Truesight by David Stahler, Jr.Jacob has been having awful headaches, accompanied by dizziness and a strange sensation. Jacob is afraid it's sight. Sight- something that his ancestors eschewed, something that Jacob has been raised to know is deceitful and bad. But Jacob's sight has been revealing to him some things he doesn't want to know. His community is not as idyllic as it seems. Jacob can see that members of the community engage in theft with none to see them. Most scarily, he can see that his mother is having an adulterous relationship! Confronted with the deception of his community, Jacob has to decide what to do.
Truesight leaves too much unexplained. Why does Jacob gain sight? How is he able to understand what he sees? The corruption hinted at in the town- is it centralized? How does the town function- do they use Braille or is everything on tape? Why do the people need their technology when the advantage of blindness is that blind folks are generally able to get around with far less? This book is similar to Lowry's
The Giver, with less philosophical food and an inefficient attempt at explaining how the community came to be. Although the concept of a blind community, blind by choice, is a tantalizing concept which ought to make a good story, Stahler has flubbed it.
Poor reading.
