Review of Farsighted

I just finished reading Farsighted by Emlyn Chand.  The book is about a blind guy named Alex who starts to have visions of the future.  He works together with some other psychics to prevent something awful happening to his love interest.  Overall, I enjoyed the book very much.  I loved how the reader was transported into Alex’s world without sight.  The author did a fabulous job of describing things with sounds and smells and touch.  I definitely appreciated this new way of sensing what was going on in the book.  I also felt at times that it was pleasantly ironic to be sort of blind to what was going on in Alex’s glimpses of the future.  This is not an easy task to accomplish for a writer.

I am a youth worker, and as a result I always think about whether I would recommend the book to my youth kids.  I think Farsighted is something they would enjoy.  Alex explores feelings of independence and deals with parental issues that every teen faces.  The book also provides the bit of fantasy and romance that my girls especially enjoy reading about.  I think Farsighted can offer some good discussion about people with disabilities and how they survive “normally” in the world.

The book I am currently working on getting published is about seven kids who find objects that give them supernatural abilities.  I enjoyed reading about Alex and his friends who have special gifts.  I liked how they were living in a very normal world, with classes and parental issues and hormones, but that they also possessed talents that helped them to make a difference in the world.  This theme is something I am trying to portray in my manuscript as well.  I always get nervous when there are books similar to mine, but Ms. Chand’s characters and story are very different than my own, and she possesses a smart, direct writing style that isn’t easily duplicated. 

Thanks, Emlyn, for allowing me to read your manuscript.  I know many people in the online community have been talking about it.  It reminded me of a scene from You’ve Got Mail (yes, I am that old) when a character mentioned that it was like the whole city was talking about Kathleen Kelly that day.  It was like everyone was talking about Farsighted all at once, and I am privileged to be one of them.  I know this isn’t the last we have seen of Ms. Chand, and I will be continuing to follow her and the lovable Farsighted characters. 

You should check them out too!  http://www.emlynchand.com