She Is Not Invisible

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. 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.

from goodreads.com 

Beth says 3.5 Stars...
I've heard lots of good things recently about Marcus Sedgwick and decided to grab this one when I saw it at the library.  I didn't really pay attention to what the story was actually about and went in without much knowledge at all.  The plot definitely veers widely away from the typical romances and that at the very least made it enjoyable.  However, the mystery ended up as not particularly captivating and oddly paced.  For a book where an obession with coincidence plays a major role the significance of things wasn't always well-described.  I did adore the formatting of the book.  Bits of Laureth's dad's journal are interspersed throughout the novel and add nicely to the story.  They provide a window into the mind of the disappeared and serve as potential clues to his whereabouts.  I must say that Sedgwick's writing is quite nice and a pleasure to read.

Laureth (in posession of a supremely awesome name) had the potential to be super cool, but fell a short of the goal.  Although I assume that being blind would be a huge part of someone's identity, it seemed to be Laureth's primary defining charactaristic.  The she constantly equated letting people know she's blind with weakness was highly irritating.  Some situations would have been so much simpler had she just been honest at the outset.  There were some lovely moments, though, that had me thinking about what trying to navigate an unfamiliar city would be like if I was blind.  The secondary characters were definitely different and a change of pace from the expected.  Not all were fully realiyed, but none of them felt like stock placeholders either.

Although there are definitely some problems with the book, it's a decent read.  I'm planning on reading some of Sedgwick's other books since they're evidently darker and a bit better.  If you want something that's different and contemporary go ahead and pick this up.
book from library