Review: The Rules of Seeing by Joe Heap

Nova is in her early thirties. She possesses extreme intelligence, an ability to speak many different languages and she has a good job with the police force. She also happens to be visually impaired. When she undergoes surgery to correct her eyesight, Nova suddenly finds herself in a world where the things that she knew no longer make sense. There is one beacon of hope, though, her friendship with Kate. However, there is one thing that may threaten to end their new friendship, for good.

I purchased my copy of The Rules of Seeing after seeing it advertised on facebook by it's Australian publisher, the local division of HarperCollins. I was intrigued by the premise of an extremely intelligent woman in her early thirties learning to see for the first time, and, quite honestly, parts of that story are delivered well--Nova's confusion with depth perception, every day objects and wanting to go back to the way things were before her operation all seemed very plausible. The rules of seeing that she created as she went along were quite interesting to read. What was handled less well, and (unfortunately) turned this novel from a competent, well told story into mass market trash was Kate. Or maybe I'm being a bit harsh here. Kate was quite a sympathetic character. She's an architect stuck in an abusive relationship that she doesn't want to admit is abusive thanks to her partner's gaslighting, and has support from no one until Nova unexpectedly comes along and the pair find their relationship developing into something more. And it would have been compelling if Tony's antics had of been handled well. Tony plays out like the stereotypical abuser, absent when the plot requires him to be, and there and ready to pounce just as Nova and Kate's relationship seems to be going well. I also found it a little surprising that Kate was able to slip so easily into a same sex relationship despite there being no foreshadowing that she may be bisexual and with little thought to her sexual identity. 

Overall, this is a book with a great premise and some great moments that is let down by some clumsy handling of the subject matter.

Not really recommended.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Peppermint Patty: I Cried and Cried and Cried

Image
Unrequited love is a common theme in the Peanuts Comics and is one that I have previously explored on this blog. We know that Lucy loves Schroeder, Sally loves Linus and Charlie Brown has a crush on the unseen, unnamed and utterly unattainable Little Redhaired Girl. But perhaps the saddest unrequited love stories from the comic is that which ran in late June 1972. It was the series of strips where the usually self-confident Peppermint Patty came face-to-face with the Little Redhaired Girl with the intention of thumping her and then something surprising happened: Here we have a usually self-confident girl, who is funny, unashamedly herself and talented at sports reduced to tears by the realisation of who she is not and never can be. I really feel for her in this series of comic strips. She knows that Charlie Brown can never love her, when he is so hung up over a girl who represents a supposedly ideal feminine beauty. Fortunately Linus, the most spiritual member of the Pean
Read more

Phrases and Idioms: Tickets on Himself

To have tickets on himself: (Australian slang.) To be conceited or vain. To have an overinflated opinion of oneself.  He's got tickets on himself if he thinks that any woman would fall for that. I was thinking about this particular bit of Australian slang the other day, after my boss said, "He's got tickets on himself," to describe the actions of a particular individual. At the time, I smiled, knowing exactly what the boss meant. Later on, I started to ponder on this unusual phrase and wondered where it might have come from. A search on google helped me find the definition, but that was about all. There are no references to it being used in pop culture or literature (if you find one, let me know,) and at the time of writing this post, Tickets on Himself was not listed on Urban Dictionary. (I tried to add it, but the fuckers rejected my definition. They probably think I have tickets on myself or something for trying to add a relatively common piece of A
Read more

Who Else Writes Like V.C. Andrews?

Image
Are there any other authors out there who write similar novels to V.C. Andrews? This is a question I see asked frequently in excellent fan run V.C. Andrews Facebook groups like Attic Secrets and The Dolls Club. In times gone by, The Complete V.C. Andrews webpage (which is no more, but the best bits are archived by Lorraine at the Attic Secrets blog,) had a comprehensive list. Today, I thought I would put forward a few of my own thoughts and recommendations. (Note: This will focus mainly on the series and novels written by the actual V.C. Andrews and not ghostwriter Andrew Neiderman, who has a distinctive writing style of his own.) The Classics This is probably the best place to start, as it is likely that some of these novels influenced V.C. Andrews herself. Andrews was a fan of Charles Dickens, mentioning the author in the prologue of her most famous novel Flowers in the Attic. I have yet to read all of Dickens novels (I've read about half,) but I can feel a slight V.C. Andrews vi
Read more