What's it all about? Sixteen-year-old Laureth kidnaps her "slightly strange" little brother, Benjamin, and embarks on a transatlantic journey to New York to find her missing father, the famous author, Jack Peak. Laureth suspects that something terrible has happened after receiving an email from a Mr Michael Walker, saying that he has found her father's notebook in Queens - Jack is supposed to be in Switzerland. Compelled by her mother's apparent lack of concern, Laureth hatches a plan to track down her father, convinced that he needs her help. It is only when Laureth and Benjamin arrive at the airport that we realise why she is 'abducting' her little brother: Laureth is blind and will need him to help her navigate around the unfamiliar territory of the airport and of New York.
Laureth is blind?
Yes, but she doesn't mind, she "only minds people thinking [she's] stupid". I thought it was really neat that Sedgwick didn't reveal this right away - the reader learns a lot about Laureth before they learn about her disability, so she is never defined by it. Laureth actually muses on blind characters in fiction, explaining that they almost always fall into two camps: "pathetic helpless figures of woe" or the heroes like Dare Devil, whose other senses compensate super-humanly for their lack of sight. Laureth is neither of these. She is brave in the true sense; not fearless, but rather fully aware of her vulnerability in certain situations, and carries on in spite of her misgivings. Personally, I'm not a fan of the term 'disabled', and it certainly seems like an inappropriate word to describe a character as capable and dynamic as Laureth.
What sort of a name is Laureth, anyway?
An amazing one! Although the character of Jack Peak is absent for most of the novel, his presence is felt throughout through the excerpts from his notebook that Benjamin reads to Laureth, the opinions of those who have read his books (they usually like "the earlier ones... The funny ones") and throughout Laureth's own anecdotes about him. One of these anecdotes include how Laureth got her name - I won't spoil the story, but it's definitely original. There are lots of little quirks in this tale of adventure, and some that I didn't even realise until after I'd finished reading, such as the fact that there is not one visual description in the whole book. This shouldn't be a surprise with a first person narrator who happens to be blind, but the fact that you can read this book and have all of the characters and the settings perfectly evoked in your mind through the use of sound, smell and touch is testament to Sedgwick's skill as a writer.
Is it any good?
It is BRILLIANT! You must read this book. In my last review (Tinder by Sally Gardner) I was a bit disappointed that I had the audiobook instead of the real thing, as I'd missed out on over 100 beautiful illustrations. This time around, however, I think listening to the audio version made the book even better. Anna Cannings reads it beautifully: she had me in tears during a particularly emotional scene with Benjamin, and had my heart racing during the particularly tense climax of the story. Oh, and she happens to be blind too, and reads the book from Braille, which I imagine is quite a bit trickier to read aloud from.
At the end of the book, there's some interesting information about the author that reveals quit a few similarities between him and Jack Peak - what a coincidence! This book is so different from any other that I've read, and had me guessing right up until its very satisfying conclusion. Having taken some time to reflect on it, I think that this has been the best book I've read this year - go read it now!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Over to you:
1) Did you go back and read the first word of each chapter to find a hidden message? Was there one (I haven't yet, but I hope there is one!)
2) Has an unbelievable coincidence ever happened to you or someone you know?
3) Do you have a number? (My Number is 24).
4) Would you read that book?
No comments:
Post a Comment