A driver waiting at the traffic lights goes blind. An ophthalmologist tries to diagnose his distinctive white blindness but is affected before he can read the textbooks. It becomes a contagion, spreading throughout the city. Trying to stem the epidemic, the authorities herd the afflicted into a mental asylum where the wards are terrorised by blind thugs. And when a fire destroys the asylum, the inmates burst forth and the last links with a supposedly civilised society are snapped. No food, no water, no government, no obligation, no order. This is not anarchy, this is blindness.
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[THE AMBER LIGHT came on] ***(VintageDigital, 20 September 2013, first published 1995, ebook, 349 pages, bought from Amazon, Popsugar Reading Challenge, an allegory)
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The only other book I've read by the author is, The Gospel According to Jesus Christ so I really didn't know what to expect with Blindness. The two books are very different. I like different. Blindness reminded me a lot of the works of John Wyndhamespecially his disturbing novel, The Day of the Triffids. I really enjoyed it. I can't think of anything more terrifying than suddenly, inexplicably losing my sight. Saramago does an amazing job of conveying the terror of those who have lost their sight and describing the gradual decline of society as more and more people lose their sight and chaos descends. Blindness is a dark and intense book at times. I thought it was great. I want to read more of Saramago'swork.
