I've been on a Saramago roll lately! His writing style intrigues me; and his allegorical-philosophical discourses - while they can get me a little bogged down - never fail to surprise me with his insights into human nature, even the worst of it.
After passing over
Seeing
many times as it happens always to be on the shelves... finally a few months ago, I saw
Blindness
. All I knew is that I'd need to read
Blindness before
Seeing.
The books in one sentence each:
- Blindness: A city is inexplicably hit by blindness - save for one woman - the blind are confined to a mental hospital where man's worst appetites rear its ugly head.
- Seeing: Majority cast blank votes in the election; government strives to deal with this "revolt," and pinpoints that the "seeing woman" is behind this plot.
My thoughts
I've always been intrigued by dystopian literature, though it can be a little of a downer for me so I always make sure to stagger read it.
Blindness is a depressing read yet shows what goodness, forgiveness and strength of character can do to rise above depravity and anarchy. The scenario is simple - in an entire city of blind people, one woman remains able to see. Why? What does she do?
This enigmatic phenomenon starts off with a man who is strangely struck by blindness. He goes to his ophthalmologist to find out why ... and instead he starts off a strange epidemic of blindness in other patient, including the very doctor who seeks to cure them.
The blind are quarantined in an old mental hospital. The doctor's wife, who remains able to see, refuses to leave her husband's side and feigns blindness to be able to do so. The hospital leaves the blind to basically left to fend for themselves ... and anarchy takes over in the fight for survival. The doctor's wife arises as a natural leader.
The characters are an interesting lot and lend various perspectives to this unusual story. There is the "girl with the dark glasses" - a prostitute who turns motherly to a young boy separated from his parents. Then there is the "man with the black eye patch," who unlike everyone else, takes his blindness calmly and matter-of-a-factly and sees it as an opportunity to learn a much-needed lesson. There is also the tyrannical "Ward 3 leader," who when supplies run low and modes of payment are non-existing, demands women in exchange.
I watched the
movie
(Julianne Moore?!?) and decided that this story is something best left as a book. It is much too graphic and depressing to have to watch - instead of being fodder for thought.
* * *
Seeing is the sequel to Blindness post-blindness. Sight is miraculously restored and election time has swung around. The whole day, very few come around to vote, explained away as a heavy rain falls. But right after the skies clear up at around 4:00 pm, people are inexplicably at the polls and extensive lines start up. And to everyone's shock, the majority of the votes cast are blank.
Government investigates, viewing this sudden surge of voters at 4:00 pm and the resulting blank ballots as a plot to overthrow the government. In the increasingly oppressive nature of this Government, there is widespread discontent yet the fear of the repercussions of communicating this. Government keeps up a semblance of normality through what is regarded as highly suspicious propaganda. Meanwhile people are questioned and are start disappearing - and what results is an interesting yet precarious balance between the ruled and the rulers.
The "seeing" woman again figures in this story. She is pinpointed as the one responsible for orchestrating the casting of bank votes by mere virtue of her retaining her sight during the inexplicable blindness. A Superintendent is assigned to investigate who is responsible for this "revolution." The Superintendent, in the course of his investigations comes to see the human side of the situation, and he becomes a dissenting voice in this silent city.
Verdict: Both must-reads!
Blindness
focuses on the individual at his best and worst.
Seeing
focuses on the government at its worst.
The Spiderwick Chronicles
had a tighter storyline while the book ... well, there wasn't near enough text in this little clunkster to give all the lovely back stories and build up the world of faerie.
.
I was on my weekly hunt at the thrift store and found a brand new copy of The 39 Clues Book 3: The Sword Thief
, with all cards intact! (The sticker holding them in was unbroken!) And of course, how could I let that beautiful copy go to waste? I bought all $99 cents of it and took it home to my daughter.
but also a copy of Zink's poems Homage: Sonnets from the Husband
. Thank you, William!
, and decided that if it is by the same producer of The English Patient - which happens to be one of my favourite books and films - plus it deserves an Oscar, then The Reader
is definitely worth reading. 
in that both main character has a love affair with the written word and would go to great lengths to be able to indulge. On the other hand, the unexpected revelation of Hanna's illiteracy and the whole story coming from the viewpoint of the perpetrator - rather than the victim - reminds me of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.
... because religion and shopping aren't very different!
is among the new kids on the block. I am not really a shopaholic, but I am always interested in the psychology of people! I found this book a quick, interesting and easy-to-read.
Where do lost socks go?
The book in one sentence: An allegory of finding one's self.
Synopsis of A Place Called Here by Cecilia Ahern: A redemptive and captivating novel from the No. 1 bestselling author of PS, I Love You. Ever wondered where lost things go? Ever since the day her classmate vanished, Sandy Shortt has been haunted by what happens when something -- or someone -- disappears. Finding has become her goal. Jack Ruttle is desperate to find his younger brother who vanished into thin air a year ago. He spots an ad for Sandy's missing persons agency and is certain that she will answer his prayers and find his brother. But then Sandy disappears too, stumbling upon a place that is a world away from the only one she has ever known. Now all she wants, more than anything, is to find her way home.
My thoughts:
I didn't like Cecilia Ahern's PS, I Love YouThis is a dream-like story of Sandy Shortt, who in her youth, witnesses the disappearance of a classmate. She becomes obsessed with finding lost people and lost things. In her obsession, she loses herself, isolating herself from family, friends, and life.
On another of her wild goose chases for another missing person (which she has made a career), she discovers where all lost things and people go - "here." In a strange twist, the "missing person person" is missing! Sandy desperately tries to escape this strange world, and in the journey back home, re-finds herself.
Verdict: A quick, engrossing read with dream-like sequences with a good moral to it.