Things Not Seen
by Andrew Clements
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Book Summary Information
Author: Andrew ClementsBrand: Puffin Books
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Deckle Edge
Published: 2006-04-20
ISBN: 0142407313
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Puffin
Book Reviews of Things Not Seen
Book Review: Unputdownable...
Summary: 5 Stars
How good is this book? I read it at an auto repair shop, and, really, that was the only time I wished the mechanics would take a bit longer with my car, just so I could finish reading the thing. Andrew Clements is most often a writer of children's books, but, in 2002, he wandered into Young Adult fiction territory with the engrossing THINGS NOT SEEN.
15-year-old Bobby Phillips feels a bit of an outcast. He attends an elite private school, but he's not enough of an egghead or an athlete to comfortably mesh in. He feels that people look thru him, as if he weren't there. Not to mention, his parents often aggravate him. One morning, Bobby Phillilps wakes up, showers, looks into the mirror, and learns that he's become invisible.
The first thing that Bobby does is tell his parents of his predicament. This says something about Bobby because, even if he's often resentful of his parents (who predictably tend to dismiss him as a kid), he thinks enough of them to instantly let them into the loop. His parents are both academics, with dad a scientist and mom a professor in literature. But even their brains prove useless in reversing Bobby's condition. The outside world intervenes when Child Services and the law come knocking on the Phillips household to check up on him (he's stopped going to school, you see). His parents lie to them, thinking that it's a really bad idea to have Bobby go public and possibly fall into government hands. You'd think being invisible would be a cool thing, but Bobby just wants his old life back. He just wants to be seen again, and to be acknowledged. Plus, now, as Bobby remains "missing," his parents fall under police suspicion and just might end up in prison.
I think each of us has gone thru phases when we have a disconnect with the world, when we feel misunderstood and inconsequential...and invisible. When you're a child, this happens most often in school with your peers and during interactions with grown-ups. This theme of isolation powers this novel. Andrew Clements spins a thoughtful and emotional tale of a teenager blindsided with an unnatural condition and attempting to cope with it. THINGS NOT SEEN, a coming-of-age story with a healthy dose of sci-fi, is riveting enough that I had to simply keep on reading until I got to the end. The two lead characters, Bobby and Alicia, the blind girl he befriends, come off as real-life people. Bobby is your typical teen, angry and rebellious and sarcastic - and being invisible doesn't improve his temper. At times, he can be a serious brat. But I like that Bobby refuses to slink away. I admire his moxie as he ventures out in Februarian Chicago, overbundled in disguising clothes during inclement weather or going commando when it's warm enough. When his parents don't make any headway with his problem, Bobby has enough wits and initiative to take matters into his own hands. Alicia, blind for only two years and quite prickly about it, is undergoing her own brand of invisibility, as folks tend to treat her like a porcelain doll when they're not simply staying away from her. Alicia and Bobby begin a close friendship, and watching this develop is one of the joys of the book.
Clements does a solid job examining the real-life consequences to Bobby's problem. Clements also applies some logic and science to the thing. There are severe limitations to being invisible. For example, not being able to see your body means that hand-to-eye coordination becomes problematic. Bobby initially struggles with the mechanics of walking and climbing stairs and reaching for objects. I also enjoyed Bobby's comparison of his condition with the Greek warriors of the past, who had to fight nude, the reasoning being that your senses (including that of self-preservation) are heightened when in such a vulnerable state. Being invisible means always being alert. It's easy enough to picture an invisible man crossing the street and being viciously whacked by oncoming cars.
THINGS NOT SEEN is wonderful for a number of things. Firstly, there's the cool premise. Then the presentation as a coming-of-age story. There's a budding romance. And an honest, perceptive depiction of a relationship between parents and son (and between parents and daughter, with Alicia). Andrew Clements's clear and natural storytelling style carries you along and draws you in. But my favorite part of the book comes at the end, at the heart of which is that achingly beautiful letter which Alicia writes to Bobby. It closes out the book perfectly.
I wonder if you've ever had this feeling. When you're so into a book, and when you've just finished it, do you ever wonder how many other books you have to go thru to feel this same way again? That's what I'm thinking now, having just put down this book.
For those who got wrapped up in THINGS NOT SEEN, Andrew Clements wrote a sequel in 2004, Things Hoped For. The third chapter in the series, titled Things That Are, comes out September 2008. And if this topic of invisibility has got you hooked, then check out H.F. Saint's Memoirs of an Invisible Man and, of course, H.G. Wells' classic story The Invisible Man (Signet Classics). For something similar in tone to THINGS NOT SEEN, Steven Gould's Jumper: A Novel (Jumper) (never mind the movie!) is also quite unputdownable.
Summary of Things Not Seen
Bobby Phillips is an average fifteen-year-old boy. Until the morning he wakes up and can?t see himself in the mirror. Not blind, not dreaming?Bobby is just plain invisible. There doesn?t seem to be any rhyme or reason to Bobby?s new condition; even his dad the physicist can?t figure it out. For Bobby that means no school, no friends, no life. He?s a missing person. Then he meets Alicia. She?s blind, and Bobby can?t resist talking to her, trusting her. But people are starting to wonder where Bobby is. Bobby knows that his invisibility could have dangerous consequences for his family and that time is running out. He has to find out how to be seen again?before it?s too late.Teens, especially those not in the über-popular set, know all about feeling invisible. But what would happen if you actually did wake up invisible one day? Fifteen-year-old Bobby is faced with this curious predicament in Andrew Clements's compelling novel Things Not Seen. Doing his best to adapt, Bobby informs his parents and grows more and more frustrated as they try to control his (unseen) life. Attempting to take matters in his own hands, he ventures out--naked--to the library, where he meets a blind girl who becomes a natural confidant. The ensuing drama, involving a nationwide search for other invisible people and a break-in to the computer database at Sears, Roebuck legal department headquarters ("News flash: Invisible people make excellent spies and thieves") is authentic enough in detail to allow readers to overlook the nuttiness of it all. Teens will identify with Bobby's experience of being essentially invisible. Highly recommended. (Ages 11 to 15) --Emilie Coulter
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