It took me a while to finish this book -- not because it wasn't compelling, because it certainly was -- because the writing style was very difficult to read. A four-page paragraph is the norm here and some went on for seven or eight pages, making finding a good stopping space difficult. There's also no quotation marks so that a discussion between several people became a jumble of non-attributed comments. There is a certain rightness to the style: the story is one of an epidemic blindness and robbing the reader of the visual cues on a printed page is a way to take a bit of his comfort away. I was able, eventually, to accept the slight confusion.
In all, this is both terrifying and beautiful. I believe that, just as this book suggests (along with The Road and so many others), society would break down immediately in the face of crisis; that the tendency toward criminality is just below the surface for many people; that failure to band together for the good of the many is what will undo humanity in the event of a widespread catastrophe.
This is definitely a thinker...but I admit that I'd prefer my thoughts to be elsewhere. I need to find me a HAPPY book.
B+
