JOSÉ SARAMAGO (1922-2010) was the author of many novels, among them Blindness, All the Names, Baltasar and Blimunda, and The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis. In 1998 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
"This is a shattering work by a literary master."--The Boston Globe "This is an important book, one that is unafraid to face all of the horrors of the century."--The Washington Post "Symphonic . . . [There is] a clear-eyed and compassionate acknowledgment of things as they are, a quality that can only honestly be termed wisdom. We should be grateful when it is handed to us in such generous measure."--The New York Times Book Review "Saramago's surreal allegory explores the ability of the human spirit to prevail in even the most absurdly unjust of conditions, yet he reinvents this familiar struggle with the stylistic eccentricity of a master."--The New Yorker "Extraordinarily nuanced and evocative . . . This year's most propulsive, and most profound, thriller."--The Village Voice "Like Jonathan Swift, Saramago uses airily matter-of-fact detail to frame a bitter parable; unlike Swift he pierces the parable with a dart of steely tenderness . . . out of leisurely prose, the ferocity and tenderness shoot suddenly: arrows set alight. . . . Enchanting, sinuous dialogue."--The Los Angeles Times "Blindness may be as revolutionary in its own way and time as were, say, The Trial and The Plague in theirs. Another masterpiece."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review) --
Reminiscent of Albert Camus's The Plague, this provocative allegorical novel by noted Portuguese writer Saramago (Baltasar and Blimunda, LJ 10/1/87) deals with a contagious "white" blindness that spreads very quickly in a large city. Among a small group of people grappling with the horror and chaos, one woman has been spared; she is the reader's eyewitness. In an environment ripe with philosophical implications, only the most fundamental of human needs endures. This unsettling, highly original work is essential for all public and academic libraries that want to challenge their readers. Beautifully written in a concise, haunting prose, it would be an excellent choice for a book-discussion group.‘Lisa Rohrbaugh, East Palestine Memorial P. L., OH
"This is a shattering work by a literary master."--The Boston Globe "This is an important book, one that is unafraid to face all of the horrors of the century."--The Washington Post "Symphonic . . . [There is] a clear-eyed and compassionate acknowledgment of things as they are, a quality that can only honestly be termed wisdom. We should be grateful when it is handed to us in such generous measure."--The New York Times Book Review "Saramago's surreal allegory explores the ability of the human spirit to prevail in even the most absurdly unjust of conditions, yet he reinvents this familiar struggle with the stylistic eccentricity of a master."--The New Yorker "Extraordinarily nuanced and evocative . . . This year's most propulsive, and most profound, thriller."--The Village Voice "Like Jonathan Swift, Saramago uses airily matter-of-fact detail to frame a bitter parable; unlike Swift he pierces the parable with a dart of steely tenderness . . . out of leisurely prose, the ferocity and tenderness shoot suddenly: arrows set alight. . . . Enchanting, sinuous dialogue."--The Los Angeles Times "Blindness may be as revolutionary in its own way and time as were, say, The Trial and The Plague in theirs. Another masterpiece."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review) --
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