Sights Unseen [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

Kaye Gibbons (Author, Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1999

The acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of Ellen Foster,Kaye Gibbons paints intimate family portraits in lyrical prose, using as her palette the rich, vibrant colors of the American South. Sights Unseen shows the author at her most passionate and heartfelt best -- an unforgettable tale of unconditional love, and of a family's desperate search for normalcy in the midst of mental illness. It is a novel of rare poignancy, wit, and evocative power -- the story of the relationship between Hattie Barnes and her emotionally elusive mother, Maggie, known by their neighbors as "that Barnes woman with all the problems."

This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A girl struggles to relate to her mentally ill mother.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

YA?A story that chronicles the devastating effects of growing up in a dysfunctional family. Hattie's mother, a manic depressive, experiences erratic mood swings and irrational outbursts. She is incapable of nurturing her daughter, shopping, talking, or providing a role model for something as basic as cooking. Narrated by Hattie, the book is permeated with sadness and disillusionment because of her constant disappointment over the lost opportunities for bonding, her fears and embarrassment with peers, and her lack of mothering. The minor characters emerge as shadowy figures who must tiptoe around the mother's moods. Readers witness violent verbal attacks on Hattie's father and experience her brother's protective response of staying in his room. The entire family is grateful for the respite provided by the mother's institutionalization. The novel will elicit empathy in most YAs, providing information to those who have never experienced this type of family situation and reassurance to those who have.?Barbette Timperlake, R.E. Lee High School, Springfield, VA
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Audioworks; Abridged edition (August 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671776177
• ISBN-13: 978-0671776176
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,331,090 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book, January 26, 2001

By 

"sarah4181" (Mississippi) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sights Unseen (Mass Market Paperback)

I am just sorry that more people didn't enjoy the book as much as I did. Actually, I should not say enjoy...the book hit too close to home to be so enjoyable, as I, too, am a manic depressive. I am 19 years old and even though I have no children of my own, I do know, when my mind allows me to think clearly, the pain and hardship my condition causes my family. I think Gibbons portrayed a person with such an illness in a true and poignant way, as she herself suffers from the condition. It is not an easy life to live and she illustrates that in the book. Some thought the woman's episodes hilarious,however, to live the life is to know, and it's not funny at all. It is a matter of getting up every day and not knowing how you will feel or what you will do. It is a matter of hurting those you love unintentionally on a daily basis, hurting yourself on a daily basis, and never knowing where your life is going. Gibbons's plot may not have seemed as "page-turning" as some would have liked, but the illness, though unpredictable, is not the stuff for an action-adventure novel, except to those who live with it. The book is wonderful, and true to life, and worth every penny.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Who is Hattie Barnes??, March 10, 2005

By 

Cassie W. (Ohio) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Sights Unseen (Mass Market Paperback)

SIGHTS UNSEEN, a short novel by Kaye Gibbons, tells the story of a woman named Maggie Barnes with bipolar disorder, told through her daughter, Hattie's, eyes. Hattie, writing from the perspective of the woman she's become, relates the events that happened to her mother, specifically those events that took place during Hattie's twelfth year, in 1963, when Maggie, between bouts of sex-crazed mania and suicidal depression, ran into a woman with a car and was sent to Duke for electroconvulsive shock therapy that was meant "cure" her.

The strength of the novel is in Kaye Gibbons' sensitivity to the severity of manic depression and what it's like for someone who has to live with bouts of extreme joy and severe sadness. However, if you're looking for some kind of insight from Hattie in this novel, you won't find it. Hattie is a completely impersonal narrator; it's easy to forget that she is Maggie's daughter. She seems so disconnected from the story and the events that are happening. The reader gets no insight into Hattie's hopes or fears--we don't know how she feels about growing up without a reliable mother; it's almost as if Gibbons deliberately skirts Hattie's feelings in order to talk more about her mother's antics. There is a brief suggestion that Hattie desperately desires her mother's attention, but it is not fully developed, and is therefore unbelievable.

The novel has potential--but, because of Hattie's failure as a narrator, it falls short of the goal Gibbons probably imagined it would attain.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars longing, January 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Sights Unseen (Mass Market Paperback)

As a woman who is fiercely close with my mother, my heart broke repeatedly for Hattie. She wanted the most basic thing every child craves: Love, and she spends her whole young life trying to understand her mother's illness and in the process she comes to understand herself and later her own children. Hattie is wise beyond her years at times, other times she is like a baby you just want to pick up and carry away from the situation.

Hattie is funny and tragic and careful and complex all at once. She longs for what many of us take for granted--a mother to laugh with, shop with, talk about boys with. This was the first book I read in a long time that actually made me cry.

Kaye Gibbons is a master of telling stories that are so real you think you are the main character. EVERY word she writes is necessary to the story. I have read every one of her books and I think she is excellent. It's easy reading too. I read Sights Unseen in a day.

After reading Sights Unseen I appreciate my mother and the life she gave up for me that much more. In fact, after I read it I wrapped it up and gave it her with a note of thanks on the inside front cover.