is written by Don McKellar and directed by Fernando Meirelles with Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo as the stars. The novel's author originally refused to sell rights for a film adaptation, not wanting it to fall into the wrong hands. Meirelles was able to acquire rights with the condition that the film would be set in an unrecognizable city. Blindness premiered as the opening film at the Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2008, and the film was released in the United States on October 3, 2008."

Blindness - Trailer (http://www.movietrailerlive.com/ct_0008_BlindnessAC)

[mangueken]

I read the book and haven't seen the movie, so I'm the opposite, I can't really see how the narrative got turned into a film. The book is awesome, I would suggest you read any and all his books. One of my personal favorites is The History of the Siege of Lisbon, it's hilarious.

[absurda]

I have seen the movie, and I read "As intermitências da morte" (original title in portuguese, I don't know how it got translated into english). His writing is completly different from any other author I have ever read. He doesn't use paragraphs, and sometimes a whole page consists of one sentence. I found it difficult to read, but the story was great. His inteligence and creativity are amazing.

[papayahed]

I loved the book but I haven't seen the movie yet.

[Pecksie]

I read the book and wasn't impressed by it :( I know many of you guys are probably going to hate me, but I actually find Saramago very boring... I don't like those big chunks of writing with no scansion, no paragraphs and no dialogue marks. The idea was great, but the book just didn't do it for me...

[David Lurie]

I am interested into discussing Saramago's Blindness and rather than opening a new thread I have resurrected this old one – notwithstanding its vague title – and I hope everyone who has read this book will post his impressions here.
Lat winter I decided my Portuguese needed to be revived so I thought it could be the right time to read my first Saramago, what I had heard and read led my choice to Ensayo sobre a cegueira (Blindness).
The idea of an epidemic blindness sounded original and interesting, alas Saramago's novel doesn't deal with the effects of the loss of one of the five senses, sight – it could have been a fascinating theme, especially in our time when images are everything and everywhere, I'm not blaming Saramago for not developing his subject the way I'd have liked – it's his book, after all – and, in a sense, he has developed it the other way around, we live in the era of the image and we are unable to see, but: what is the meaning and the relevance of this blindness once the author ignores its effects? You can read the book almost ignoring the blindness of the characters, or you can substitute blindness with any handicap of your choice and the book will remain the same.
The doctor's wife words in the last few lines of the book – penso que nao cegamos, penso que estamos cegos … Cegos que, vendo, nao veem – reveal that blindness was a metaphor, but what for? Just a trick to create an apocalyptical scenario to deep into the worst aspects of humanity? To tell us that the horror is right in front of our eyes and we don't see it? Is sight useless without understanding the meaning and the consequences of what we see?
An overrated novel, so it will remain my first and last Saramago unless someone of you will not manage to make me see the light ;)

[TheFifthElement]

I haven't read Blindness; I've always been put off by the similarily of theme to Camus's The Plague, which I read last year and enjoyed immensely. I suspect I will read Blindness at some point though.

Saramago, I think, is a difficult writer. You'll love him or hate him. His approach, with large blocks of unbroken text and no distinction between narrative and dialogue, takes a bit of getting used to and can be overwhelming. And his style is kind of rambling. But despite these apparent flaws Saramago is an excellent storyteller. And you intrigue me with what you say about Blindness; is the lack of apparent commentary on the experience of being without sight part of the 'blindness'? I wonder.

Anyway, I would recommend The Cave as a good second book to read, to give you a view on whether you like Saramago or not. I've read a few of his books now, and that's my favourite.

[TheBearJew]

He's an incredibly daring writer, I'll give him that. Not only tackling a difficult angle (blind person), but he took the whole story to another level, and created a masterpiece.

I hate his horribly unpunctuated style of writing, but his voice, cunning, and daring takes on the world should be heard.

[David Lurie]

He's an incredibly daring writer, I'll give him that. Not only tackling a difficult angle (blind person), but he took the whole story to another level, and created a masterpiece.

I hate his horribly unpunctuated style of writing, but his voice, cunning, and daring takes on the world should be heard.

The writing style is the only thing I have appreciated, then I'd say he has completely skipped the blind person point of view (I remember various associations of blind people regretting the way Saramago portrays them) as I have stated in my first post "you can substitute blindness with any handicap of your choice and the book will remain the same" - but once blindness is only a metaphor the entire book loses value as a story and the only way to read it is enhancing it constantly seeing it as a metaphor. Try to go blindfolded around your house - a well known environment - see what happens and then think of the amazing feats performed by Saramago's blind people in the novel.

[fontelroy]

Saramago is one of my favourite authors. I love his style of writing, he has a way of making completely innocuous and mundane encounters or situations, fascinating. Has anyone read 'Death At Intervals' or 'The Double'?

[TheFifthElement]

Saramago is one of my favourite authors. I love his style of writing, he has a way of making completely innocuous and mundane encounters or situations, fascinating. Has anyone read 'Death At Intervals' or 'The Double'?

I've read both. I enjoyed both; I'd forgotten about The Double, actually. Death at Intervals was interesting, but a little disappointing in the end; The Double, on the other hand, was fascinating and just a tad disturbing.

[Heteronym]

(I remember various associations of blind people regretting the way Saramago portrays them)

I remember this controversy when the movie came out. American associations of blind people were throwing hissy fits over the movie. And Saramago sensibly asked, how can they know if they couldn't see the movie? They only have the word of others to rely on.

Needless to say that in Portugal there has never been such controversy.