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shimmery's review against another edition
3.0
A meditation on motherhood, on life and death, this a sombre read that feels more like a set of intertwined essays than a novel. The main thread is about a woman’s journey from losing her mother to deciding whether or not to have her own child to being pregnant for the first time to giving birth. This nicely explores generations of mothers, as the woman’s grandmother also features. The other threads are about various scientists and psychoanalysts, which to be honest I would have preferred to be left out.
While I recognise this is a talented writer and a very thoughtful work, it wasn’t really for me for a couple of reasons. The first being simply that I think this will be most poignant for those who have or are soon to have children, which is not somewhere I’m at right now. The second being that the writing style grated on my nerves a little — while many I’m sure will find them beautifully poetic, to my taste the sentences were a little long and convoluted, my knee started jigging up and down while I waited for the full stop to come, I gritted my teeth as words like ‘husbanded’ were used one too many times. But that’s just a taste thing—I still considered it a thoughtful book with a lot of beauty in it.
While I recognise this is a talented writer and a very thoughtful work, it wasn’t really for me for a couple of reasons. The first being simply that I think this will be most poignant for those who have or are soon to have children, which is not somewhere I’m at right now. The second being that the writing style grated on my nerves a little — while many I’m sure will find them beautifully poetic, to my taste the sentences were a little long and convoluted, my knee started jigging up and down while I waited for the full stop to come, I gritted my teeth as words like ‘husbanded’ were used one too many times. But that’s just a taste thing—I still considered it a thoughtful book with a lot of beauty in it.
daria66's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
_changingtime's review against another edition
5.0
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Jessie Greengrass’ Sight is completely introspective. It is plotless, and this may be a deal-breaker for some, but the just-under-200-pages are written in such a way that I honestly didn't even realise that, for the most part, nothing is actually happening. The dichotomy between the history of medicine (X-Rays, the birth of psychoanalysis, Victorian medical procedures) and the ruminations of the unnamed narrator around grief, motherhood and pregnancy are absolutely fascinating and made for a truly thought-provoking (and rather educational) read. The narrator debates arduously over the prospect of becoming a mother, an aspect of life that is often seen as an inevitability - women are told near-constantly that they should want to have children and this book made me feel comforted by the fact that doubts and fears in the face of the humongous life change are not completely alien.
Head on over to http://bit.ly/2y7JSWV for this book, as well as all of the others featured in my reviews, complete with the added bonuses of free worldwide shipping and bringing a little joy to my life.
Jessie Greengrass’ Sight is completely introspective. It is plotless, and this may be a deal-breaker for some, but the just-under-200-pages are written in such a way that I honestly didn't even realise that, for the most part, nothing is actually happening. The dichotomy between the history of medicine (X-Rays, the birth of psychoanalysis, Victorian medical procedures) and the ruminations of the unnamed narrator around grief, motherhood and pregnancy are absolutely fascinating and made for a truly thought-provoking (and rather educational) read. The narrator debates arduously over the prospect of becoming a mother, an aspect of life that is often seen as an inevitability - women are told near-constantly that they should want to have children and this book made me feel comforted by the fact that doubts and fears in the face of the humongous life change are not completely alien.
Head on over to http://bit.ly/2y7JSWV for this book, as well as all of the others featured in my reviews, complete with the added bonuses of free worldwide shipping and bringing a little joy to my life.
kingarooski's review against another edition
4.0
"-It is
she said
-like having a piece of your heart outside yourself--meaning, I suppose that a child remains a part of you, vital but detached-but this is now hot it feels to me. Rather I think that it is like an amputation, something that was once joined cut off, as unrecoverable now as an object fallen from the side of a boat, drifting on the current further and further out of sight."
An insight into modern marriage and motherhood and the profound sense of feeling adrift when a parent dies. I found the interweaving of medical history interesting, except for the Freud bit, which bored me senseless. I'm not sure that one book serves these weaved story lines and accounts well, but I would like to find out more about John Hunter, a pioneering Scottish surgeon.
Closer to 3.5 than 4.
she said
-like having a piece of your heart outside yourself--meaning, I suppose that a child remains a part of you, vital but detached-but this is now hot it feels to me. Rather I think that it is like an amputation, something that was once joined cut off, as unrecoverable now as an object fallen from the side of a boat, drifting on the current further and further out of sight."
An insight into modern marriage and motherhood and the profound sense of feeling adrift when a parent dies. I found the interweaving of medical history interesting, except for the Freud bit, which bored me senseless. I'm not sure that one book serves these weaved story lines and accounts well, but I would like to find out more about John Hunter, a pioneering Scottish surgeon.
Closer to 3.5 than 4.
krobart's review against another edition
4.0
See my review here:
https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2022/03/10/review-1816-sight/
https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2022/03/10/review-1816-sight/
hjf95's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
kaylielongley's review against another edition
4.0
This novel is helping me heal from losing my person. The unnamed narrator grieves her mother while becoming one herself. She searches for something in motherhood, partnership, and in simply being. I love that her job/appearance/even setting are seldom mentioned; she could be anyone. This relatability forges a quiet chaos to this fiction. Ample use of run-on sentences, paired with juxtapositions of historical discoveries, mean this book won't work for everyone. Academic pursuits of finding new ways to see and know are allegorical to the narrator's life, like the discovery (and lack of publication) of the x-ray, Freud's take on psychoanalysis (and his crumbling legacy in his last days), and the (failed) first c-section. So much of these real-life events represent an unflinching truth: Success is arbitrary, but becoming and making meaning out of life are subjective.
half_book_and_co's review against another edition
2.0
Jessie Greenberg's Sight is narrated by an unnamed woman, who shares her thoughts on (the possibility and reality of) motherhood and muses on the complex relationships with her mother and grandmother. Interlaced in these meandering thoughts are scenes depicting the discovery of X-rays, the developement of psychoanalysis, and the origins of modern surgery. So the questions posed directly and indirectly might be big ones: What makes us who we are and how can we discover our innermost workings? The book deals with grief, family, relationships, and science.
On paper this book could have been for me: it is quite short, rather poetic/ language focussed, fragmented. But well, I did not like it and it is hard to pinpoint why. Overall I was bored. I was not interested in the character, who we never get really close to even though we spend so much time in her head, nor the way she discussed the themes on hand. I liked the concept of combining writing on science with these personal musing and the questions arising by this juxtaposition, but I felt it was never fully realized.
On paper this book could have been for me: it is quite short, rather poetic/ language focussed, fragmented. But well, I did not like it and it is hard to pinpoint why. Overall I was bored. I was not interested in the character, who we never get really close to even though we spend so much time in her head, nor the way she discussed the themes on hand. I liked the concept of combining writing on science with these personal musing and the questions arising by this juxtaposition, but I felt it was never fully realized.
marberhk's review against another edition
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0