Saturday, September 16, 2006

Truesight by David Stahler Jr.

I guess I am on a minor science fiction kick right now.

Truesight is the story of a separatist movement by blind people. They have set up several colonies where only blind people live. Children are genetically engineered to be blind and the few infants who are mistakenly born with sight are deprived of the use of their eyes and become effectively blind. As with many separatist movements, it develops a rather cultist sense of its own value and rightness - becoming effectively a religion.

In this setting we encounter Jacob, who is turning 13 - the end to formal schooling and the time, soon after which he will be assigned to a job (echos of The Giver). But Jacob starts having vicious, though short lasting headaches and gradually develops the ability to see, which changes his entire perception of his world. The physical ability to see changes also the metaphorical ability to see, as he discovers people cheating on the system, cheating on each other, and breaking the rules of the society that they have so carefully constructed and so faithfully, at least in words, support.

Books that involve layers of ethical dilemmas appeal to me and this one did. It is true, that parts of this book are really clunky - Jacob's school report on the history of the colony is clearly an attempt to justify the reasoning behind the movement to the reader. It is, in certain respects, not even necessary. The reader has already been informed through other means (reciting group mantras) about the basics. There are other problems with the novel, as other reviewers have pointed out on Amazon.

The most serious awkwardness in my mind is the instant identification of colors and the rapid recognition of facial expressions once Jacob becomes sighted. He should not even have had names for colors. There should have been some other way of identifying the new sights, other than by color. Since he is a musician, perhaps a musical analogy would have been more fitting; or by identification with texture or common objects, e.g., "the tomato appeared to grab his eyes like the sound of the locator when it beeped" or "marimba-like pricks of light came from all over the tomato plant". He should also have learned about facial expressions by accidentally seeing his own face in something reflective and trying out the various expressions. How else could he recognize so quickly the meaning of a curled lip or a frown? Whereas the first part of the novel, giving background and setting things up, moved pretty slowly, the middle section of it seemed to go too fast for me.

Nevertheless, the last third of the novel was very interesting, posing many questions ripe for discussion. Is this just a coming of age story - with sight being the Biblical-analogy-like metaphor for knowledge of the real world or is it exploring deeper questions? Do all separatist societies need the religion-like devotion to societal norms? And even further afield: is there a sense that humans are lacking that, if we had it would illuminate our society as the addition of sight illuminates Jacob's?

Is this a book kids might like? I think so. There is enough action that the philosophical questions don't really bog it down. I will be interested in the sequels. Evidently this is planned to be the first of a trilogy.

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