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Sights Unseen
The acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of Ellen Foster,Kaye Gibbons paints intimate family portraits in lyrical prose, using as her palette the rich, vibrant colors of the American South. Sights Unseen shows the author at her most passionate and heartfelt best -- an unforgettable tale of unconditional love, and of a family's desperate search for normalcy in the midst of mental illness. It is a novel of rare poignancy, wit, and evocative power -- the story of the relationship between Hattie Barnes and her emotionally elusive mother, Maggie, known by their neighbors as "that Barnes woman with all the problems." This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
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1,290 people want to read
About the author
Kaye Gibbons
39Ìýbooks572ÌýfollowersKaye Gibbons is an American novelist. Her first novel, Ellen Foster (1987), received the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, a Special Citation from the Ernest Hemingway Foundation and the Louis D. Rubin, Jr. Prize in Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Gibbons is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers and two of her books, Ellen Foster and A Virtuous Woman, were selected for Oprah's Book Club in 1998.
Gibbons was born in Nash County, North Carolina, and went to Rocky Mount Senior High School. She attended North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, studying American and English literature. She has three daughters.
Gibbons has bipolar disorder and notes that she is extremely creative during her manic phases, in which she believes that everything is instrumented by a "real magic". Ellen Foster was written during one such phase.
On November 2, 2008, Gibbons was arrested on prescription drug fraud charges. According to authorities, she was taken into custody while trying to pick up a fraudulent prescription for the painkiller hydrocodone. She was sentenced to a 90-day suspended sentence, 2 years probation, and a $300 fine.
Gibbons was born in Nash County, North Carolina, and went to Rocky Mount Senior High School. She attended North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, studying American and English literature. She has three daughters.
Gibbons has bipolar disorder and notes that she is extremely creative during her manic phases, in which she believes that everything is instrumented by a "real magic". Ellen Foster was written during one such phase.
On November 2, 2008, Gibbons was arrested on prescription drug fraud charges. According to authorities, she was taken into custody while trying to pick up a fraudulent prescription for the painkiller hydrocodone. She was sentenced to a 90-day suspended sentence, 2 years probation, and a $300 fine.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 171 reviews
October 24, 2019
A touching and moving story told by a 12-year-old girl named Hattie, yearning for love, tenderness and attention missed....
Every day I see those faces at the Hospital where i work, the faces of family members who are severely affected by mental illness... of those who love their loved one, but are reciprocated with a love often sick and crushed by an unstable and incoherent affection as it can be in these cases...
Hattie has a mother but it’s as if she doesn’t have one, the suspended affection and artificially given back by the House Keeper Pearl, who in this way will try to donate that shred of maternal affection that Hattie and his brother covet so much...
For our little friend there will come a day when, not in the idealized way, a look of true and healthy maternal love for her heart, for her small life. After a long hospitalization, Mom will return with an unexpected relational and emotional stability ( thanks to good drug therapy and psychotherapy).
Unfortunately, the lost time can no longer be recovered, but this love, the love that all the children of the world want from their parents will be found...no more screams, scenes, fake attempts of suicide, madness in front of strangers; Hattie will find herself in front of a mother whom SEES HER, SO LOVES HER.
Kaye Gibbons,... I love her, I like her writing even if she is sometimes a bit too repetitive.... Her life, her pain as a daughter will accompany her in all the works that she have given to us. This book is not for everyone, I realize that it may seem boring and obsessive...but for me, it is the victory and the Resurrection to life, let us remember that mental illness does not always win in people’s lives, You can change and you can live with it and sometimes defeat it.
Una storia commovente raccontata da una bambina di 12 anni di nome Hattie, un desiderio struggente di amore, tenerezza e attenzione mancati.....
Tutti i giorni mi capita di vedere quei volti, i volti dei familiari di chi è gravemente colpito da malattie mentali.... di chi ama il proprio caro, ma è ricambiato con un amore spesso malato e schiacciato da un affetto instabile e incoerente come lo può essere in questi casi...
Hattie ha una madre ma è come se non ce l'avesse, l'affetto sospeso e artificialmente ridonato dalla house keeper Pearl, che in questo modo cercherà di donare quel briciolo di affetto materno che Hattie e suo fratello tanto bramano....
Per la nostra piccola amica arriverà il giorno in cui, non nelle modalità idealizzate, arriverà uno sguardo di vero e sano amore materno per il suo cuore, per la sua piccola vita. Dopo un lungo ricovero, la mamma farà ritorno con una stabilità relazionale ed emotiva insperata ( grazie ad una buona terapia farmacologica e a psicoterapia).
Il tempo perso purtroppo non si potrà piu' recuperare, ma questo amore, l'amore che tutti gli uomini del mondo desiderano dai propri genitori verrà ritrovato...non piu' urla, scene, tentativi finti di suicidio, pazzie di fronte agli sconosciuti; Hattie si troverà di fronte ad una madre che LA VEDE, CIOE' LA AMA.
Kaye Gibbons l'adoro, mi piace la sua scrittura anche s a volte è un filino troppo ripetitiva.....la sua vita il suo dolore come figlia l'accompagnerà in tutte le sue opere che ci ha donato. Questo libro non è per tutti, mi rendo conto che potrà anche sembrare noioso e ossessivo......ma per me, è la vittoria della Risurrezione alla vita, ricordiamoci che la malattia mentale non vince sempre nella vita delle persone, si può cambiare e si può conviverci e a volte sconfiggerla.
Every day I see those faces at the Hospital where i work, the faces of family members who are severely affected by mental illness... of those who love their loved one, but are reciprocated with a love often sick and crushed by an unstable and incoherent affection as it can be in these cases...
Hattie has a mother but it’s as if she doesn’t have one, the suspended affection and artificially given back by the House Keeper Pearl, who in this way will try to donate that shred of maternal affection that Hattie and his brother covet so much...
For our little friend there will come a day when, not in the idealized way, a look of true and healthy maternal love for her heart, for her small life. After a long hospitalization, Mom will return with an unexpected relational and emotional stability ( thanks to good drug therapy and psychotherapy).
Unfortunately, the lost time can no longer be recovered, but this love, the love that all the children of the world want from their parents will be found...no more screams, scenes, fake attempts of suicide, madness in front of strangers; Hattie will find herself in front of a mother whom SEES HER, SO LOVES HER.
Kaye Gibbons,... I love her, I like her writing even if she is sometimes a bit too repetitive.... Her life, her pain as a daughter will accompany her in all the works that she have given to us. This book is not for everyone, I realize that it may seem boring and obsessive...but for me, it is the victory and the Resurrection to life, let us remember that mental illness does not always win in people’s lives, You can change and you can live with it and sometimes defeat it.
Una storia commovente raccontata da una bambina di 12 anni di nome Hattie, un desiderio struggente di amore, tenerezza e attenzione mancati.....
Tutti i giorni mi capita di vedere quei volti, i volti dei familiari di chi è gravemente colpito da malattie mentali.... di chi ama il proprio caro, ma è ricambiato con un amore spesso malato e schiacciato da un affetto instabile e incoerente come lo può essere in questi casi...
Hattie ha una madre ma è come se non ce l'avesse, l'affetto sospeso e artificialmente ridonato dalla house keeper Pearl, che in questo modo cercherà di donare quel briciolo di affetto materno che Hattie e suo fratello tanto bramano....
Per la nostra piccola amica arriverà il giorno in cui, non nelle modalità idealizzate, arriverà uno sguardo di vero e sano amore materno per il suo cuore, per la sua piccola vita. Dopo un lungo ricovero, la mamma farà ritorno con una stabilità relazionale ed emotiva insperata ( grazie ad una buona terapia farmacologica e a psicoterapia).
Il tempo perso purtroppo non si potrà piu' recuperare, ma questo amore, l'amore che tutti gli uomini del mondo desiderano dai propri genitori verrà ritrovato...non piu' urla, scene, tentativi finti di suicidio, pazzie di fronte agli sconosciuti; Hattie si troverà di fronte ad una madre che LA VEDE, CIOE' LA AMA.
Kaye Gibbons l'adoro, mi piace la sua scrittura anche s a volte è un filino troppo ripetitiva.....la sua vita il suo dolore come figlia l'accompagnerà in tutte le sue opere che ci ha donato. Questo libro non è per tutti, mi rendo conto che potrà anche sembrare noioso e ossessivo......ma per me, è la vittoria della Risurrezione alla vita, ricordiamoci che la malattia mentale non vince sempre nella vita delle persone, si può cambiare e si può conviverci e a volte sconfiggerla.
January 28, 2020
By the author who wrote Ellen Foster. In this book, Kaye Gibbons, writes about the effect that having a mom with Manic Depression, has on her two children.This was a page turner which offered insight into a family shadowed by a mother's mental illness. Well worth reading.
February 9, 2017
I loved Ellen Foster, and was very much looking forward to reading another of Kaye Gibbons' books, particularly as it had the potential to be thesis applicable. I didn't enjoy Sights Unseen quite as much, but it was nevertheless a great - and useful - read. Well written, with an authentic narrative voice. There is an awful lot within its pages about mentality and states of manic depression, and my copy is currently covered in Post-Its.
November 7, 2017
The first sentence draws you in. Gibbons explores the effects of a mother's mental illness on her family. She's a talented writer; she captures the reader who lets go ever so reluctantly at the end of each novel. Her writing is to be treasured.
I had read this book earlier, but the date shown is when my book club discussed it.
UPDATED 16May2012
Opening paragraph: Had I known my mother was being given electroconvulsive therapy while I was dressing for school on eight consecutive Monday mornings, I do not think I could have buttoned my blouses or tied my shoes or located my homework. I see myself fumbling with the snap on my skirt, trying to connect the sides, turning around in a circle like a cat chasing its tail. I was twelve, deemed too young to be told what was happening to her and in fact too innocent to surmise it.
Hattie narrates this story, which takes place in the late 1950s to mid 1960s, in a small community in North Carolina, where her grandfather is a prominent citizen who can fix just about anything by opening his wallet. There is much in this culture that is left unseen. In deference to his power, no one refers to Maggie (Hattie’s mother) as a “lunatic� but as “the woman with all those problems.� But more than her mother’s mental illness is unseen in this household. People choose not to see the prejudice and hatred regularly displayed by Mr Barnes. Nor do they acknowledge how he spoils Maggie, practically courting her, while ignoring his own son. No one seems to notice how the children are isolated by their mother’s illness. In fact, it seems that no one sees anyone else’s emotional needs and reactions.
I’ve read nearly all Gibbons’s works. She is a talented writer, who is, herself, bi-polar. Her works capture the reader who escapes ever so reluctantly at the end of each novel. Her writing is to be treasured.
I had read this book earlier, but the date shown is when my book club discussed it.
UPDATED 16May2012
Opening paragraph: Had I known my mother was being given electroconvulsive therapy while I was dressing for school on eight consecutive Monday mornings, I do not think I could have buttoned my blouses or tied my shoes or located my homework. I see myself fumbling with the snap on my skirt, trying to connect the sides, turning around in a circle like a cat chasing its tail. I was twelve, deemed too young to be told what was happening to her and in fact too innocent to surmise it.
Hattie narrates this story, which takes place in the late 1950s to mid 1960s, in a small community in North Carolina, where her grandfather is a prominent citizen who can fix just about anything by opening his wallet. There is much in this culture that is left unseen. In deference to his power, no one refers to Maggie (Hattie’s mother) as a “lunatic� but as “the woman with all those problems.� But more than her mother’s mental illness is unseen in this household. People choose not to see the prejudice and hatred regularly displayed by Mr Barnes. Nor do they acknowledge how he spoils Maggie, practically courting her, while ignoring his own son. No one seems to notice how the children are isolated by their mother’s illness. In fact, it seems that no one sees anyone else’s emotional needs and reactions.
I’ve read nearly all Gibbons’s works. She is a talented writer, who is, herself, bi-polar. Her works capture the reader who escapes ever so reluctantly at the end of each novel. Her writing is to be treasured.
September 30, 2020
This is a novel published by Kaye Gibbons in 1995. I downloaded it because I previously read and enjoyed Ellen Foster by the same author.
This novel is about Hattie, a 12 year old girl, who lives with her mentally ill mother. She is yearning and has always yearned for a relationship with her mom. She also lives with her brother and her dad. The family has a live-in person, who takes care of the family, because her mom is unable to. In many ways, she provides a stabilizing presence in the home and some nurturing of Hattie. However, she cannot replace her mom or fill Hattie’s yearning. Hattie’s dad seems to understand her mom’s illness and is very committed to her “in sickness and in health.� This is a very dysfunctional family because of the mom’s illness. It is sad, yet I really came to feel for characters, especially Hattie, her dad and the live-in woman. I listened to the audiobook and the narration is quite good. It is a relatively short novel which fit well within the time I had available.
I rate the book 4 stars.
This novel is about Hattie, a 12 year old girl, who lives with her mentally ill mother. She is yearning and has always yearned for a relationship with her mom. She also lives with her brother and her dad. The family has a live-in person, who takes care of the family, because her mom is unable to. In many ways, she provides a stabilizing presence in the home and some nurturing of Hattie. However, she cannot replace her mom or fill Hattie’s yearning. Hattie’s dad seems to understand her mom’s illness and is very committed to her “in sickness and in health.� This is a very dysfunctional family because of the mom’s illness. It is sad, yet I really came to feel for characters, especially Hattie, her dad and the live-in woman. I listened to the audiobook and the narration is quite good. It is a relatively short novel which fit well within the time I had available.
I rate the book 4 stars.
October 21, 2024
Sights Unseen by Kaye Gibbons is one of this author’s earlier novels in her writing career. Having recently read and enjoyed another novel by Gibbons, I picked this one up from the bookstore. Though it’s a rather short read, it is filled with a gripping story of a family dealing with the mother’s mental illness, namely manic depression. Due to the nature of the illness, the story revolves around the immediate home life of the husband and 2 children , along with some close relatives and hired housekeepers. The housekeepers are mostly present to make the daily routines as normal as might be hoped for in this family. The story is told through the eyes of the daughter, Hattie, who through her friends experiences with their own mothers, knows what kind of a life with her mother she is missing out upon. How she handles her growing up in this world of mental illness is a sad and lonely one. Her older brother has his own escapist routine in managing his mother’s illness. Every character in this novel had an important part to play in this rather dysfunctional situation. And, the reader sees this limited world through their eyes. There is redemption of sorts at the end , so it was an ending with a sense of hope and promise. But, I won’t ruin that for you, should you decide to make this one a “want to read� of your own.
January 24, 2019
This could have been a true story; it reminds me so much of growing up with a mother like Maggie in
the book. The thing to remember, as hard as it is to have a mother like this, is that they cannot help the way they are. It takes months, maybe years, to diagnose the disorder properly, and to make sure the patient is on the correct combination of medications. The subject must stay under psychiatric care the rest of her life, taking her medications the way they are prescribed. I was extremely angry with my mother because it was so tough to grow up with her illness. Later, I was to eat crow when I was diagnosed with the same disorder. I only hope my own ten children will forgive me for their difficult childhoods. What an honestly insightful book!
the book. The thing to remember, as hard as it is to have a mother like this, is that they cannot help the way they are. It takes months, maybe years, to diagnose the disorder properly, and to make sure the patient is on the correct combination of medications. The subject must stay under psychiatric care the rest of her life, taking her medications the way they are prescribed. I was extremely angry with my mother because it was so tough to grow up with her illness. Later, I was to eat crow when I was diagnosed with the same disorder. I only hope my own ten children will forgive me for their difficult childhoods. What an honestly insightful book!
March 19, 2017
3.5 Despite the bleak tone of the book and noticeable lack of plot, I still love the way Kaye Gibbons writes. This story tells how a mother's mental illness affects her family, and I gained some useful insights into the world of manic-depression. Charms for the Easy Life is definitely Gibbons best book.
October 23, 2019
I love Kaye Gibbons style of writing. I gave it 4 stars because honestly, it was 80% depressing and 20% redemptive. I appreciated the insight into mental illness and how it was handled historically and her writing makes the story so easy to visualize. I still think 'Ellen Foster' is her best novel.
July 19, 2024
I really wanted to love this book because I did enjoy her thoughts and the way she just knows how to word sentences, but I just don’t think it was the right time for this book. It was a little monotonous, each chapter being very similar to the one before. I do understand that it probably had to be this way because it was the emotions a young girl was going through desiring to be noticed by her manic depressive mother. She dictated not just the family’s lives but those close to them too including her doctor, although he liked it that way.
April 28, 2022
Ah, I bet you think I'm going to bemoan the first person POV in this novel. Nope. There are some places where first person works and is the correct choice. This is one of them.
Hattie grew up with the chaos and uncertainty that comes with having a mentally ill parent. This story is her memory of her childhood as she looks back on it from the position of an adult with her own children. Hattie is able to describe the events that happened to her as a child, but to do so with the wisdom gained from distance and her own emotional maturity. She is able to explain the difference between her observations in the moment and her awareness of just how the past affected each member of her family. (And that Gibbons manages this POV so well in this book is a prime example of choosing the POV in support of the needs of the story. In so recent novels, authors are using first person POV in continuous present tense for no good reason, and it ends up being a insipid, lazy, shallow, and utterly tedious mess.)
Gibbons' strengths are in how she captures the nature of the upper south and in how she can write regional dialogue without resorting to tricks and tropes. Even thought the novel is set slightly before my time, I recognized not only the location but also the people and their regional quirks. Gibbons shows personalities without resorting to caricature. I found the ending of the story a little (ok, a lot) too neat and unrealistic, but her depictions of the characters felt true. And while I could not really relate to Hattie's strong desire for connection with her mother, I believed the character felt that desire as much as she felt the emotional whiplash that comes from living with a bipolar parent. One thing that Gibbons does well is make Billie, Hattie's mother, a sympathetic character while maintaining a feeling that she just isn't fully present or accessible. Her behavior is never malicious or hateful, only confusing and beyond her ability to control. Extra points to Gibbons for working in local references that those who are familiar with the area no doubt will enjoy. It adds an authenticity often lacking when someone new (or unfamiliar) with an area tries to mimic familiarity.
This is an easy, fast read. I thought Charms for the Easy Life was a better story, but they are two very different books.
Hattie grew up with the chaos and uncertainty that comes with having a mentally ill parent. This story is her memory of her childhood as she looks back on it from the position of an adult with her own children. Hattie is able to describe the events that happened to her as a child, but to do so with the wisdom gained from distance and her own emotional maturity. She is able to explain the difference between her observations in the moment and her awareness of just how the past affected each member of her family. (And that Gibbons manages this POV so well in this book is a prime example of choosing the POV in support of the needs of the story. In so recent novels, authors are using first person POV in continuous present tense for no good reason, and it ends up being a insipid, lazy, shallow, and utterly tedious mess.)
Gibbons' strengths are in how she captures the nature of the upper south and in how she can write regional dialogue without resorting to tricks and tropes. Even thought the novel is set slightly before my time, I recognized not only the location but also the people and their regional quirks. Gibbons shows personalities without resorting to caricature. I found the ending of the story a little (ok, a lot) too neat and unrealistic, but her depictions of the characters felt true. And while I could not really relate to Hattie's strong desire for connection with her mother, I believed the character felt that desire as much as she felt the emotional whiplash that comes from living with a bipolar parent. One thing that Gibbons does well is make Billie, Hattie's mother, a sympathetic character while maintaining a feeling that she just isn't fully present or accessible. Her behavior is never malicious or hateful, only confusing and beyond her ability to control. Extra points to Gibbons for working in local references that those who are familiar with the area no doubt will enjoy. It adds an authenticity often lacking when someone new (or unfamiliar) with an area tries to mimic familiarity.
This is an easy, fast read. I thought Charms for the Easy Life was a better story, but they are two very different books.
January 3, 2009
The back cover blurb says this is "an unforgettable tale of unconditional love".
Well, I did read this one shortly after I got it, but I'm a lazy gus and didn't write my book review right away :)
Referring back to the cover blurb, although I did like this book, I didn't think it was "an unforgettable tale of unconditional love". I had a few other thoughts about what I could write if I were doing the blurb:
A grown woman's search for her mother
It's ok to be eccentric in the South, but not crazy
A daughter's need for her mother, and a mother's voyage to sanity
Having children never fixes anything
. . .I can still feel the warmth and the autumn sun of her gaze
This book was a little heavier than I expected, but I really liked it. It was more of a crying book than you'd think, but still had some beautiful moments.
Well, I did read this one shortly after I got it, but I'm a lazy gus and didn't write my book review right away :)
Referring back to the cover blurb, although I did like this book, I didn't think it was "an unforgettable tale of unconditional love". I had a few other thoughts about what I could write if I were doing the blurb:
A grown woman's search for her mother
It's ok to be eccentric in the South, but not crazy
A daughter's need for her mother, and a mother's voyage to sanity
Having children never fixes anything
. . .I can still feel the warmth and the autumn sun of her gaze
This book was a little heavier than I expected, but I really liked it. It was more of a crying book than you'd think, but still had some beautiful moments.
August 14, 2009
This was the Branigan BookClub selection for May 2005.
Kay Gibbons has written a riveting tale of a family unraveled by depression and the struggle to keep up appearances. As someone who has experienced depression firsthand, there were times that I felt I knew exactly what the characters were enduring!
Ultimately, I found SIGHTS UNSEEN a book about the resilience of the human spirit. There were some pretty bleak moments, in fact, more than moments, but in the end, it was tremendously uplifting to see how the characters coped and got on with their lives. I recommend this one enthusiastically!
--Mark Pendleton
Click to check on the availability of Branigan Library's copy.
Kay Gibbons has written a riveting tale of a family unraveled by depression and the struggle to keep up appearances. As someone who has experienced depression firsthand, there were times that I felt I knew exactly what the characters were enduring!
Ultimately, I found SIGHTS UNSEEN a book about the resilience of the human spirit. There were some pretty bleak moments, in fact, more than moments, but in the end, it was tremendously uplifting to see how the characters coped and got on with their lives. I recommend this one enthusiastically!
--Mark Pendleton
Click to check on the availability of Branigan Library's copy.
December 9, 2012
Kaye Gibbons' books are always so intriguing to me. She settles on just a few characters and delves completely into their personalities and flaws. In "Sights Unseen," Kaye presents a family struggling to find each other and connect in some way. The mother is inflicted with bipolar disorder and the daughter, especially, wants nothing more than to love and be loved by this woman who jumps from one emotional cliff to another.
It's probably one of my favorite books by this author -- I've read several -- and well worth picking up. It's a quick read ... as all her books are, so once you've read this one, be sure to check out the others!
It's probably one of my favorite books by this author -- I've read several -- and well worth picking up. It's a quick read ... as all her books are, so once you've read this one, be sure to check out the others!
February 3, 2009
I really enjoy Kaye Gibbons' books. The characters are always fantastic although the funny thing about them is they are such quick reads that I tend to forget about them soon after finishing. This is narrated by a young girl telling about growing up in a household with a manic depressant mother. The characters are very real and you can just feel the embarassment and also the love that the narrator has for her mother. I'll probably forget having ever read it, but I am glad I picked it up.
June 29, 2018
The story of a 1960's family dealing with Mom's manic-depressive illness, told through the daughter's eyes. Kaye Gibbons weaves this story back and forth through the years while Hattie learns to deal with her mother's "problems" and the incident that finally gets her mother the help she so desperately needs.
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September 19, 2024Soooo depressing.
December 16, 2020
This was the first book I've read by Kaye Gibbons so I didn't have much idea of what to expect. Although I felt it was a worthwhile read, it didn't live up to my expectations from the high reviews I had seen for it.
The novel tells the story of a woman with what was called manic depression at that time and is now known as bipolar disorder and its effects on her family. Although there were many descriptions of her both her manic and depressed behaviors, the story felt flat to me. It felt devoid of emotion except for Hattie's desire to have a 'normal' mother who was involved with her. Also, I really did not like the character of Mr. Barnes.
The novel also seemed to paint a rosier picture of Maggie's life after she is treated at Duke with electroconvulsive therapy, medication, and therapy than what I have often seen to be the case for people who have bipolar disorder. Many times they continue to have struggles.
Having had a grandfather treated with electroconvulsive therapy and having been exposed to multiple teenagers with bipolar disorder through my work as a nurse, this book just didn't resonate with me as being realistic.
The novel tells the story of a woman with what was called manic depression at that time and is now known as bipolar disorder and its effects on her family. Although there were many descriptions of her both her manic and depressed behaviors, the story felt flat to me. It felt devoid of emotion except for Hattie's desire to have a 'normal' mother who was involved with her. Also, I really did not like the character of Mr. Barnes.
The novel also seemed to paint a rosier picture of Maggie's life after she is treated at Duke with electroconvulsive therapy, medication, and therapy than what I have often seen to be the case for people who have bipolar disorder. Many times they continue to have struggles.
Having had a grandfather treated with electroconvulsive therapy and having been exposed to multiple teenagers with bipolar disorder through my work as a nurse, this book just didn't resonate with me as being realistic.
March 2, 2024
I love this author. Her writing is honest and true, and her characters speak to me in a way that I find touching. After finishing one of her stories, I feel as though I know the characters.
Sights Unseen is a daughter’s remembrance of a mother whose manic depression rocked the family for the majority of her childhood. Told primarily in flashbacks, the turning point in the life of this family occurs in 1967, when Hattie, the narrator, is 13 years old and her mother, Maggie, suffers a manic episode of such severity that she has to be committed for treatment.
I enjoyed following the dynamics of this family’s relationships–the way Maggie seemed to be the only one able to deal with the domineering patriarch of the family, Hattie’s grandfather, who’s always referred to as Mr. Barnes, and how each member of the family reacted differently to the warning signs preceding Maggie’s episodes. But most moving to me was the changing relationship between mother and daughter. Hattie’s childhood is spent virtually motherless, so when Maggie returns home after months of therapy, electroshock treatments and a prescription medication, the teenage Hattie must adapt to her new role as a daughter.
Sights Unseen is a daughter’s remembrance of a mother whose manic depression rocked the family for the majority of her childhood. Told primarily in flashbacks, the turning point in the life of this family occurs in 1967, when Hattie, the narrator, is 13 years old and her mother, Maggie, suffers a manic episode of such severity that she has to be committed for treatment.
I enjoyed following the dynamics of this family’s relationships–the way Maggie seemed to be the only one able to deal with the domineering patriarch of the family, Hattie’s grandfather, who’s always referred to as Mr. Barnes, and how each member of the family reacted differently to the warning signs preceding Maggie’s episodes. But most moving to me was the changing relationship between mother and daughter. Hattie’s childhood is spent virtually motherless, so when Maggie returns home after months of therapy, electroshock treatments and a prescription medication, the teenage Hattie must adapt to her new role as a daughter.
December 17, 2024
I really love Kaye Gibbons and this is my fifth book
I’ve read from her. I intend to read everything she’s written but I have to say, I did not enjoy this one.
This book reads like a set of vignettes and memories, which is not foreign to her style of narration, but these are really bland and boringly contrived vignettes and memories. Hattie’s mother is intended to be a composite character of a woman diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder but she seems like someone with Schizoaffective Disorder or even Schizophrenia as she is mired in delusions for much of the first part of the book. Her delusions, often sexual in nature, center around her belief that celebrities and politicians are interested in her and are seeking her out.
I don’t know about others but this one really made me think that Gibbons started to hit a wall in her writing when this was published. She’s stretching her creativity beyond the quasi-southern gothic genre, feminist folk tradition tales she is so good at weaving. I regret not keeping this one already as I had hoped to have all her books� spines showing on my shelf but I need to keep that space for better writing.
I’ve read from her. I intend to read everything she’s written but I have to say, I did not enjoy this one.
This book reads like a set of vignettes and memories, which is not foreign to her style of narration, but these are really bland and boringly contrived vignettes and memories. Hattie’s mother is intended to be a composite character of a woman diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder but she seems like someone with Schizoaffective Disorder or even Schizophrenia as she is mired in delusions for much of the first part of the book. Her delusions, often sexual in nature, center around her belief that celebrities and politicians are interested in her and are seeking her out.
I don’t know about others but this one really made me think that Gibbons started to hit a wall in her writing when this was published. She’s stretching her creativity beyond the quasi-southern gothic genre, feminist folk tradition tales she is so good at weaving. I regret not keeping this one already as I had hoped to have all her books� spines showing on my shelf but I need to keep that space for better writing.
March 22, 2024
I am surprised to see this rated so low in the Gibbons stable. It is one of my favorites and it left a visceral impression on me of what that must have been like. It had all the breathtaking confusion, clarity, matter of factness, tragedy and hope that could be mustered in this format.
I couldnt relate to reviewers who said it had no story or they couldn't connect with the chatacters. It is hard to connect to characters who by their nature and their development could not connect with themselves or each other. This I believe is intentional and makes it all the more real. To me it is the best depiction of the devastating impact that mental illness has on the individual and the family and the associated traumas. As a person with Bipolar and having worked with people with this diagnosis for 30 years it r
ings very true for me.
I couldnt relate to reviewers who said it had no story or they couldn't connect with the chatacters. It is hard to connect to characters who by their nature and their development could not connect with themselves or each other. This I believe is intentional and makes it all the more real. To me it is the best depiction of the devastating impact that mental illness has on the individual and the family and the associated traumas. As a person with Bipolar and having worked with people with this diagnosis for 30 years it r
ings very true for me.
November 15, 2020
Not my favorite Kaye Gibbons book but still an interesting look at the effect of mental health issues on an entire family. Reads like a memoir or reflection of the main character Hattie as she looks back on her childhood with a severely bipolar mother, contrasting that with life after treatment and successful ongoing medical care through the rest of her life. It is sobering to see the impact untreated mental illness can have on not just the sufferer, but all those around them. But this short read also shows the patience and long-suffering and sincere love of those who supported Hattie's mother through her worst days with never any question that they would do anything but love and support her.
June 11, 2017
This book has no clear audience. Most books with a girl protagonist are for girls, but this book is a bit too adult. What's more, it should have a few more chapters. It seems to imply that they all lived happily ever after but only shows the first tentative steps toward a more functional family life. An honest story about coping with a parent's mental illness could be a great comfort to a child in that situation, perhaps, but this book just does not engage my sympathies for the girl or her mother. I wish the author had given me a reason to love both the mother and the girl, but I only loved the servant.
February 2, 2023
I loved this book. It’s the third Gibbons book I’ve read and I know I need to read them all now. This book really hit home for me. It made me reflect on what my father and uncle’s childhood was like. It made me think about my nana and granddad’s relationship, love for each other and how they raised their children while coping with similar challenges that the characters in this novel dealt with. The character of Maggie helped me see my nana more clearly than I did as a child. I am grateful to Gibbons for writing this story and for doing it with so much compassion and honesty. Highly recommended.
January 4, 2017
I thought this book was so dumb. If it was a memoir, I could maybe understand the point of it but as a fiction novel, it was bad. There is no plot. The storyteller is just remembering the times when she was young and all the things her mentally ill mother did. Again, as nonfiction I would understand if the author wrote it to try to cope with her life story, but it is fiction. Maybe the author was trying to help us understand that when people are sick, they don't have control of themselves and who they are. I could understand that goal, but the book did not do it for me.
February 7, 2017
I was drawn into the story right away. I really like Kaye Gibbons' writing, but when the story started getting repetitive, I was starting to get a little bored and frustrated. I definitely didn't like it as much as I enjoyed as Ellen Foster.
This is a story of Hattie and her family in 1963. Hattie's mother suffered with bipolar. A time when bipolar wasn't really understood, and when the person was institutionalized in a mental institution where they endured, more liked suffered through electroconvulsive treatments.
It's more like a 3-1/2 stars than a 3 as I gave it.
This is a story of Hattie and her family in 1963. Hattie's mother suffered with bipolar. A time when bipolar wasn't really understood, and when the person was institutionalized in a mental institution where they endured, more liked suffered through electroconvulsive treatments.
It's more like a 3-1/2 stars than a 3 as I gave it.
January 26, 2018
My Original Notes (1997):
Good, but not great. A quick read, but not light. Heavy theme - mentally ill woman with two children and a husband. Told from daughter's perspective. Depressing. Southern family. Hattie, Maggie's daughter, is desperate for a normal mother who will love her.
My Current Thoughts:
This is the fifth and final book by Kaye Gibbons that I read in 1997. All were read within just a couple of months of each other and the details of this particular novel are long forgotten. It sure sounds pretty bleak!
Good, but not great. A quick read, but not light. Heavy theme - mentally ill woman with two children and a husband. Told from daughter's perspective. Depressing. Southern family. Hattie, Maggie's daughter, is desperate for a normal mother who will love her.
My Current Thoughts:
This is the fifth and final book by Kaye Gibbons that I read in 1997. All were read within just a couple of months of each other and the details of this particular novel are long forgotten. It sure sounds pretty bleak!
May 30, 2019
Gibbons is a consummate storyteller. Kirkus Review says she pens 'tranquil pose'. I agree. She never demonizes her flawed characters or exalts the stellar ones. She writes in an 'unforgiven' manner germane to the location and time the story is set. At times I felt like I was peering through a window and watching 12 yr old Hattie's experiences of life with her mentally unstable mother. I read the author's book Ellen Foster almost 30 years ago and it remains one of my favorite reads ever.
January 12, 2023
I love reading this author because from the very first sentence, I am hooked. The story is told from a young girl’s perspective. She’s living in a home with a mother suffering from mental illness. All she wants is what any child wants and needs…Love and attention from her parents. Her father tries his best. The story is something that tugs at your heart. A good read.
June 7, 2023
Such a sad, and often depressing story; yet it kept me reading. So worth the reading about trauma and sadness to feel and see the light.
p208 "She never decided that the state of mania had felt good enough for a return visit."
p208-9 "We never sat down and had a long, constructive and restorative talk, but that mattered less and less to me as I grew older. Her actions were more important. Maybe she could not have borne to dredge up the past and its pain. Maybe I could not have, either. We were somehow able to get at the business of living without calling up ghosts. We let the past stay in the past."
p208 "She never decided that the state of mania had felt good enough for a return visit."
p208-9 "We never sat down and had a long, constructive and restorative talk, but that mattered less and less to me as I grew older. Her actions were more important. Maybe she could not have borne to dredge up the past and its pain. Maybe I could not have, either. We were somehow able to get at the business of living without calling up ghosts. We let the past stay in the past."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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