The title of this post has been taken from a book I have just been listening to. The book is entitled blindness by Jose Saramago I heard about this book on a podcast called in touch which is on BBC Radio 4 every Tuesday evening. To find more out about this book, which is also a film and a play, search for podcast dated 18th August 2020.
I purchased this book from audible, the audiobook arm of Amazon but it might be available on RNIB reading services or Calibre. The main premise of the book is that a virus arrived in an unspecified city and instead of making people seriously ill or killing them the infected people became instantly blind. Itgoes on to tell the story how the blind were treated by the people who remained sighted but there are quite a few narrated passages which are very philosophical about the situation.
As the book was written in 1995 it is not riding on the coattails of interest generated by the virus currently causing chaos throughout the world.
If you do search out the podcast to listen to you will also discover that there is a soundscape version to download but this is quite pricey. However the podcast also asks the simple question that would you follow the rules currently in place in this country regarding social distancing and the wearing of face masks more carefully if coronavirus risked you going blind rather than making you seriously ill with a possible fatal outcome.
I think it is well worth Reading but I would say it is more interesting than enjoyable.
