I'm just not built for Saramago. While I enjoyed this more than the last attempt, the pacing was really off on this one. 30 minutes in and we have one guy who has gone blind, and he spends the whole time trying to convince everyone that he can only see white, and not black. While I understand the intended effect of disorientation, the lack of character names or chapter breaks is very offputting. Few characters had any personality of note, making it difficult to latch on to anyone to keep me interested. It's also good that I listened to this, rather than read it, or the style would have made me stop even sooner. 
 Further, maybe I'm a pessimist, but this society crumbling apart was way too darn nice. Apparently I stopped before it *really* started to devolve. Also, certain details related to verisimilitude (like what natural processes happen to bodies after death) really jangled wrong with me, and contributed to the interactions being a lot more pleasant than they could be.