Blindness

This started as a post about a book Blindness by José Saramago and now I'm not sure what it is. I think it's still a post about said book but it's also a total and complete ramble so . . . this is how my mind works these days. (It is especially how it works post-blogging craze of last summer.)

First, let me try and say something about the book. I'm almost done with it and people keep seeing me with it and asking the inevitable: How do you like it? This is almost always preceded by one of two things: 1) I heard about that book! So-and-so loved it. or (and more gruesome) 2: Oh that book, you know that guy just died.

The book, if you haven't heard about it (the author just died, you know), is about this society that's hit by an epidemic of blindness. Literally, people start going blind and well, shit gets crazy.

So, people keep asking me how I like it and I find myself saying over and over: OMG, I like, totally, like love it! And, then I add some frivolous comment about him being a good writer (which, seriously? He won the Nobel Prize for literature, obviously he can put a pen to paper) or about which line I liked best.

The thing is, I don't actually love this book and I keep trying to figure out why I say I do and why I say so, so automatically. I think this book is important; it has something important to teach us and I think that I keep telling people I love it because I want them to go out and get a copy and read it. Which got me thinking about False Advertising but that is a whole 'nother topic for a whole 'nother day.

Basically, my opinion about this book is super complicated and definitely does not fit into any one category. What I'm saying is, please read this book. It is such a cold and calculated look at our society, any society and how we act, how we would act under such strenuous circumstances. It is a rough read, and I have taken many breaks between chapters, but it is worth it. I promise.