Name: Eleanor Luhar's review of She is not invisible by Marcus Sedgwick
Item: She is not invisible
Rating: 4
Author: Eleanor Luhar

Marcus Sedgwick

A London teenager who is blind and her younger brother travel to New York to find their missing father, using clues from his notebook.

Laureth Peak's father has taught her to look for recurring events, patterns, and numbers, a skill at which she's remarkably talented. Her secret: she is blind. But when her father goes missing, Laureth and her younger brother Benjamin are thrust into a mystery that takes them to New York City. Surviving will take all her skill at spotting the amazing, shocking, and sometimes dangerous connections in a world full of darkness.

She is not invisible

brittany

Many strange things collide in Laureth Peak's life one hot August weekend. Perhaps strangest of all is the way her dad has been acting lately. And now he's disappeared. It looks as if his obsession with coincidence might have fatal consequences, As Laureth sets off for New York with her strange younger brother, Benjamin, she has little faith in herself. But she has a burning determination to find her missing father. She has just one clue to follow; his notebook. Does it contain salvation or madness?

Eleanor Luhar

This was not how I expected it to be. I liked the uniqueness of it, though, and how unpredictable it turned out to be.
It starts in an airport, with the protagonist and narrator (who's name we learn to be Laureth) and her little brother Benjamin. We soon discover that Laureth is blind, which provides us with a very interesting account of the events of this story. They are going to America, alone, to find their father. He's a writer, and holds his notebooks very dearly - so when Laureth gets an email about one being found in America when he's supposed to be in Switzerland (and then he fails to answer his phone) she immediately assumes something is very wrong.

This is told mostly chronologically, but with memories scattered throughout. Laureth also gives slight hints as to what will be happening later on, reinstating the fact that she is writing about past events. I quite liked this - we were told about certain memories and events that were relevant to the story at that time, nothing more, nothing less.

It turns into quite a dark, suspenseful hunt. Laureth starts to fear that her father may even have taken his own life. The pair even get cornered by a man with a knife who claims to have seen her father. His partner later breaks into their hotel room, searching for some valuable contents of her father's safe. Coincidentally, they run in to her father just moments later.

The obsession of Laureth and Ben's father is coincidences; a very interesting topic. He goes into great detail in his notebook (which we are shown throughout the book), discussing theories and particular physicists' experiences. Bit by bit, he seems to be delving deeper and deeper into the mysteries of the universe. Laureth is caught up in this - she looks for clues in every page of her dad's notebook. But is she looking too hard? Is she finding signs that aren't really there?

Laureth relies on her brother to navigate the world, and although he is only going, he is superbly helpful to her. She is adamant on being an independent young lady, and even hides her impairment from most people she meets. As she is the narrator of this book, we are given an account that does not include any visual descriptions. Instead, the other senses are used far more - sounds and feelings especially. I really liked this.

The ending was wonderful. It was different - completely unexpected. I especially liked how her "coincidental" meeting with Sam turned out to mean nothing at all. And her father's account of what had happened, and his realisation that his obsession was pointless, was so ironic. Laureth and Ben had been on this massive journey, worried their father was so caught up in his obsession that his life was in danger. They began to find strange patterns and signs everywhere - only to find out how coindences are completely fake. 

And the last page was so clever, too. It was numbered 354 which is clever in itself - this number holds a massive significance throughout this book - but then there's also the hidden message that's revealed. One of the last sentences prompts you to look closely at the book, and then you find a heartwarming little phrase. I really liked this idea - it seems a bit naff, but actually worked really well.

I did feel like this was maybe a little more for younger adults (I'm nearly 18) but it was really easy to follow and quick to read. It wasn't lengthy or tiresome at all. 4 stars.

Prize-winning author Marcus Sedgwick explores obsession, trust and coincidence in this page-turning thriller about 16-year-old Laureth Peak's mission to find her missing father. A mission made all the more difficult by one fact: Laureth Peak is blind. Laureth's father is a writer. For years he's been trying, and failing, to write a novel about coincidence. His wife thinks he's obsessed. Laureth thinks he's on the verge of a breakdown. He's supposed to be doing research in Austria, so when his notebook shows up in New York, Laureth knows something is wrong. On impulse, she steals her mother's credit card and heads for the States, taking her strange little brother Benjamin with her. Reunited with the notebook, they begin to follow clues inside, trying to find their wayward father. But the challenges and threats that lie ahead are even tougher for Laureth than they would be for any other teenager - because Laureth has no vision to guide her. Also available as an audio book, read from braille by Anna Cannings.

She Is Not Invisible

Toniy Knight

This was a gripping read quite different to most other books I've read. It was really interesting to read a book with no visual descriptions, something you don't even notice most of the time. 

I also was pleased with the way Laureth's disability was written. It seemed Sedgwick did his homework before writing her. Though I'm not blind myself I couldn't find any big don'ts when writing a disabled character and he made her a believable three dimensional character.

Thais Souza Passos

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♡ lilly ♡

Laureth Peak's father has taught her to look for recurring events, patterns, and numbers--a skill at which she's remarkably talented. Her secret: She is blind. But when her father goes missing, Laureth and her 7-year-old brother Benjamin are thrust into a mystery that takes them to New York City where surviving will take all her skill at spotting the amazing, shocking, and sometimes dangerous connections in a world full of darkness. Marcus Sedgwick's She Is Not Invisible is an intricate puzzle of a novel that sheds a light on the delicate ties that bind people to each other. This title has Common Core connections.

brittany &
She is not invisible by Marcus Sedgwick

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