Blindness

I just finished a rom-com-adventure a couple of days ago. The Princess Bride by William Goldman is light and a bit funny. It's not  a cheesy medieval romance I was thinking of. The elements are still there, damsel in distress, the dashing pirate, the narcissistic prince and the supporting villains that turned out to be good guys in the end with special attributes brought by colorful histories. The book didn't take the characters to a normal route. They made these roles fun. The Damsel in Distress speaks her own mind and gets moody. The dashing pirate is a bit sarcastic, the prince who turned out to be the antagonist is kind of conceited and apathetic than evil. It's not about politics and intricate relationships, they did it in a tone of embarking on an adventure and chase. It was a simple fun. No cheesiness here, thank you.

After Princess Bride I was looking for something more serious, something more gripping. I didn't want to go through the list of my reliable formula writers. I'm not in a deep shit just yet. It just has to be gripping. For sure no classics, epics and fantasies for now. I just want something fast, new and if the story bothers me, then the better like the likes of The Sleepers or The Room. So I rummaged through my shelf and got titles from Julian Fellows, Tracy Chavelier and Ayn Rand, but I chanced upon a book I bought a year ago, which I haven't read and was at the far end of my towering book logs.

Jose Saramago's Blindness intrigued me. I knew there was a movie and I knew for some reason I didn't have time or interest to see it. But I also knew it's one of those that I wanted to read it more than see in the movies. When I bought the book, I realized there weren't dialogues, being a first Saramago reader, I had no idea. I wasn't totally dismayed cause I knew I can handle this kind of prose, but I still do love my dialogues. Probably that's the reason it was at the far end of my book log because I subconsciously put it there. For these kinds of prose, the timing is essential as everything even the mood should fall into place. Least to say books with NO dialogues aren't really a favorite of mine. I could go through it, but it always takes a lot of effort to stick through it. The plot and the writing style should really be strong. The writing style should really be fluid and graceful. Otherwise, it would really bore me after reading 10 pages. But lo and behold, I couldn't put this book down. There were no dialogues but he wrote it in such a way that you see these characters talking, you sense what's going on in their heads without boring you. The development of the story is in an ideal pace, the situations are intense, real and very contemporary yet there's grace in writing those lines. Each chapter ends with a clinger. It's one of those books with no dialogues, but in the end you'd know it doesn't need one. The writer is skilled enough to present a story as an observation. And the plot is very intense bordering to bothersome, I like it.

Probably the plot got to me more. Blindness is something I'm very iffy about. I'm scared of losing my eyesight. Ever since I was a child I knew it's one of my most valuable senses. I can skip talking, smelling and hearing. I just need to see. I don't think I can move on happily in this life without my vision. My eyesights works with all that I'm interested in this world. I can't imagine seeing darkness all the time. I'm a visual person. It would simply kill me to lose my sight.

Though I know blindness aren't caused overnight. There is no contamination or disease that can trigger this. I knew there is a gradual loss of vision that's why it could still be resolved and remedied, but it's never abrupt unless one has a physical accident. Blindness is not like cold and pox that it spreads. It's more of a relationship of the person and his eyes that develop through time. And this plot, no matter how fictitious it is, contradicts that. I cannot imagine myself driving, seeing a red traffic light and suddenly going blind. I'll panic, I'll hyperventilate. I'd probably do strange things to end my life. I know it sounds morbid and I apologize, but I'm sure you get how my vision is so important to me.

Reading about these characters make them seem so real and make me think of what I'd do in their position. Surviving in inhumane conditions and transforming into this horrible person you'll never imagine you'll become. It shows humans taste of self destruction with one loss of a very important sense that makes us feel powerful and equipped in the first place.

This book makes you think. It's one of the longest books I've read with no dialogues and I just couldn't put it down. The writing is awesome, the plot even more so. There's nothing light here, but then again that was what I was looking for.