Customer Reviews

Eavesdropping: A Memoir of Blindness and Listening

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you're looking for a sequel to the author's famous 1998 memoir PLANET OF THE BLIND, this isn't it, no matter how they try to market it as such, and indeed called it a "memoir" in its subtitle is pretty misleading according to the Fair Packaging Act. PLANET OF THE BLIND has everything, an intense, nearly unbelievable story of growing up nearly blind and yet trying to pretend to be sighted, and underneath it all it was a story of being mainstreamed and constantly told that everything would be all right and that if you only tried harder you'd be just like any other boy. The journey was all in discovering that no, what society was telling you was just not true and that you needed help all your life. Help you never got. Lessons in braille and a guide dog more like.

Eventually young Kuusisto began living a productive life, freed from his twin demons of obesity and anorexia, and became recognized internationally as a master of disability studies and as a poet. As a poet, he's not one of my favorites, but he's certainly well known in the field and has the respect of many. The present book is sort of a gallimaufry, a compilation of different essays about all different things, and it would be an understatement to say it lacks the focus of PLANET OF THE BLIND. In fact it doesn't have much narrative drive at all. Mostly we hear about different trips Steve has taken, to different places all over the world, and also we hear about his experiences listening to music. You'd think that after all the discussion of compensation in POTB, that being blind might make a person more sensitive to music, but EAVESDROPPING proves that this is not necessarily the case.

As a commonplace book, however, EAVESDROPPING works besutifully, for Kuusisto has a knack for remembering and quoting many of the wisest and funniest sayings he has heard over the years. "Hearing poetry starts the psychological mechanism of prayer," he avers, quoting from Theodore Roethke and whether or not you believe Roethke's formulation it's nice to hear the sentiment put so succinctly. At times the book descends into a laundry list of memorable shows he went to: "a Frank Zappa concert in Montreal in the dead of winter; my favorite reggae band, Toots and the Maytals, in New York; Carnbegie Hall for the tenor Jose Carreras; Placido Domingo at the Metropolitan Opera; Bob Dylan on a rainy summer night outdoors; Vladimir Horovitz in Chicago . . ." I can't even type any more, it's too boring. But overall a beautiful book filled with memorable little apercus from one of our greatest writers.

With an excellent style of writing, the blind author and English professor gives insight into the world as experienced without clear vision. It is a delightful read, informative and inspiring.

EAVESDROPPING: A MEMOIR OF BLINDNESS AND LISTENING tells of a blind poet who had to cope with a life without sight - but it's much more than just another memoir of coping. EAVESDROPPING asks - and answers - the essential questions of why and how go on with life without sight, providing an emphasis on the author's travels and what he could experience on these journeys sans sight. Chapters tell not how to cope with being blind, but how to get the most out of life under conditions of affliction and change. Invaluable.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

"Eavesdropping" invited me to enter the sacred labyrinth of the inner and outer ear. Through a series of searingly honest self-reflective essays that read like tone poems, I found myself led on a deep listening journey to a center where blindness sparks illumination. In one of my favorite tales, "The Twa Corbies," the author says that "according to Aaron Copeland, informed music listeners listen on three planes." The power and beauty of this book is that it achingly and joyfully evokes multi-level
listening through life's soundscapes.

"The first level is sensual." Kuusisto introduced me to Caruso's soaring arias on an ancient victrola; the inhalations of Finnish speech and the exhalations of baseball enthusiasts filling the gaps between field action; gaggling crows; the pathos of Bach and the angst of Heiskanen,an old Finnish singer, self-exiled to Sweden. The author's gift for Haiku-like lyrical descriptions surprised my eardrums into listening in delightful expanded ways to sounds for the outer ear.

The second plane is expressive,"giving meaning behind the composer's score." Underneath the author's sensual eavesdropping is: the loneliness in grandmother's attic while high C's sing; the lostness that comes with exploring crow's chaotic cawing; the family dysfunction of all night footsteps in the kitchen; friendship that companions Cuban music in counterpoint to the hiss of volcanic steam fissures in Iceland; and the love that allows independent listening and shared visions with his wife in Venice. I found that this voyage on interior ear currents of honest self-listening and sharing opened passageways to deep eavesdropping.

"Finally there is the 'musical'plane,the speciality of trained musicians," which rests on concentration that is knowledge based on an understanding of instruments in conversation. Stephen Kuuisto has honed his eavesdropping skills to that of a
self-taught expert listener. His book guided me to want to listen to my own, others and the world's conversations about blindness; the globalization of culture; the effect of technology on communications;and everything else that makes up
our soundscapes of understanding each other.

In the Epilogue of "Eavesdropping." Steve describes a place where bells in steeples rang out from many directions, singing songs of trust and possibility despite his lack of total clarity of where he was or what comes next. It is a sacred journey that he invites us to take which leads one into the center and out with new appreciations and perspectives. If you choose to read his book and walk the labyrinth of the inner and outer ear with him, I feel that you will hear the guiding ring of the bells too.

Who needs eyes when they have ears and a mind like Stephen's? This memoir is a remarkable audio tour through exotic locales that is surprisingly vibrant and "feels like being there." He writes that the hard part of sound-seeing is that the listener is mostly dependent upon spontaneous events and action - a conversation, a flock of birds taking flight, a bell tolling - while the sight-seer can look at static sights and let the mind wander. Woven beautifully throughout are Stephen's memories of music and literature that keeps his mind occupied with what most of the rest of us fill with visual stimulation. While not a journey-type memoir in the traditional sense, Eavesdropping is full of wit and wisdom, a compelling read.

Kuusisto writes his life like a painting. He is blind and yet his descriptive writing sees more than most sighted people. He brings us to the point of wonder at his ability to"see." His descriptive hearing elevates the reader to the level of music and poetic irony. I can't wait to read more.

We are a very visually oriented society. This book helps you hear, smell and taste the world around us. It is beautifully written and a delightfully different perspective.