Summer Challenge '12: Blindness

[Scheherazade]

This summer we will be reading Blindness by Saramago.

Please post your thoughts and questions in this thread.

[Scheherazade]

Just started reading. The beginning reminded me of 'The Day of the Triffids' a little.

The writing style is interesting. Would have appreciated a more consistent puncttuation pattern, I think. It'll take some getting used to.

[Scheherazade]

I am trying to come up with an explanation as to why the Doctor's wife would not go blind while everyone else who has been in contact with them has.

Also, it is interesting that so far we do not know anyone's names but only some kind of description of them or their professional title like "taxi driver", "the first blind man" etc.

[CognitiveArtist]

Just started reading.

I've enjoyed it a lot so far. The writing style does take some time to get used to, but not too long, and it gives the novel a distinctive voice. Together with the ideas and musings Saramago weaves into the story, coupled with his splendid turns of phrase (like 'a milky sea' to describe the blindness), it's been pleasant reading.

I haven't been able to make heads or tails out of the phenomenon of blindness just yet. I sort of hope there isn't one definitive cause for the blindness, which would make the story into some kind of 'whodunit'. It will be interesting to see in what direction the story goes.

The story reminds me of Camus' The Plague, although I haven't read that book in years and I'm only so far into Blindness, so perhaps they're completely different.

[Scheherazade]

Finished reading. Could not put it down.

Initially I was reminded of Bel Canto, which we read a few months ago because of people being trapped inside a building indefinitely - although under different circumstances.

I am quite taken with Saramago's style even though I am not sure if it is unique to this book or his style in general.

I am quite interested to know what others make of the repeated cliche saying sprinkled around the book.

There are so many quotes I would like discuss so I will wait until others make some progress as well.

[Dark Muse]

Just by coincidence I had on my own chose to read this book over the summer and noticed that it was chosen as a group read here so I figured I could pop in on the discussion.

Some time back I had watched the movie, and I have to say I thought the movie was pretty bad. I felt the motive had a lot of wholes in the story, and a great deal that just did not make any sense and at points was quite ridiculous, but I had really liked the overall concept of it, and it had the potential to be interesting, but I felt was poorly executed.

So I was curious to read the book and see if it fills in some of the holes of the movie, and while in a sense thus far it seems the movie followed the book pretty close, it does work better in book format and I am enjoying reading a good deal more then I did the movie.

I have to say I love the narrative style of the book, I think it makes it read pretty quickly, and I like the way in which it is almost stream of conscious like. I am finding the unconventional "dialogue" as it is presented within the book quite interesting.

On the question of the blindness itself, though I have not finished reading it, and so I do not know if in fact some solution/answer to how it started will be presented but as I am reading it I take it in a similar vein as zombie stories, insofar as I think part of what makes it so horrifying is the fact that it is something which appears without any known rhyme or reason, without knowing why or how it happened. I do not feel as if an explanation for the blindness is required.

A couple of things I am really enjoying about the book is the examination of humanity which is offered and the way in which we are given to see the multiple different aspects of a person's personality, and how people are not always black and white, we all have good and bad within us. It is interesting to see the many different facets of which make each of us human manifested in the progression of the book and how they react to various different circumstances, and the motivations which drive them.

I also am enjoying the way in which the issue of identity is brought up and how the idea of being robbed of ones sight is also affecting how the people define themselves. I particularly like the way in which none of the characters are given names, and how within the book, names are rendered to be meaningless, and is interesting how the people choose to define themselves by their "titles" by what they do. I think this offers commentary upon society and what society itself truly values, and how much people do come to define their identities through their positions in society and their jobs, and the labels that are placed upon them.

[TheFifthElement]

I am quite taken with Saramago's style even though I am not sure if it is unique to this book or his style in general.



Saramago has a very distinctive style. Blindness is one of his books I haven't read (though it is on my 'to read' shelf) but I'd recommend The Cave which was the first of his books I read and really is excellent - it took me quite by surprise and it's profound in a way which seems so natural and at the same time unexpected. The Double which is creepy, Death by Intervals which surely had to be the inspiration for the recent series of Torchwood, and The Gospel According to Jesus Christ which is contraversial on account of its subject matter but actually a beautiful read.

[Dark Muse]

While I am still enjoying the book, I am starting to get frustrated with the characters. I am so angered at all of them being so willing to simply allow themselves to be intimidated and bullied by the hoodlums who decided to take over their food.

There isn't really a clear idea about numbers, but it seems to me that if all the other wards joined forces they would be able to outnumber the hoodlums, and while blind people trying to organize might present some difficulties, to at least make an attempt would be better then doing nothing.

And when the doctors wife snuck into their ward at night, I kept thinking, if she had brought her scissors along she could have taken them out in their sleep. Kill the guy who is in charge, and take his gun, as being not blind, she would have a lot more of an advantage and could cease control of the situation away from them.

I kind of cannot feel sorry for them at this point, because none of them want to make any efforts to stand up for themselves.

[CognitiveArtist]

I ended up being pretty busy, so I only finished this book recently.

Overall, I really liked it. Despite my reading experience being pretty disjointed, I was captivated by the unique writing style and the plot. The plot was both very fanciful and very convincing. For me the novel started to wear thin towards the end, but that could just be because my reading of the novel was interrupted a number of times.

The novel was most enjoyable for me when I took the theme of blindness literally. It is very tempting to dwell on allegory and hidden meanings when reading a story like Blindness, but I enjoyed the tale most when I accepted it at face value. Following the doctor, the doctor's wife, the old man with the black eyepatch, the girl with dark glasses and all the characters on their journeys through this richly crafted world was a marvelous ride. Whether through the halls of the asylum that were filled with feces, or the city streets overflowing in waste, the old-fashioned virtue of novels, description, was the main feature of Blindness for me. That is undoubtedly why I found the book a joy to read.