Blind by Rachel DeWoskin

by:  Rachel DeWoskin
published by:  Viking Juvenile
publish date:  August 7, 2014

Imagine this: You are fourteen, watching the fireworks at a 4th of July party, when a rocket backfires into the crowd and strikes your eyes, leaving you blind. In that instant, your life is changed forever. How do you face a future in which all your expectations must be different? You will never see the face of your newborn sister, never learn to drive. Will you ever have a job or fall in love? This is Emma’s story. The drama is in her many small victories as she returns to high school in her home town and struggles to define herself and make sense of her life, determined not to be dismissed as a PBK – Poor Blind Kid. This heartfelt and heart wrenching story takes you on Emma’s journey and leaves you with a new understanding of the challenges to be faced when life deals a devastating blow.

I was really excited to read this book.  Who doesn't love books about people overcoming adversity?  I thought this book was going to be all about Emma suffering this terrible tragedy and her struggle to rise above it.  Sadly, it wasn't totally about that.  Yeah, it was partly about that, but there was this whole other story thrown in that I wasn't understanding.

The other story line of this book was about a suicide that had happened.  While dealing with her blindness, Emma is also apparently struggling to understand this suicide.  So "naturally" all the kids at school start meeting at an abandoned haunted house to hash it out...because that makes total sense, right?   If you were recently blind would you want to be dragged through the woods to an abandoned house?  This part of the book was just not making sense to me.  

I felt like if the book had just stuck with Emma's story and her recovery, it would have been really good.  The suicide stuff was distracting and didn't make a whole lot of sense.  I'm kind of on the fence about recommendations.  If you read this book did you like it?  Did you think the subplot was distracting?