Ben Mines Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 (edited) Seeing is a sequel to Saramago's Blindness. In an unnamed city, 80 per cent of the electorate cast blank votes, prompting an unfortunate, totalitarian backlash by the right wing government. I find Saramago's prose-style (page-length sentences; commas in place of full stops; a deep reluctance to use capital letters) highly irritating at first, but he tells a good story. One thing that is bothering me, however, is a glaring and unexplained discrepancy between the first novel and its sequel. I don't want to give anything away, but if you've read it, you will probably know what I am talking about. Perhaps Mr Saramago has his reasons, but they're lost on this reader. Edited November 21, 2008 by Ben Mines Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruth Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Hi Ben. I have picked up Blindness in my local book shop on many occasions, but the lack of paragraphs has always put me off. However, the theme really intrigues me, so I may have to give it a go! I didn't even know there was a sequel, so thanks for the info. Depending on how I get on with Darkness, I may have to get hold of Seeing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Mines Posted November 21, 2008 Author Share Posted November 21, 2008 It was actually imprecise of me to say that I find his prose-style irritating. His prose style is in fact perfectly conventional. It is just his capitalizing, paragraphing, and punctuation that's weird—and for no good reason that I can see. I view it as a frivolous distraction that the reader must patiently get around; but if you can do that then, like I said, he spins a good yarn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freewheeling Andy Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 I'm much the same as Ruth. I've picked up Blindness more than once, because of the reputation, but I just look at a few pages and the writing style beats me down and I think "Nah, I'll take something less consciously annoying". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Mines Posted November 22, 2008 Author Share Posted November 22, 2008 I'm much the same as Ruth. I've picked up Blindness more than once, because of the reputation, but I just look at a few pages and the writing style beats me down and I think "Nah, I'll take something less consciously annoying". Both books are worth the effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Mines Posted November 30, 2008 Author Share Posted November 30, 2008 Ursula K Le Guin, writing a review of Blindness for the Guardian, had this experience with Saramago: Some years ago a reliable friend told me I should read Jos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajithsnair123 Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 Both are really good books but I preferred Blindness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirinrob Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 Just finished 'Blindness'. It is a powerful novel: the scenario is well thought out and plausible. As others have said the punctation, lake of dialogue markers, run on sentences, lack of paragraphs is annoying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.