Joe Heap

This book was a beautiful story about love and life and I love every single word of it. Of course, I hate bits about it too, but those are the bits that something bad is happening.
The storyline itself, is beautiful. I love how it connects two completely different people and pushes them through happy times and bad time and separate times but they always somehow end up together again or meeting up again.
The main characters are great as well. I love Nova, who as a grown woman can still act so carefree and so excited about everything. Then again, she used to be blind. And then there's Kate who needs help but does not realize it. I love the relationship between them and how they connect so well. I hate Tony and everything he put them through and I really dislike Rebecca, mainly because she just seems like a bitch.
It's been a while since I've read a book that has romance, action, suspense, and other genres included in them and this one just totally works.
I would read this again in a heartbeat and I recommend it to you all!

* I received this ARC from the publisher via Netgalley… (mais)

Zwei Frauen, deren Leben kaum verschiedener sein könnte und deren Wege sich zufällig in London kreuzen. Die Dolmetscherin Nova ist seit der Geburt blind, doch eine Operation verspricht ihr mit Anfang 30 plötzlich Zugang zur Welt der Sehenden. Im Leben der Architektin Kate ist eigentlich alles bestens, bis ihr Freund ausrastet und sie unglücklich stürzt und sich schwer verletzt. Im Krankenhaus begegnen sie sich zum ersten Mal. Während Novas Welt durch die Farben und Formen immer größer und verwirrender zu werden scheint, engt sich Kates Radius wegen zunehmender Angstattacken immer weiter ein. Als Team sind sie toll, aber so einfach ist das Leben nicht.

Wollte ich kurz und prägnant auf den Punkt bringen, worum es in Joe Heaps Roman primär geht, würde ich scheitern. Das ist auch mein einziger und größter Kritikpunkt: irgendwie war mir das zu viel in der Geschichte. Novas Entdeckung der Welt mit dem plötzlich vorhandenen Sehsinn hätte locker ausgereicht als Grundlage für eine Geschichte. Kates gewalttätiger Ehemann und ihre Schwierigkeiten, sich von ihm zu lösen und seine Reaktion auf die Trennung ebenfalls. Gleichermaßen die vorsichtige Liebesbeziehung der beiden unter schwierigen Bedingungen sowohl aus den Figuren selbst heraus, aber auch aufgrund ihres Umfelds.

„Sehregeln Nr. 275 – Sehende Menschen können Formen so gut wiedererkennen, dass sie sie anstelle von Worten verwenden. Sie hängen Bilder an Toiletten, Straßenschilder, Putzmittelflaschen, Nichtraucherzonen, Mixer und Krankenhäuser. Sie scheinen bei der Deutung nie unsicher zu sein.“

Mit der Entdeckung der Welt der Sehenden formuliert Nova für sich Regeln wie die gerade zitierte. Das war für mich der größte Gewinn an der Geschichte über die Unterhaltung hinaus. Glaubwürdig schildert Heap die Annäherung Novas an den neuen Sinn, die Verblüffung und das Hinterfragen von Dingen, die für uns völlig normal sind und daher gar nicht mehr wahrgenommen werden. Viele Schwierigkeiten, die seheingeschränkte oder blinde Menschen haben, werden einem so bewusst und lassen einem über das nachdenken, was man selten infrage stellt.

Genauso überzeugend, wenn auch schwerer zu ertragen ist Kates Verhalten gegenüber ihrem Mann. Sie wundert sich selbst über ihr Verhalten und weiß, dass es dumm und gefährlich ist, Ausreden und Beschwichtigungen zu finden, schafft aber den Schritt der Trennung nicht.

Der Roman ist emotional aufgeladen, beide Protagonistinnen haben ein ordentliches Päckchen zu tragen und sind oftmals nachvollziehbar psychisch wenig stabil. All dies wird jedoch menschlich authentisch geschildert und wirkt keineswegs überladen. Für mich punktet die Geschichte ganz besonders bei Novas Sehenlernen, das ist interessant und faszinierend fand und bei dem auch nachvollziehbar wurde, weshalb für sie das Nichtsehenkönnen durchaus auch ein attraktiver Zustand war, den sie irgendwann herbeisehnt.… (mais)

Kate is an architect and a wife. She thinks she is happy, and ignores the things that scare her or make her uncomfortable, even when that involves ending up in the hospital after an altercation with her husband, police officer, Tony.

Bubbly and vivacious Nova was born blind, but hasn't ever really seen it as a disability. When her brother encourages her to have a surgery which promises to give her sight, she goes along with it reluctantly.

Neither woman was expecting to meet someone in the hospital, but when fate brings them together multiple times, they realise that they need the comfort and support that they seem to experience only when they are together.

This book started well, with a quirky writing style and a good mix of conventional and odd characters. Nova is immediately endearing, while Kate is more relatable but also less interesting. The two of them make an interesting tale as their lives twist towards each other, through trauma and panic leading to joy and comfort.
This book is not for the faint of heart in terms of abuse, both mental and physical. Tony's character is unfortunately believable and recognisable whilst being entirely, maliciously narcissistic and psychotic.

The whole concept of describing what it's like to learn to see for the very first time was really fascinating, and I loved the odd situations this brought up and the totally normal things we take for granted that are in fact learned.

Overall, an interesting story of the redeeming nature of selfless love, and the human kindness that makes all the difference in life. Throughout all of that though, the characters are each so deeply flawed and scared that they repeatedly make rash decisions that ultimately hurt everyone, especially themselves. I wouldn't say that this is the most optimistic book on the topic of relationships, but I said say it's honest.

Not a book I would read over and over, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.… (mais)

Although Nova has been blind since birth, now in her early thirties she is a confident, optimistic young woman who has created a positive social and professional life for herself. As a talented linguist, fluent in five languages, she enjoys her job as an interpreter for the Metropolitan Police. When her brother tells her that there is an operation which could possibly enable her to see, she is initially reluctant to consider it Although he is very keen that she should join the “seeing” world, she is not at all sure that she wants to achieve something which will require such a major readjustment. However, after discussion with friends, she finally agrees to go ahead. Following the operation, she faces the massive task of learning to see and to interpret the world in a totally different way.
Kate is a successful architect who, in her professional life, is able to be confident and assertive. She is married to Tony, a detective at Scotland Yard, and believes that they have a good marriage. The only real tension between them is about when to start a family, a decision Kate is reluctant to commit to. A disagreement one evening leads to Kate falling and hitting the back of her head, knocking her unconscious; did Tony cause the fall or was it a genuine accident, she can’t be sure. Although initially she thinks there were no serious physical effects following the fall, a couple of days later she collapses, and it becomes clear that she has suffered a significant injury to her brain. She needs emergency surgery to relieve the pressure on her brain, followed by a period of rehabilitation. This marks the start of a loss of confidence, a reassessment of her relationship with Tony and a growing recognition of his increasingly abusive and controlling behaviour.
Kate and Nova first meet in the hospital and an immediate spark of attraction leads to a friendship, initially based on mutual support as they both try to adjust to a world they need to see through different eyes and perceptions. Nova’s blindness has been physical, whilst Kate’s has been emotional, but they face similar hurdles as they attempt to move on with their lives, but they also discover that they need to understand their increasingly powerful attraction to each other.
I found this a much deeper and far more nuanced story than I had been expecting from the publisher’s synopsis. In Nova, Kate and Tony the author created three fascinating characters and his depictions of their individual personalities and their complex interactions is, for the most part, psychologically credible. There are some lovely light moments in the development of the story, most of which are generated through Nova’s delightfully lively, and rather idiosyncratic attitude to life. However, there is an increasing tension and darkness as the story develops and although there were moments when it felt almost unbearable to continue reading, an investment in the fates of the two female characters provided a compelling impetus to stay with them as they struggled to adapt to their new circumstances. The author’s exploration of hidden abuse was both chilling and entirely convincing, as were his depictions of the growing intensity of the relationship between his two female characters and Tony’s obsessional behaviour .
As the title would suggest, central to this story is the theme of how we learn to see, a complex process which for sighted people begins at birth and develops naturally; it’s a skill we have no recollection of acquiring and so just take for granted. However, through Nova’s eyes the author takes us through what a complex and utterly confusing process this must be for person who acquires the sense of sight in adulthood. Nova makes up rules in order to explain, understand and assimilate the different shapes, dimensions, colours and objects she is now confronted with on a minute by minute basis; essentially it is like having to learn another new language. It is through her “rules” that Joe Heap enables his readers to recognise what an extraordinarily difficult, confusing and, at times frightening process this is; a process which is so firmly imprinted in most of us that we never have to give it a moment’s thought. On a lighter note, it is through these rules that some of Nova’s dry sense of humour leavens some of the more disturbing aspects of the story!
There are times when Nova is not convinced that being able to see is necessarily something positive; she asks herself whether she really wants to continue to strive for something which is not only such hard work, but which seems to be undermining the self-confidence she had when she was blind. With her usual frames of reference removed, the world feels a much more frightening place to negotiate, a place where she doesn’t understand any of the “rules” sighted people take for granted; consequently, she makes many mistakes in her interactions. Her reflection that she was experiencing her new vision as a malevolent parasite, “eating away at every part of her”, offered a powerful insight into the struggles she was facing.
An interesting parallel theme in the storytelling was the author’s exploration, through Kate’s story, that sighted people can be blind in a different way and, if they are to face up to what is “staring them in the face”, they will have to start to see the world in a different way and be prepared to take the necessary risks to change their behaviour. The fact that both Nova and Kate were facing similar fears, even though the origins were so different, allowed the author to explore the power of a mutually supportive friendship, as well as the fluctuating nature of such a relationship as it follows people’s changing needs and expectations.
It sounds rather clichéd to say that having read this story I will never again take my sight for granted, but Nova’s “Rules of Seeing” and the power of Joe Heap’s writing have made me appreciate, in a much more conscious way, what a fascinating process the acquisition of sight is. I think this is a remarkable debut novel and I await his next story with interest.
With thanks to the publisher and Readers First for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.… (mais)