Review: Farsighted by Emlyn Chand

“Alex Kosmitoras's life has never been easy. The only other student who will talk to him is the school bully, his parents are dead-broke and insanely overprotective, and to complicate matters even more, he's blind. Just when he thinks he'll never have a shot at a normal life, a new girl from India moves into town. Simmi is smart, nice, and actually wants to be friends with Alex. Plus she smells like an Almond Joy bar. Yes, sophomore year might not be so bad after all.

Unfortunately, Alex is in store for another new arrival--an unexpected and often embarrassing ability to "see" the future. Try as he may, Alex is unable to ignore his visions, especially when they begin to suggest that Simmi is in danger. With the help of the mysterious psychic next door and new friends who come bearing gifts of their own, Alex must embark on a journey to change his future.”

When I began reading Farsighted, I have to be honest and say that I wasn’t sure what to think. I mean how many books are about a blind teenage boy with supernatural powers? Not too many from what I’ve seen, and it is exactly that that had me speeding through the pages, desperate to read more.

Alex was born blind, his whole life growing up relying on his other senses to move through life, experience and see what’s around him. We get to live in Alex’s shoes as he uses a cane to walk around, has to go to school ahead of time to learn the route before simply going in the first day of class, to see how other students act knowing that he’s different. One of the coolest things was that he read books in Brail. Which sounds ridiculous, I know that’s how people who can’t see read, but it was something that I had never thought about it to that extent. So for those of us who not have a friend, family member or personal experience with someone with a seeing disability, this book is an eye opener. I wasn’t sure how Emlyn was going to pull it off, not being able to truly describe scenery or the background around Alex, but she does, and she may even pull it off better than those with every sense to rely on.

On to the rest of the storyline, there are some fantastic characters in this book. From sweet Simmi to sassy Shapri, from Alex's strong, loving mother to a father who appears rigid and mean, but truly just has more to him than what meets the eye. Since the view is from a fifteen year old, you get all of those sweet first love emotions that comes with that first crush, a reminder of how pure things begin and how complicated they end up.

The way that Alex’s powers slowly progress is unique. I didn’t find it your typical run of the mill, bam! I have powers, and the whole “What I’m special?!” routine, I mean don’t get me wrong, it was there, but it wasn’t nearly as in your face as it usually is. What I'm getting at, if you haven't figured that out already is that this is a fantastic book that you will not be disappointed to read. I know that I pushed off reading this book far, far too long.

My rating for this book:

 

And if you want to see our interview with Emlyn Chand, click here!