A Voice & Vibe Book Review
Blindness. José Saramago. 1995.
Literary fiction. Dystopian fiction. Apocalyptic fiction.
When a mysterious epidemic of blindness strikes her city, a seemingly immune woman fakes blindness to accompany her husband into a brutal quarantine as society collapses around them.
The story is told by a third person omniscient narrator who describes events in a way that suggests they had a personal familiarity with the characters. The narrator adopts an unusual voice that is frequently conversational, sometimes clinical, and occasionally philosophical. He also drifts repeatedly into first person plural, breaking the fourth wall, to speak directly to readers on issues of collective human conscience.
The odd manner in which this story is told creates a sensation, for readers, of being reluctant participants in a social experiment engineered by psychologists or social scientists.
I can honestly say that I did not enjoy reading this story. But it is clear that Saramango did not want me to enjoy reading it. In fact, he took many steps to make reading Blindness uncomfortable—by minimizing clear punctuation and organizing his material into text walls.
But while I can say that I did not enjoy the experience, I am certain I will never forget it.
AUTHORS – I write short book reviews that focus on voice and vibe. They are useful to querying authors searching for comp titles. There are more like this on my website.