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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
3,5*
Zajímavý námět, krásný příběh, trocha filosofování. Takové knihy bych mohla číst pořád.
Zajímavý námět, krásný příběh, trocha filosofování. Takové knihy bych mohla číst pořád.
Who can tell me what a coincidence is?
[wait for definition from class]
Have you ever experienced a coincidence? Gotten that weird feeling of astonishment when you realize a huge coincidence? Laureth’s father is absolutely interested in coincidence – he believes that feeling of “woah” that you get when you realize a coindicnece must mean they’re really important somehow. But how?
Laureth’s father is a famous author. Really famous. Laureth helps him out by checking his e-mail - answering fan emails with prewritten replies depending on the email, adding personal touches to ones she felt were especially nicely written. And then she comes across an email about The Black Book. The Black Book is what her father calls his research notebook – where every piece of information or idea that he comes across while researching for a book is written down. If lost, Laureth’s father offers a reward – which is exactly what this email is about. But Laureth’s father is supposed to be in Austria or Switzerland researching his next book – and this e-mail is from an American. In America. (Did I mention Laureth is British? She is. She lives in England.)
As Laureth begins to email the notebook-finder back and forth, discussing retrieval and reward – she gets a bad feeling. She can’t get ahold of her father. Why would he be in America? What’s really going on? As Laureth tries and tries again to get hold of her father, odd coincidences start happening…
So Laureth steals her mum’s credit card and buys a ticket to New York to meet the notebook finder and gather more clues. There’s only one problem. Laureth is blind. She is Not Invisible is a fascinating mystery you shouldn’t miss – even talking about it right now makes me want to reread it!
[wait for definition from class]
Have you ever experienced a coincidence? Gotten that weird feeling of astonishment when you realize a huge coincidence? Laureth’s father is absolutely interested in coincidence – he believes that feeling of “woah” that you get when you realize a coindicnece must mean they’re really important somehow. But how?
Laureth’s father is a famous author. Really famous. Laureth helps him out by checking his e-mail - answering fan emails with prewritten replies depending on the email, adding personal touches to ones she felt were especially nicely written. And then she comes across an email about The Black Book. The Black Book is what her father calls his research notebook – where every piece of information or idea that he comes across while researching for a book is written down. If lost, Laureth’s father offers a reward – which is exactly what this email is about. But Laureth’s father is supposed to be in Austria or Switzerland researching his next book – and this e-mail is from an American. In America. (Did I mention Laureth is British? She is. She lives in England.)
As Laureth begins to email the notebook-finder back and forth, discussing retrieval and reward – she gets a bad feeling. She can’t get ahold of her father. Why would he be in America? What’s really going on? As Laureth tries and tries again to get hold of her father, odd coincidences start happening…
So Laureth steals her mum’s credit card and buys a ticket to New York to meet the notebook finder and gather more clues. There’s only one problem. Laureth is blind. She is Not Invisible is a fascinating mystery you shouldn’t miss – even talking about it right now makes me want to reread it!
This was a really enjoyable book to read. 354 basically sums up this book haha.
What struck me first was how detailed and precise Laureth's narration was, and how intricate her life was like being blind, but that it did not trouble her at all. It was so realistically accurate that I was astounded at how powerful Marcus Sedgwick had written her point of view. Her outlook on the world was strong and vivid, because she had learned to perceive things differently to how others would with sight, and how strong of a poise she had regardless.
The story follows Laureth as she steals her mother's credit card to journey to find out what happened to her father, who's notebook has shown up in New York after he was doing research in Austria. He's been trying to write a novel about coincidence for several years and without success. Laureth's mother thinks he has an obsession with it, though Laureth has her own suspicions, including thinking he might be heading for a breakdown of some sort, but that something just isn't right about the situation. So when she finds out about his notebook showing up nowhere near Austria, and all the way over in NYC, Laureth knows that the pieces don't add up and she must do something...soon.
With her odd little brother Benjamin, she heads off into the unknown territory to find her father. I thought at this point, and at many before and after this point, that Laureth was incredibly brave, yet delicate at times, she had the courage that isn't found in just anybody, but in someone who truly believes in themselves, blind or not.
I was amazed that in the entire novel, there wasn't a moment where I thought I was missing out on any descriptive writing or lacking details, because of Laureth being blind. She was inquisitive and very aware of her surroundings, and that made for a magnificent novel with more power and emotion than I had read in a very long time. I was baffled, fascinated and hooked at the challenges that Laureth and Benjamin and their family went through throughout the novel, and the consequences and coincidence that intertwined with the plot was inevitably brilliant.
A huge five star novel that's surely going to be loved by many more to come, that I thought was astonishing and flawless. Incredible!
read more: http://prettylittlememoirs.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/review-she-is-not-invisible-by-marcus.html
The story follows Laureth as she steals her mother's credit card to journey to find out what happened to her father, who's notebook has shown up in New York after he was doing research in Austria. He's been trying to write a novel about coincidence for several years and without success. Laureth's mother thinks he has an obsession with it, though Laureth has her own suspicions, including thinking he might be heading for a breakdown of some sort, but that something just isn't right about the situation. So when she finds out about his notebook showing up nowhere near Austria, and all the way over in NYC, Laureth knows that the pieces don't add up and she must do something...soon.
With her odd little brother Benjamin, she heads off into the unknown territory to find her father. I thought at this point, and at many before and after this point, that Laureth was incredibly brave, yet delicate at times, she had the courage that isn't found in just anybody, but in someone who truly believes in themselves, blind or not.
I was amazed that in the entire novel, there wasn't a moment where I thought I was missing out on any descriptive writing or lacking details, because of Laureth being blind. She was inquisitive and very aware of her surroundings, and that made for a magnificent novel with more power and emotion than I had read in a very long time. I was baffled, fascinated and hooked at the challenges that Laureth and Benjamin and their family went through throughout the novel, and the consequences and coincidence that intertwined with the plot was inevitably brilliant.
A huge five star novel that's surely going to be loved by many more to come, that I thought was astonishing and flawless. Incredible!
read more: http://prettylittlememoirs.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/review-she-is-not-invisible-by-marcus.html
Δείτε επίσης και στο Chill and read
Το “Δεν είναι αόρατη” είναι ένα βιβλίο με μεγάλα ερωτήματα που προκαλεί μεγάλη σκέψη!
Ένα Αυγουστιάτικο απόγευμα, η Λόρεθ Πικ, συνειδητοποιεί πως μάλλον έχει εξαφανιστεί ο συγγραφέας πατέρας της. Θα έπρεπε λογικά να βρίσκεται κάπου στην Ελβετία ή στην Αυστρία, αλλά κάποιος έχει βρει το σημειωματάριό του στη Νέα Υόρκη. Αυτό είναι λίγο παράξενο, όπως παράξενο είναι το γεγονός ότι η μητέρα της δεν συμφωνεί με αυτή την άποψη και δεν προτίθεται να κάνει τίποτα για αυτό. Έτσι η Λόρεθ αποφασίζει να πάρει την κατάσταση στα χέρια της και να πάει να βρει τον πατέρα της στη Νέα Υόρκη. Δεν είναι και το πιο εύκολο πράγμα να πετάξει ένα δεκαεξάχρονο κορίτσι από την Αγγλία στις Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες, αλλά εκείνη έχει μαζί της τον αδερφό της. Ο Μπέντζαμιν θα τη βοηθήσει με πολλούς τρόπους σε αυτή την αναζήτηση. Το μόνο στοιχείο που έχουν είναι το σημειωματάριο, όμως κι αυτό δεν είναι και πολύ ξεκάθαρο αν οδηγεί στο σωστό δρόμο ή κάπου πολύ πιο μακριά.
Η ιστορία είναι πολύ απλή και πολύ ιδιαίτερη ταυτόχρονα. Δυο αδέρφια αναζητούν τον πατέρα τους σε μια άλλη χώρα. Ο Sedgwick δημιουργεί τις προϋποθέσεις για να μπορέσουν αυτά τα δύο παιδιά να ταξιδέψουν τόσο μακριά και να περάσουν από τους εξονυχιστικούς ελέγχους εισόδου σε μια χώρα όπως οι ΗΠΑ. Δεν είναι τόσο αληθοφανείς οι καταστάσεις, αλλά δεν είναι αυτό το ζητούμενο! Το φαινόμενο Μπέντζαμιν είναι βασικό κομμάτι της πλοκής που δεν θα μπορούσε να λείπει, καθώς βοηθά να ξεπεραστούν κάποιες δύσκολες καταστάσεις, όπως αυτή της εισόδου δύο ασυνόδευτων ανηλίκων, στη χώρα με τους πιο αυστηρούς ελέγχους στα διεθνή αεροδρόμια, αλλά επίσης δημιουργεί και κάποιες άλλες καταστάσεις που περιπλέκουν τα πράγματα και βοηθούν στην εξέλιξη της ιστορίας.
Από την άλλη μεριά, έχουμε τη βασική ηρωίδα του βιβλίου να ανήκει σε μια κατηγορία ανθρώπων οι οποίοι σχεδόν ποτέ δεν είναι οι πρωταγωνιστές της ιστορίας. Και αυτό, είναι από μόνο του μια ευχάριστη αλλαγή κι ένας λόγος να διαβάσεις αυτό το βιβλίο. Στις περισσότερες ιστορίες, οι τυφλοί, αν υπάρχουν, είναι βοηθητικοί χαρακτήρες. Εδώ ο συγγραφέας επιλέγει μια τυφλή πρωταγωνίστρια. Αυτό κι αν είναι συναρπαστικό!
Μέσα από την ηρωίδα, ο αναγνώστης μαθαίνει να “βλέπει” τον κόσμο χωρίς να κοιτάζει. Όπως λέει και η ηρωίδα, “αρέσει στους ανθρώπους να σκέφτονται πως, έτσι και μείνει κάποιος τυφλός, οι υπόλοιπες τέσσερις αισθήσεις γίνονται υπερφυσικά δυνατές. Όμως δεν αληθεύει”. Όχι, δεν αληθεύει. Και αυτό είναι που ανακαλύπτει ο αναγνώστης διαβάζοντας το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο. Πόσο δύσκολο είναι στους τυφλούς να κάνουν απλά πράγματα, όπως το να κινηθούν σε ένα χώρο που δεν γνωρίζουν, αλλά και η προσπάθεια που χρειάζεται να καταβάλλουν για να μην φαίνονται, να μην αισθάνονται, να μην είναι διαφορετικοί από τους άλλους.
Επίσης φαίνεται και πόσο λίγα γνωρίζουμε για τους ανθρώπους με μειωμένη όραση. Πως δεν ξέρουμε ουσιαστικά πως να τους φερθούμε και στις μικρότερες ηλικίες τα πράγματα είναι ακόμη πιο δύσκολα. Τα παιδιά είναι πολύ σκληρά και όπως η κοινωνία μας, έτσι κι αυτά που είναι μέρος της, όταν δουν το διαφορετικό το στοχοποιούν γιατί δεν μπορούν να το καταλάβουν. Στην ευαίσθητη παιδική ηλικία όμως κάτι τέτοιο μπορεί να κάνει μεγάλη ζημιά, συναισθηματική και ψυχική. Χρειάζεται πολύ κουράγιο, δύναμη και στήριξη από τον περίγυρο ώστε να αποφευχθεί κάτι τέτοιο. Αυτή η δύναμη δεν υπάρχει πάντα. Όμως όπως και η ηρωίδα μας, θα πρέπει να έχουμε έστω και λίγη πίστη ότι μπορούμε να τα καταφέρουμε και θα το πετύχουμε!
Πέρα από το βασικό στοιχείο του βιβλίου που είναι η ιδιαίτερη ικανότητα της ηρωίδας, το βιβλίο καταπιάνεται με την επιστήμη, τις συμπτώσεις και τις ανθρώπινες σχέσεις. Η εμμονή του συγγραφέα πατέρα της ηρωίδας με τις συμπτώσεις είναι ο κινητήριος μοχλός για την όλη ιστορία που διαβάζουμε. Από εκεί λοιπόν θα γεννηθούν ερωτήματα επιστημονικά ή μη, που πολλοί προσπάθησαν να απαντήσουν. Δείχνει όμως και πόσο κακό μπορεί να κάνει μια τέτοια εμμονή στις ανθρώπινες σχέσεις και πως μπορεί να οδηγήσει στην αποξένωση.
Μία ακόμη σχέση που περιγράφεται στο βιβλίο είναι η αδερφική σχέση. Η αγάπη, η κατανόηση και η εμπιστοσύνη που υπάρχει ανάμεσα στα αδέρφια. Ενώ θα έπρεπε να είναι κοινά γνωρίσματα στη σχέση μεταξύ αδερφών αυτά που αναφέραμε, δυστυχώς δεν είναι πάντα. Αυτό είναι που έρχεται να μας θυμίσει ο Sedgwick μέσα από τη σχέση της Λόρεθ και του Μπέντζαμιν και είναι καλοδεχούμενο!
Το “Δεν είναι αόρατη” είναι ένα βιβλίο με μεγάλα ερωτήματα που προκαλεί μεγάλη σκέψη!
Ένα Αυγουστιάτικο απόγευμα, η Λόρεθ Πικ, συνειδητοποιεί πως μάλλον έχει εξαφανιστεί ο συγγραφέας πατέρας της. Θα έπρεπε λογικά να βρίσκεται κάπου στην Ελβετία ή στην Αυστρία, αλλά κάποιος έχει βρει το σημειωματάριό του στη Νέα Υόρκη. Αυτό είναι λίγο παράξενο, όπως παράξενο είναι το γεγονός ότι η μητέρα της δεν συμφωνεί με αυτή την άποψη και δεν προτίθεται να κάνει τίποτα για αυτό. Έτσι η Λόρεθ αποφασίζει να πάρει την κατάσταση στα χέρια της και να πάει να βρει τον πατέρα της στη Νέα Υόρκη. Δεν είναι και το πιο εύκολο πράγμα να πετάξει ένα δεκαεξάχρονο κορίτσι από την Αγγλία στις Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες, αλλά εκείνη έχει μαζί της τον αδερφό της. Ο Μπέντζαμιν θα τη βοηθήσει με πολλούς τρόπους σε αυτή την αναζήτηση. Το μόνο στοιχείο που έχουν είναι το σημειωματάριο, όμως κι αυτό δεν είναι και πολύ ξεκάθαρο αν οδηγεί στο σωστό δρόμο ή κάπου πολύ πιο μακριά.
Η ιστορία είναι πολύ απλή και πολύ ιδιαίτερη ταυτόχρονα. Δυο αδέρφια αναζητούν τον πατέρα τους σε μια άλλη χώρα. Ο Sedgwick δημιουργεί τις προϋποθέσεις για να μπορέσουν αυτά τα δύο παιδιά να ταξιδέψουν τόσο μακριά και να περάσουν από τους εξονυχιστικούς ελέγχους εισόδου σε μια χώρα όπως οι ΗΠΑ. Δεν είναι τόσο αληθοφανείς οι καταστάσεις, αλλά δεν είναι αυτό το ζητούμενο! Το φαινόμενο Μπέντζαμιν είναι βασικό κομμάτι της πλοκής που δεν θα μπορούσε να λείπει, καθώς βοηθά να ξεπεραστούν κάποιες δύσκολες καταστάσεις, όπως αυτή της εισόδου δύο ασυνόδευτων ανηλίκων, στη χώρα με τους πιο αυστηρούς ελέγχους στα διεθνή αεροδρόμια, αλλά επίσης δημιουργεί και κάποιες άλλες καταστάσεις που περιπλέκουν τα πράγματα και βοηθούν στην εξέλιξη της ιστορίας.
Από την άλλη μεριά, έχουμε τη βασική ηρωίδα του βιβλίου να ανήκει σε μια κατηγορία ανθρώπων οι οποίοι σχεδόν ποτέ δεν είναι οι πρωταγωνιστές της ιστορίας. Και αυτό, είναι από μόνο του μια ευχάριστη αλλαγή κι ένας λόγος να διαβάσεις αυτό το βιβλίο. Στις περισσότερες ιστορίες, οι τυφλοί, αν υπάρχουν, είναι βοηθητικοί χαρακτήρες. Εδώ ο συγγραφέας επιλέγει μια τυφλή πρωταγωνίστρια. Αυτό κι αν είναι συναρπαστικό!
Μέσα από την ηρωίδα, ο αναγνώστης μαθαίνει να “βλέπει” τον κόσμο χωρίς να κοιτάζει. Όπως λέει και η ηρωίδα, “αρέσει στους ανθρώπους να σκέφτονται πως, έτσι και μείνει κάποιος τυφλός, οι υπόλοιπες τέσσερις αισθήσεις γίνονται υπερφυσικά δυνατές. Όμως δεν αληθεύει”. Όχι, δεν αληθεύει. Και αυτό είναι που ανακαλύπτει ο αναγνώστης διαβάζοντας το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο. Πόσο δύσκολο είναι στους τυφλούς να κάνουν απλά πράγματα, όπως το να κινηθούν σε ένα χώρο που δεν γνωρίζουν, αλλά και η προσπάθεια που χρειάζεται να καταβάλλουν για να μην φαίνονται, να μην αισθάνονται, να μην είναι διαφορετικοί από τους άλλους.
Επίσης φαίνεται και πόσο λίγα γνωρίζουμε για τους ανθρώπους με μειωμένη όραση. Πως δεν ξέρουμε ουσιαστικά πως να τους φερθούμε και στις μικρότερες ηλικίες τα πράγματα είναι ακόμη πιο δύσκολα. Τα παιδιά είναι πολύ σκληρά και όπως η κοινωνία μας, έτσι κι αυτά που είναι μέρος της, όταν δουν το διαφορετικό το στοχοποιούν γιατί δεν μπορούν να το καταλάβουν. Στην ευαίσθητη παιδική ηλικία όμως κάτι τέτοιο μπορεί να κάνει μεγάλη ζημιά, συναισθηματική και ψυχική. Χρειάζεται πολύ κουράγιο, δύναμη και στήριξη από τον περίγυρο ώστε να αποφευχθεί κάτι τέτοιο. Αυτή η δύναμη δεν υπάρχει πάντα. Όμως όπως και η ηρωίδα μας, θα πρέπει να έχουμε έστω και λίγη πίστη ότι μπορούμε να τα καταφέρουμε και θα το πετύχουμε!
Πέρα από το βασικό στοιχείο του βιβλίου που είναι η ιδιαίτερη ικανότητα της ηρωίδας, το βιβλίο καταπιάνεται με την επιστήμη, τις συμπτώσεις και τις ανθρώπινες σχέσεις. Η εμμονή του συγγραφέα πατέρα της ηρωίδας με τις συμπτώσεις είναι ο κινητήριος μοχλός για την όλη ιστορία που διαβάζουμε. Από εκεί λοιπόν θα γεννηθούν ερωτήματα επιστημονικά ή μη, που πολλοί προσπάθησαν να απαντήσουν. Δείχνει όμως και πόσο κακό μπορεί να κάνει μια τέτοια εμμονή στις ανθρώπινες σχέσεις και πως μπορεί να οδηγήσει στην αποξένωση.
Μία ακόμη σχέση που περιγράφεται στο βιβλίο είναι η αδερφική σχέση. Η αγάπη, η κατανόηση και η εμπιστοσύνη που υπάρχει ανάμεσα στα αδέρφια. Ενώ θα έπρεπε να είναι κοινά γνωρίσματα στη σχέση μεταξύ αδερφών αυτά που αναφέραμε, δυστυχώς δεν είναι πάντα. Αυτό είναι που έρχεται να μας θυμίσει ο Sedgwick μέσα από τη σχέση της Λόρεθ και του Μπέντζαμιν και είναι καλοδεχούμενο!
This was very disappointing. I was really excited to read a book my Marcus Sedgwick because I have wanted to read something by him for a long time. But, this book was just sub par. On the back there were reviews that said She is Not Invisible was gripping and fast paced. It wasn't at all. Sure, it moved at a decent pace, but it wasn't interesting enough to be a page turner.
This also isn't a book you can just jump right into. It's beneficial to read the synopsis because readers learn that Laureth is blind. I took me a couple of chapters to figure that out, and after I learned this valuable fact I read the synopsis. I was just very confused. Also, what kind of a name is Laureth??! I understand the origin as stated in the book, but it's a tad too weird for me. Not to mention some of the different things that happened to the siblings were just weird and a little hard to understand. Just like the dad's notebook was a little hard to understand, but I was able to get the jist.
The plot line was boring and didn't have enough suspense. Now that I've read this I'm wondering if this was one of his first books he wrote. I won't be recommending this to anyone because I didn't particularly like it, but I will say that it is for someone looking for a short and easy read to fulfill a reading goal.
This also isn't a book you can just jump right into. It's beneficial to read the synopsis because readers learn that Laureth is blind. I took me a couple of chapters to figure that out, and after I learned this valuable fact I read the synopsis. I was just very confused. Also, what kind of a name is Laureth??! I understand the origin as stated in the book, but it's a tad too weird for me. Not to mention some of the different things that happened to the siblings were just weird and a little hard to understand. Just like the dad's notebook was a little hard to understand, but I was able to get the jist.
The plot line was boring and didn't have enough suspense. Now that I've read this I'm wondering if this was one of his first books he wrote. I won't be recommending this to anyone because I didn't particularly like it, but I will say that it is for someone looking for a short and easy read to fulfill a reading goal.
After reading, and intensely disliking, Midwinterblood (or Midwinter Blood, depending upon which edition you’re viewing), I felt I owed it to author Marcus Sedgwick to review his next novel for teens, She is Not Invisible. In some ways, I liked Invisible a great deal more than Midwinterblood, but in at least one sense, MWB was better.
After not hearing from her father for several days, 16-year-old Laureth kidnaps her 7-year-old brother and travels from England to the United States to find him. Why does she take her younger brother on such a long and uncertain trip? Because Laureth is blind, and she is incapable of making grown up decisions unable to navigate the seeing world without his help. After a harrowing experience in both airports and a less-than-stellar encounter from a stranger on a plane, Laureth and her brother, Benjamin, arrive in New York City and begin tracking their father down. Despite having few clues about his whereabouts, they manage to stumble upon his hotel arrangements and his laptop. Laureth’s father is a famous author, and he’s a bit obsessed with his current book topic – the meaning behind coincidences. His journal, which contains notes bordering on paranoia, simultaneously guide and terrify Laureth, who is becoming more and more convinced that something terrible and unnatural has happened to her father.
The good: The plot and characters of She is Not Invisible are a great improvement over the lackluster Midwinterblood. A teenage protagonist (yay!) in the former compared to a mostly adult cast of characters in the latter means Invisible will definitely have a greater YA appeal. And although Laureth’s character is a bit immature for her age and makes some extremely stupid moves (kidnapping her younger brother and traveling halfway across the globe!), I didn’t hate her. She’s independent, smart and strong-willed, and she’s fiercely protective of her brother. Sedgwick also does an amazing job portraying Laureth’s disability. (I say this as a person with full sight who has never experienced life with a disability, and if Laureth’s experiences ring false to someone with disabilities, I’d honestly love to hear how it’s different.) Perhaps my favorite scene in the novel is a memory of hers, in which she recalls a shopkeeper addressing her mother as though Laureth isn’t in the room.
This situation isn’t uncommon for people with disabilities. Often people will talk over them or about them as if they are not present or capable of understanding. When the shopkeeper addresses these simple questions about a girl’s likes or dislikes to the mother, questions she wouldn’t hesitate to ask a visually capable girl of the same age, it can be demeaning and frustrating. And the worst part of the exchange is the final bit: “How do you manage with her? It must be very hard…”, as though Laureth isn’t able to hear or understand that others view her presence as a burden to her parents.
It brought to mind the nonfiction book The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism by Naoki Higashida. TRIJ is a book of questions people asked Naoki, or questions he’s come across related to people with autism, and he explains his way of thinking and how it might differ from a person without autism. One question asked was “What’s the worst thing about having autism?” Toward the end of Naoki’s response, he writes, “We can put up with our own hardships okay, but the thought that our lives are the source of other people’s unhappiness, that’s plain unbearable.” (The Reason I Jump, 44)
Additionally, Laureth’s response to people who ask if she wishes she could see is mirrored in Naoki’s book, when the question asks “Would you like to be ‘normal’?”
If this were just a novel about Laureth’s experience with her visual impairment and interactions with a world of “normal,” it might have been great. But now we’ve come to The Bad, which may just overwhelm Laureth’s wonderful character building.
The Bad: I don’t even know where to begin with this one. Perhaps I’ll start with some of the smaller issues and move my way up. The first 87 pages of the short, 215-page novel are dedicated to back story and Laureth and Benjamin’s journey from England to New York. For a mystery novel that Booklist calls “fast-paced,” that’s a lot of time dedicated to a plane ride and airport confusion. Yes, She is Not Invisible is a quick read, but that can be attributed to the length of the story as well as relatively low level of vocabulary and sentence structure. (The Lexile level is 690. Lexile does not measure the maturity of concepts and themes, and I consider it problematic to use as a whole, but it’s a good tool for measuring the basic word structure and content. The simplicity of the words used is beneficial in a book that discusses a complex and convoluted theory, although some of the concepts could still be confusing.) The actual mystery plot and action fills only about 50 pages of the novel, making for a super-quick moment of peril for the siblings followed by an even quicker moment of resolution. Because this is not a cerebral book, despite its trappings and attempt to make the reader think about coincidence as a greater concept, that’s a dismal amount of action.
On to the next issue: Benjamin. He is a precocious age 7, and he has better comprehension than almost every 7-year-old I’ve ever met. The thing is, it’s not that 7-year-olds can’t be smart, but developmentally speaking, they are often incapable of abstract thinking. Yet Benjamin makes connections that most other children his age would never be able to make. Also, Laureth keeps commenting about Benjamin’s “cute” habit of coining his own terms, like “coinky-dink” in place of “coincidence.” Seriously? You’re saying he coined that term? Who hasn’t heard that juvenile phrasing of the word at least once? To say someone coined the term implies that the individual created it, and coinky-dink was most certainly not created by a 7-year-old in the year 2014. But Benjamin’s odd maturity (which is amusing, because Laureth is more immature than most 16-year-olds I know!) isn’t the biggest problem with his character. No, that would be his role in the Paranormal Problem found in She is Not Invisible, a problem that I believe ruined the book. You see, Benjamin has a power. This is a “realistic fiction” novel, in which one of the main characters actually has a special ability. Whenever he touches anything technology-based, it goes on the fritz. Phones, televisions, video games, hand scanners – they all stop working when his hands touch them. There’s no backstory or reason for Benjamin’s power, it’s just something that exists. It’s a convenient device, however, when Laureth and Benjamin are making a scene at the airport and need to get away, and when Laureth desperately needs her phone but for plot reasons shouldn’t be able to access it. After that moment, it ceases being explained or noted upon.
Speaking of the Paranormal Problem, as Laureth investigates her father’s disappearance, she learns things that sound creepier and creepier. The coincidences keep piling up while her father’s journal is increasingly paranoid and daunting, and Laureth appears destined to discover a conspiracy related to coincidences that aren’t truly coincidental. And, yet, the ultimate reveal is extremely ordinary and renders all of the information we obtained null and void. The novel creates a ton of anticipation, with a very quick, almost boring, resolution. The book begins as a thriller à la Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code and ends with absolutely no fanfare.
One other very minor, nitpicky note: Marcus Sedgwick commits a horrendous grammatical crime when he has Laureth say “PIN number” repeatedly. Yes, I know many people say this, but a writer, especially a writer who is writing for impressionable minds, should not reinforce the incorrect term. When someone says “PIN number,” he is basically saying “Personal Identification Number number.” Just say NO to PIN numbers!
The Verdict: Sedgwick does a passable job addressing the subjects of obsession, trust and family, and he does an outstanding job tackling issues that people with vision impairment might experience. The writing is decent but nothing stellar, and honestly it paled in comparison to the lyrical language of Midwinterblood. (See, I told you that in some ways it wasn’t as good! I might not have liked MWB, but it had some purty words!) I do not consider Marcus Sedgwick to be a bad writer (I’ve read much worse, and I really enjoyed his short story in Eleven Doctors, Eleven Stories), but I do believe he is slightly overrated, Obviously many of the book review powerhouses disagree and continue to heap praises upon him, but I often feel that some authors receive starred reviews regardless of what they publish just because people expect them to be good. Ultimately, She is Not Invisible was an acceptable, although not entirely satisfying, realistic fiction novel that flirted with paranormal.
After not hearing from her father for several days, 16-year-old Laureth kidnaps her 7-year-old brother and travels from England to the United States to find him. Why does she take her younger brother on such a long and uncertain trip? Because Laureth is blind, and she is incapable of making grown up decisions unable to navigate the seeing world without his help. After a harrowing experience in both airports and a less-than-stellar encounter from a stranger on a plane, Laureth and her brother, Benjamin, arrive in New York City and begin tracking their father down. Despite having few clues about his whereabouts, they manage to stumble upon his hotel arrangements and his laptop. Laureth’s father is a famous author, and he’s a bit obsessed with his current book topic – the meaning behind coincidences. His journal, which contains notes bordering on paranoia, simultaneously guide and terrify Laureth, who is becoming more and more convinced that something terrible and unnatural has happened to her father.
The good: The plot and characters of She is Not Invisible are a great improvement over the lackluster Midwinterblood. A teenage protagonist (yay!) in the former compared to a mostly adult cast of characters in the latter means Invisible will definitely have a greater YA appeal. And although Laureth’s character is a bit immature for her age and makes some extremely stupid moves (kidnapping her younger brother and traveling halfway across the globe!), I didn’t hate her. She’s independent, smart and strong-willed, and she’s fiercely protective of her brother. Sedgwick also does an amazing job portraying Laureth’s disability. (I say this as a person with full sight who has never experienced life with a disability, and if Laureth’s experiences ring false to someone with disabilities, I’d honestly love to hear how it’s different.) Perhaps my favorite scene in the novel is a memory of hers, in which she recalls a shopkeeper addressing her mother as though Laureth isn’t in the room.
I have to go on pretending I’m this confident person, because if I don’t, if I’m quiet, I become invisible. People treat me as if I’m not there. I remember being tiny, about Benjamin’s age, standing in the sweet shop, and the woman behind the counter asking Mum, “What does she want? Does she like chocolates? Or something else? How do you manage with her? It must be very hard…”
She kept on and on, as if I wasn’t there. As if I were invisible. But I’m not. (139-140)
This situation isn’t uncommon for people with disabilities. Often people will talk over them or about them as if they are not present or capable of understanding. When the shopkeeper addresses these simple questions about a girl’s likes or dislikes to the mother, questions she wouldn’t hesitate to ask a visually capable girl of the same age, it can be demeaning and frustrating. And the worst part of the exchange is the final bit: “How do you manage with her? It must be very hard…”, as though Laureth isn’t able to hear or understand that others view her presence as a burden to her parents.
It brought to mind the nonfiction book The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism by Naoki Higashida. TRIJ is a book of questions people asked Naoki, or questions he’s come across related to people with autism, and he explains his way of thinking and how it might differ from a person without autism. One question asked was “What’s the worst thing about having autism?” Toward the end of Naoki’s response, he writes, “We can put up with our own hardships okay, but the thought that our lives are the source of other people’s unhappiness, that’s plain unbearable.” (The Reason I Jump, 44)
Additionally, Laureth’s response to people who ask if she wishes she could see is mirrored in Naoki’s book, when the question asks “Would you like to be ‘normal’?”
What would we do if there was some way that we could be “normal”? Well, I bet the people around us – our parents and teachers – would be ecstatic with joy and say, “Hallelujah! We’ll change them back to normal right now!” And for ages and ages I badly wanted to be normal, too. Living with special needs is so depressing and so relentless; I used to think it’d be the best thing if I could just live my life like a normal person.
But now, even if somebody developed a medicine to cure autism, I might well choose to stay as I am. … To give the short version, I’ve learned that every human being, with or without disabilities, needs to strive to do their best, and by striving for happiness you will arrive at happiness. For us, you see, having autism is normal – so we can’t know for sure what your “normal” is even like. But so long as we can learn to love ourselves, I’m not sure how much it matters whether we’re normal or autistic. (TRIJ, 45)
If this were just a novel about Laureth’s experience with her visual impairment and interactions with a world of “normal,” it might have been great. But now we’ve come to The Bad, which may just overwhelm Laureth’s wonderful character building.
The Bad: I don’t even know where to begin with this one. Perhaps I’ll start with some of the smaller issues and move my way up. The first 87 pages of the short, 215-page novel are dedicated to back story and Laureth and Benjamin’s journey from England to New York. For a mystery novel that Booklist calls “fast-paced,” that’s a lot of time dedicated to a plane ride and airport confusion. Yes, She is Not Invisible is a quick read, but that can be attributed to the length of the story as well as relatively low level of vocabulary and sentence structure. (The Lexile level is 690. Lexile does not measure the maturity of concepts and themes, and I consider it problematic to use as a whole, but it’s a good tool for measuring the basic word structure and content. The simplicity of the words used is beneficial in a book that discusses a complex and convoluted theory, although some of the concepts could still be confusing.) The actual mystery plot and action fills only about 50 pages of the novel, making for a super-quick moment of peril for the siblings followed by an even quicker moment of resolution. Because this is not a cerebral book, despite its trappings and attempt to make the reader think about coincidence as a greater concept, that’s a dismal amount of action.
On to the next issue: Benjamin. He is a precocious age 7, and he has better comprehension than almost every 7-year-old I’ve ever met. The thing is, it’s not that 7-year-olds can’t be smart, but developmentally speaking, they are often incapable of abstract thinking. Yet Benjamin makes connections that most other children his age would never be able to make. Also, Laureth keeps commenting about Benjamin’s “cute” habit of coining his own terms, like “coinky-dink” in place of “coincidence.” Seriously? You’re saying he coined that term? Who hasn’t heard that juvenile phrasing of the word at least once? To say someone coined the term implies that the individual created it, and coinky-dink was most certainly not created by a 7-year-old in the year 2014. But Benjamin’s odd maturity (which is amusing, because Laureth is more immature than most 16-year-olds I know!) isn’t the biggest problem with his character. No, that would be his role in the Paranormal Problem found in She is Not Invisible, a problem that I believe ruined the book. You see, Benjamin has a power. This is a “realistic fiction” novel, in which one of the main characters actually has a special ability. Whenever he touches anything technology-based, it goes on the fritz. Phones, televisions, video games, hand scanners – they all stop working when his hands touch them. There’s no backstory or reason for Benjamin’s power, it’s just something that exists. It’s a convenient device, however, when Laureth and Benjamin are making a scene at the airport and need to get away, and when Laureth desperately needs her phone but for plot reasons shouldn’t be able to access it. After that moment, it ceases being explained or noted upon.
Speaking of the Paranormal Problem, as Laureth investigates her father’s disappearance, she learns things that sound creepier and creepier. The coincidences keep piling up while her father’s journal is increasingly paranoid and daunting, and Laureth appears destined to discover a conspiracy related to coincidences that aren’t truly coincidental. And, yet, the ultimate reveal is extremely ordinary and renders all of the information we obtained null and void. The novel creates a ton of anticipation, with a very quick, almost boring, resolution. The book begins as a thriller à la Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code and ends with absolutely no fanfare.
One other very minor, nitpicky note: Marcus Sedgwick commits a horrendous grammatical crime when he has Laureth say “PIN number” repeatedly. Yes, I know many people say this, but a writer, especially a writer who is writing for impressionable minds, should not reinforce the incorrect term. When someone says “PIN number,” he is basically saying “Personal Identification Number number.” Just say NO to PIN numbers!
The Verdict: Sedgwick does a passable job addressing the subjects of obsession, trust and family, and he does an outstanding job tackling issues that people with vision impairment might experience. The writing is decent but nothing stellar, and honestly it paled in comparison to the lyrical language of Midwinterblood. (See, I told you that in some ways it wasn’t as good! I might not have liked MWB, but it had some purty words!) I do not consider Marcus Sedgwick to be a bad writer (I’ve read much worse, and I really enjoyed his short story in Eleven Doctors, Eleven Stories), but I do believe he is slightly overrated, Obviously many of the book review powerhouses disagree and continue to heap praises upon him, but I often feel that some authors receive starred reviews regardless of what they publish just because people expect them to be good. Ultimately, She is Not Invisible was an acceptable, although not entirely satisfying, realistic fiction novel that flirted with paranormal.
This is great, and mystical. I'm all up for books like this, because it's beautiful! Sedgwick creates pretty sentences, and his protagonist MUST be naturally gorgeous. That's how good his writing is. If you aren't up for "unrealistic" books, then stay clear. But unrealistic doesn't mean bad, because I feel that he didn't intend for it to be incredibly real. The secret message in the end of the book had me just floored. This is definitely one that I intend to buy.
Laureth Peak is blind, yet her father has taught her to look for patterns and coincidence in things around her. After she receives an email from a person in New York City stating he has found her father’s journal, she decides to take her 7-year old brother on a mission to find their father. All Laureth has to go on is her father’s black book and the patterns she sees around her. The issues a 16-year old girl is able to overcome to travel from London to NYC are amazing even if she didn’t have the issue with her sight.
She is Not Invisible is an extraordinary work in many ways. Laureth has not only adapted to being without sight, many people who interact with her are not aware of her disability. Readers will begin to wonder about patterns and the recurring events around them. Is it just chance, or is there a bigger plan? If you don’t see a pattern, is it that there is not one or is it not being recognized? Sedgwick spins a tale with enough twists and turns to keep the reader wanting more, yet doesn’t drag it out to add unnecessary components. This book is a very fast, yet satisfying read that I will be recommending again and again.
She is Not Invisible is an extraordinary work in many ways. Laureth has not only adapted to being without sight, many people who interact with her are not aware of her disability. Readers will begin to wonder about patterns and the recurring events around them. Is it just chance, or is there a bigger plan? If you don’t see a pattern, is it that there is not one or is it not being recognized? Sedgwick spins a tale with enough twists and turns to keep the reader wanting more, yet doesn’t drag it out to add unnecessary components. This book is a very fast, yet satisfying read that I will be recommending again and again.