by Margaret Jull Costa (Translator), Margaret Jull Costa (Translator), Jose Saramago (Author), Margaret Jull Costa (Translator)
Despite the heavy rain, the presiding officer at Polling Station 14 finds it odd that by midday on National Election day, only a handful of voters have turned out. Puzzlement swiftly escalates to shock when eventually, after an extension, the final count reveals seventy per cent of the votes are blank - not spoiled, simply blank. National law decrees the election should be repeated eight days later. The result is worse; eighty-three per cent of the votes are blank. The incumbent government receives eight per cent and the opposition even less. The authorities, seized with panic, decamp from the capital and place it under a state of emergency. In his new novel, Jose Saramago has deftly created the politician's ultimate nightmare: disillusionment not with one party, but with all, thereby rendering the entire democratic system useless. Seeing explores how simply this could be achieved and how devastating the results might be.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 320
Edition: New edition
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 03 May 2007
ISBN 10: 0099483629
ISBN 13: 9780099483625
Book Overview: 'Nothing I can remember reading tells me more and with such arresting humour and simplicity, about the imposture of the times we live in' - Julian Evans, Independent