Emerson Salon – Capitol Hill Seattle

Imagine you are driving down the street, you stop at a light. One moment you are staring at the red globe waiting for your turn to go and the next your vision is overcome with a wall of white light. This is how the epic and fascinating Blindness by Jose Saramago begins. Quickly the new symptom spreads through the population, infecting young and old, healthy and sick, with immediate and all-encompassing blindness. Jose Saramago’s book is a strangely believable and enthralling portrayal of life in a society coping with this new aliment and the topsy-turvy world that results. Jose Saramago received the Nobel Prize in literature in 1998 and this novel is a great accessible book if you looking to begin exploring his work. Next time you come in to the salon to get your hair colored, we recommend bringing a copy of this great read.

Last year, the book was made in a major motion picture. While it did a poor job of translating the subtleties of character and behavior into film, it is an worthy film to watch in its own right. We recommend reading the far more rewarding book first however! Here is the trailer below: