The Seeing Glass

by Jacquelin Gorman

After the onset of a rare optic condition that slowly takes her eyesight, Jacquelin Gorman shares her memories of her autistic brother's brief, tragic life and the pure and unquestioning love that continues to illuminate her darkness. Reprint.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Memoir, Medical

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Lora Shouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parts of this book really irritated me. The parts where Ms. Gorman first discovered she was going blind and started to panic. It sounded like she was screaming at everybody constantly for several days, and her husband was trying to get her doctors to commit to a definite time when she would be better, or something definite they could do for her, when they hadn’t even figured out what was wrong. Probably it wasn’t that bad in actuality; some of the panic appears to have been internal. But still, I’m glad I wasn’t there to listen to it.

In contrast, the story she tells of her autistic brother, first diagnosed at a time when they hadn’t settled on a name for the condition yet, is very serene, although painful.

I suspect this book is probably no longer in print. I purchased it used through Amazon.

[Ahmad Al-mutawa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice and well written book. Easy to read and get submerged with the narrative.

هذا هو أول كتاب أقرأه باللغة الإنجليزية. لم أكن أعتقد أنني سأقرأه ولكن السبب الوحيد الذي جعلني مهتم بقراءته هو أن بعض صفحاته تم نشرها في مجلة Reader's Digest الشهرية

ولأنني كنت مولعاً بتعلم اللغة الإنجليزية فقد كان هذا الكتاب تحدياً أكثر من كونه قصة...

قرأت الكتاب سنة 1999 على ما أظن.. ولا أزال أتذكر مدى إعجابي بالتجربة اللتي مرت بها مؤلفة الكتاب وبعض التفاصيل التي علقت في الذاكرة.

[JoAnne Potter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this with my book club and was surprised by its juxtaposition of past and present. She not only described the events as they happened, but put them in a context of other events that gave them an unexpected depth. Especially like the color imagery backdropped against her blindness. Food for thought.

[Tb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jackie is surprisingly open about very personal experiences from sharing childhood memories to dealing with a rare optic condition that leaves her without sight as a mother. Beautifully written, this account of loss and renewal presents blindness as a metaphor of the healing, eternal light of love.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Has some special needs theme.. but still interesting.

[Sue Kozlowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Non-fiction. Awesome - read in < 1 week. Jackie goes blind, had a young brother Robin who was autistic.

[Gerry Durisin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gorman’s metaphoric connections between her dead autistic (?) brother and her loss of vision remained elusive to me, but her story was still interesting and well-written.