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Blindness

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Blindness

Written by: José Saramago
Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
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About this listen

A city is hit by a sudden and strange epidemic of "white blindness", which spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there social conventions quickly crumble and the struggle for survival brings out the worst in people.

There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides seven strangers -among them a boy with no mother, a girl with dark glasses, a dog of tears - out of their prison and through the barren streets, and the procession becomes as uncanny as the surroundings are harrowing.

A magnificent parable of loss and disorientation and a vivid evocation of the horrors of the 20th century, by Nobel Prize-winning author Jose Saramago, Blindness has swept the masses with its powerful portrayal of man's worst appetites and weaknesses - and man's ultimately exhilarating spirit.

English translation by Juan Sager.

©1997 Juan Sager (English translation); 1995 Jose Saramago and Editorial Caminho (P)2008 BBC Audiobooks America
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What listeners say about Blindness

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    4 out of 5 stars

Pretty good Book

Above the average book for now days, but I expected something better than what is presented.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing Writing. Great reader

Started reading this after geting introduced to Saramago's Death With Interruptions. Such a powerful book!

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1 person found this helpful

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Very nice

The story keeps audience engaged and once can't stop thinking about the the horrible reality of human behaviour at time of need. All the horrifying scenes described both from a personal interaction level to how governments/politicians would treat an unknown illness and patients, is an ugly truth. We humans, of all classes, have both cruelty and kindness potentials. What we do with either one is up to our choice. But animals on the other hand, often tend to coexist.

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Wow... If you like Kafka

I found it a very powerful book. At times I wanted to stop reading, put it away. But it goes from the depths of horror to a gathering of seven personal stories of human nature in adversity. Where is love, connection and where is fear. This is not light reading, and I am grateful to have read it.

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Gorgeous writing

Really loved the writing and the narration was incredibly well done , check the trigger warnings there is some sensitive material in this book but overall I feel it is an important read for everyone, especially now .

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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Worst audible yet

The narrator is boring and the story is worse. Save your time and money.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Vision lost

This book had a lot of potential looking at how society would react if people suddenly started to go blind, even showing the reader that it could happen to anyone by never naming any of the characters.
But the author seemed to have lost their vision of where the book was going and began preaching to the reader about how it is like to be blind, or how blind society is by crossing the fourth barrier.
By the end of the book I was hoping for deafness.

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Terrible disappointment!

I was so disappointed in this story. The author seems to be a misogynist given how he portrays the women. The scenario is completely implausible and the ending stupidly convenient. The writing is high-handed to the point of being patronizing. A complete miss!

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The sexism is strong with this one

I made it about halfway through before I couldn’t take it anymore. The shallow depictions of women only existing in relation to men got to be too much. I imagine anyone who reads this who is actually blind would be similarly insulted by the portrayal of the blind as utterly helpless

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2 people found this helpful