Book Review: 'She is not Invisible' by Marcus Sedgwick

Firstly, I hope you all had a brilliant Christmas! I was unfortunately ill with a sickness bug on the night of Christmas Eve and most of Christmas Day but enjoyed it all the same!

'She is not Invisible' is a book which was shortlisted by The Guardian Newspaper when they ran a young writers book review competition earlier this year.

Despite never finding the time to actually get the books read and reviewed prior to the deadline, I did prepare for possible entry by reading the blurbs of the handful of shortlisted books and selecting two to read, in the end only for pleasure.

I ordered 'She is not Invisible' from my local library back in August and renewed it an embarrassing number of times before ever getting started on it! But, on Saturday morning, I finally finished it.

Without giving too much away, the story follows a 16 year old blind girl and her peculiar younger brother as they travel across the globe unaccompanied in search of their author father who has a weird obsession with the concept of 'coincidences' and who they believe to be missing.

Their quest is aided by snippets from their father's notebook, which are scattered throughout the book and which include 'research' (presumably factual!) which, as a current student of some philosophy at school, I actually found fascinating!

But as a story it was also excellent. Manageable sized chapters which, as I have mentioned previously on this blog, will always please me to begin with and a really excellent concept.

While elements of the storyline were a little unrealistic, particularly towards the end as the book tactfully picked up pace in order to tie up loose ends and reach it's conclusion, the entire theme made me question why I found them to be so, and the characters, or at least principle character Laureth, were certainly believable.

I liked that I was reading, although in 3rd person, predominately from the perspective of a blind girl because it presented the characters with challenges which aided the excitement element and also allowed for personal trains of thought that developed into relatable messages-How far can I push my own barriers? Why should I not do something someone else can? Not so different from the unanswerable philosophies I present myself on this blog from time to time I suppose!

Overall, a gripping and at times amusing read which is definitely worth a shot!