Books like “Blindness”

What to read after “Blindness” by José Saramago: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

About “Blindness”

Another favorite book?

Or start with a well-known book

1
Earth Abides
George R. Stewart · 1949
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
A plague kills nearly everyone on Earth. An ecologist emerges from the mountains to find empty cities and a few survivors, and spends the rest of his life watching a new, smaller society take shape without the old world's machinery.
2
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Walter M. Miller Jr. · 1959
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
After a nuclear war, monks in a desert abbey preserve the few books that survive, including a blueprint signed by a martyred engineer. Across centuries they copy, guard and argue over the relics while civilisation slowly rebuilds and then repeats its old mistakes.
3
The Day of the Triffids
John Wyndham · 1951
Similar setting: “Post-Apocalyptic World”
A meteor shower blinds most of humanity, leaving a few sighted survivors in a world where walking, venomous plants have escaped from farms. A young man and a small group try to reach safety and decide what kind of society can be rebuilt.
4
A Clockwork Orange
Anthony Burgess · 1962
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
- Philosophical
Alex, a teenager who loves violence and classical music, leads his gang through nights of brutal crime. When the state captures him, it offers to cure his impulses with an experimental treatment, making him the subject of a system that manufactures both good and evil.
5
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Philip K. Dick · 1968
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
- Philosophical
- Post-Apocalyptic World
In a dust-choked future, a bounty hunter is paid to retire androids that have escaped to Earth and passed as human. As he tracks them down he starts to question what makes a life real, and whether he can trust his own memories.
6
The Road
Cormac McCarthy · 2006
Same genre: “Literary fiction”
A father and his young son walk through a burned America, pushing a cart of scavenged supplies and hiding from bands of survivors who hunt people for food. Their only aim is to keep moving south and stay alive while holding on to decency.
7
Station Eleven
Emily St. John Mandel · 2014
Same genre: “Literary fiction”
After a flu wipes out most of humanity, a travelling theatre troupe moves between the small settlements that remain, performing Shakespeare. The story follows survivors across decades and asks what of civilization is worth carrying forward.
8
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Ken Kesey · 1962
Same genre: “Psychological fiction”
- Asylum
A loud, scheming new patient named McMurphy arrives on a mental hospital ward run by the cold Nurse Ratched. Narrated by Chief Bromden, who pretends to be deaf and dumb, the ward becomes a battleground over who controls the men's days. A struggle between an unruly spirit and a system built on obedience.
9
Childhood's End
Arthur C. Clarke · 1953
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
- Philosophical
Giant alien ships appear above Earth's cities and impose a peaceful rule under the Overlords. Decades of calm and progress pass, but humanity's golden age hides a purpose no one can guess until the Overlords finally reveal themselves.
10
Severance
Ling Ma · 2018
Same genre: “Literary fiction”
A millennial office worker in New York keeps showing up to her publishing job as a fever turns people into repetitive, wandering shells. Her account of the collapse moves between satire of work and the quiet end of the world.
11
The Chrysalids
John Wyndham · 1955
Similar setting: “Post-Apocalyptic World”
- Post-Apocalyptic World
- Survival
In a post-nuclear Labrador, communities destroy deformed crops and animals and kill, sterilize or banish people who do not match the true form. A boy who can speak with his mind hides his gift among friends, until discovery forces them to flee toward a fabled safe place.
12
The Forever War
Joe Haldeman · 1974
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
- Philosophical
A conscripted soldier fights an interstellar war against the Taurans, an alien enemy he barely understands. Relativity means each tour sends him centuries into the future, where the society he left behind has changed beyond recognition and the war has no clear end.