Review: Fascinating protagonist!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 18, 2011
The protagonist in this story is a woman who lost her sight in her late 30s, and I found it absolutely fascinating to read the character's descriptions of her experience as a blind woman who knows what it's like to see. She shares at various times how she has learned to navigate her surroundings and to deal with the challenges that the loss of sight has brought her.I also learned a good deal about the history of that area of Boston and of the challenges that historians can face when trying to work with populations, like the Jews in that time, whom the usual historical narratives may have overlooked. The details about the struggles between (and among) some of the ethnic minorities were very thought-provoking.As other reviewers have commented, the ending was a bit unsatisfying and the Jewish terminology could be challenging for someone with no background. However, I thoroughly enjoyed reading a mystery that was not centered around a murder; there are too few of those out there, I think, that are willing to tackle the challenge of a different kind of mystery to be solved. I found the story to be very enjoyable and fast-paced. It kept my attention throughout, and I read it eagerly wanting to see what happened next. I hope there will be more books in this series because I would like to read more about this character.I received a complimentary copy of this book in order to review it.