Blind Sighted

by Peter Moore

Just as Kirk Tobak's restless life begins to get a bit more stable, he discovers that his mother has left him to go off with her boyfriend to California, thus Kirk must now find a way to survive on his own while still struggling in school and getting his only finances from a part-time job.

Genres: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Teen, Fiction

272 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 2002

About the author

Peter Moore has been writing fiction since he was eleven years old, and became an amateur lycanthropologist even earlier. Because he studied hard in high school and ate all his vegetables, he was able to attend Vassar College and Columbia University. Though he briefly considered a career in the FBI, America can rest easy: it didn’t work out. Instead, he has worked as a screenwriter, college professor, English teacher, and guidance counselor. He lives with his wife and two kids in Westchester, New York. This is his third book for young adults. He strongly denies all rumors that he is a werewolf. Still, he won’t say where he goes every month during the full moon.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Kristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

don't get me wrong or anything, but I'm really glad this was a library read. It's not that it was bad, it just wasn't a wow book either. It was quirky-to a point the writing reminded me of "Burn", but better.
The characters were decent. The story was a little boring. There were funny moments. I feel pretty 50-50 on this one.

The one thing that truely bothered me was the Mother. Geez, who just up and leaves their kid to go on mini-vacations?!?!? What kind of mom gets plastered every night? What kind of parent goes to California on a whim and gets married? Seriously, she just pissed me off!!!


"It's funny that somebody recently asked me if I know who I am. There's the million dollar question. There are some things I know for sure. I'm not cool. I'm kind of strange. I'm pretty emotional. And I'm too damned small. And I'm okay with that. So, do I know who I am? I guess maybe I don't know. Not yet. But I'm getting there."

If you run up on this for cheap or see it at the library pick it up. It's a quick read. Not super amazing, but decent.

3 stars.

[Arminzerella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kirk Tobak’s life isn’t the greatest. He’s short, friendless, fatherless, on his own a lot, and definitely not living up to his potential (according to most of his teachers), and his mom spends more time with alcohol than she does with him. But he’s fantastically witty – if only in his head and in his writing (which no one else ever sees) – and he loves literature. After a sarcastic interchange with his honors English teacher, Kirk is forced to drop the class and take English with a bunch of low lives who couldn’t care less. In fact, one of them makes it his personal mission to give Kirk a hard time – until he hears some of Kirk’s writing and decides he’d rather have him as a friend. Thus begins an unlikely, but ultimately rewarding friendship. Glenn and Kirk hang out after school and Kirk writes lyrics, which Glenn incorporates into his music. Through Glenn, Kirk meets Lauren, who becomes his first girlfriend, his first relationship. Kirk also gets a new job reading to a blind young woman who shares his love of language. And for a few weeks, everything seems to be going right for once. Then his mom announces that she’s moving the family to California. She and her on-again off-again boyfriend are going to open a restaurant, get themselves cleaned up, and find their destinies in the sunshine state. That’s when Kirk puts his foot down – no, absolutely not.

Mom and her guy fly out there anyway, figuring Kirk will come to his senses, and they eventually deciding to sell the house out from underneath him. While they’re away, all the good things in Kirk’s life start to unravel. Lauren’s feelings for him are way too intense and he just can’t reciprocate – mostly because he’s fallen for Callie, the woman he’s been reading to. But when he tells Callie what he’s feeling, she rejects him, saying she’s never felt anything for him beyond friendship. This is terribly embarrassing for Kirk. In his confusion and anger, Kirk gets into a bar fight at Glenn’s first show – and Lauren’s new boyfriend kindly rearranges his face for him. And that’s when his mom finally reappears to drag him off to California. Kirk digs in his heels, however, realizing that he can fix all of the things that have gone wrong, make amends, and get his head on right. He and Callie work out an arrangement where he can finish out the school year in New Jersey (home) while living with her, and then reevaluate the California move.

I loved Kirk’s way of dealing with all of his problems. He’s so stubborn and yet imaginative. And although he’s a little sad, he’s also incredibly funny. It’s nice when other people get to know him and appreciate him for being who he is. His situation is painful, but Kirk’s way of looking at it makes it manageable. It’s clear that things are going to blow up in his face as soon as his mother leaves town, but he’s able to pick up the pieces and find a way to start over. This was a great coming of age novel, with an outsider protagonist that you can’t help but hope for.

[Eileen Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about a boy who finds a new life. Though he is smart he doesn't try, and as his grades fail, he gets put in a different class. This is where he finds himself a friend who he can talk to. Over time he also gets a girlfriend and a better job. At his new job he learns about life and that he can't control it. When his mom moves to California to open up a restaurant, he has to take care of himself. He doesn't want to move now that his life is better and so he moves in with the lady he was working for so that he can finish his year there. I enjoyed this book and wonder why the author wrote this story.

[RoseAnn Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as a teenager and still think about it fondly. I have remembered it for well over a decade and would still recommend it.

[Angel Plaja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kirk Tobak a loner, a writer that express his feelings by writing out things that truly bother him. Kirk lives with his mom in a broken down old house just them two not really have a tight relationship as mother and son sometimes would. Kirk gets transfered from honors english to regular english because of his grades. Kirk then meets Glenn who at first taunts him then during english KIrk asks Glenn what he is writing. After Kirk's teacher reads one of Kirk's writings Glenn asks him if he's ever thought of turnings his writings into lyrics. Kirk says yeah and then Glenn and him become friends.

Kirk starts to read to a blind woman named Carrie and they build a great friendship also Kirk has a girlfriend named Lauren who really likes Kirk but mostly spends her time with him by both of them going at it. Kirk starts to fall in love with both girls while his mom goes away with her boyfriend Hal to L.A to just try to start a new life and also to try to convince Kirk to go with them but Kirk refuses. Kirk then starts to fall apart after he breaks up with Lauren to be with Carrie. But when Kirk goes to Glenn's gig with Glenn's girlfriend Donna he sees Lauren with another guy who go's to there school. Then Kirk ends up fighting with Lauren's boyfriend and gets taken out of the bar by Glenn. Being told to stay near the car because of his injures Kirk leaves not caring about when happens to be with Carrie. Kirk tells Carrie he loves her but Carrie loves him only like a brother Kirk then goes home finding Hal and his mom there at the house and they find out what to do by Kirk staying with Carrie for the rest of the year and KIrk going to L.A when he's ready.

[Robert Murray · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the book “Blind Sighted” by Peter Moore, the main character is a guy named Kirk Tobak. He and I share many of the same traits. We both have an above average sense of humor and both found English class as a way to express ourselves.

English helped me realize that writing was my passion. What English did for Tobak was that he found his first best friend.

In school, Kirk is a guy that likes to keep to himself and is often described as a loner. His new friend, Glenn, is about as big of a goof-off as there is. He didn’t care about school one bit and has what a lot of people call ‘senioritis.”

What Glenn’s passion was to play music, specifically rock’n’roll. Kirk, who is in desperate need of a friend, decides that he would like to join in.

This was the best decision Kirk had ever made.

He joined the band with Glenn and they quickly were successful.

“The phone rang. It was Glenn.
‘Dude! We got a gig. We’re playing a bar in, like, a week. Live, baby.’
‘Excellent.’
‘I’m coming over, tell you all about it.’” (216)

The success and new friends led to more unexplored opportunities for Kirk. He now had a girlfriend named Lauren who cared about him very deeply.

What this book told me is that anyone in the world can succeed in life. All you need in life is a solid cast of friends who will support you no matter what. As Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly likes to say, you succeed because you surround yourself with great people and that couldn’t have turned out to be more true to Kirk.

[John Zhu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blind Sighted by Peter Moore is about a lonly kid. Kirk doesn't have friends. He doesn't hang out with anyone and keeps to himself. But oneday, when he is kicked out from english class and put into a not so smart class, he starts to get noticed. Glenn reads one of kirks writings and thinks its good for his songs. Together they develop their friendship and Glenn is the first real friend Kirk has had. A girl in his class even likes him and he is reading for a cool blind woman. What could be better than that?
Soon after, his mom comes home with news that they are moving. Right when his life is turning around. Kirk decides to fight against it and tries to keep everything he has going together. It is a story about a kid who finally gets a life but now is about to lose it. This book helps you learn that you should really appreciate your life because theres always someone that has it worst, with no friends, no life.

[Sabrina Frischmann]

Peter Moore’s Blind Sighted is about a teenager in high school named Kirk Tobac. He’s the kind of kid who choses books over sports and is unsocial. He is living in a small town in New Jersey, with his alcoholic divorced mother. Kirk was sort of an outcast. He was bullied by the “burnouts”, didn’t do any homework or write essay’s in proper form. We discover that this is part of living with an alcoholic mother. Who falls in love with her boss, and decides to move to California with him. Wanting Kirk to come along, but Kirk refuses to leave his hometown. Things had begun to light up for Kirk in his life. He had befriended a “burnout”, got a job reading to a blind woman, which he enjoys, and got him self a girlfriend. The characters in this book really show their personalities. Overall this was a great book, the target audience would be suggested to be teenagers to young adults.

[Ethan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about a young boy named Kirk. Kirk is having some issues in school and at home. In school he just does not want to try and at home he argues with his mom. When I say that Kirk argues with his mom I mean that his mom has a new boyfriend and he is trying to convince her to move to LA for his new job. What happens when the family decides to leave to LA?

If you would like to know what happens next in this book you will have to read it. I believe this book teaches you how to trust others in life. In my opinion I believe this book was pretty good and many of you will learn from it. But to learn from this book you will have to read it first!

[Anamelissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

My little sister recommended this book to me. Usually I don't read the same things as she does, we have a different taste in books. But I have to admit she was right about this book.
I really enjoyed the comedy, not so much the writing style. The over all idea was entertaining and fun.
The author is really understanding to teen emotion, but a little over board, but than again all teens tend to be over dramatic at times.
My favorite part has to be the odd pair of best friends; the cool experienced punk with the awkward book worm.

[Steven]

This is actually one of the few books that I like. This is my second time reading the book and I actually understood it more and I related to it better. I read back when I was in sixth grade and ever since then I wondered what is called and who wrote it. This book is about a kid who is basically living a normal teenage life when his mom just up and leaves to go to California with her boyfriend. Kirk lives on his own and grows as a teenager. It's a very good book that a lot of teenagers my age and maybe even younger can relate to. I recommend it to people who like books about teenage life.

[Bryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that this book was kind of dramatic, the author wrote a book about a young man, who had cancer, got kicked out of his english class, had no friends, and is worried about a lot of things in this world like school, friends, parents, and girls. Eventually, he met a guy who actually like his words and think that it should be put in to a song, and then alot of other good things happened to him and now he's never been happier than ever. But I still question about cancer can get you prepare for life.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kirk Tobak is a small, weird kid who doesn't have many friends, and he shelves books at the library. After he is demoted to "dumb" English, he meets Glenn, who plays guitar and like's Kirk's poetry as lyrics. Now Kirk is hanging with friends, has a girl, Lauren, and a new job reading to a blind woman. But all is not perfect since Kirk's mother and her boyfriend have run off to California and left Kirk behind. . .

[Jennifer Acevedo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book is really good. It talks about a kid who is lonely and doesnt have any friends. Until he goes to another class and makes new friends. His mother decides to move to Los Angeles,but Kirk refuse to.He couldnt stay with his father because he left him when he just a baby. So his mother leaves him and goes to Los Angeles with her boyfriend name Hal. I think this book relates to teenagers who has parents that leaves them and thinks thats the right thing to go.

[Sarah Tilatitsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really good. I didn't really think that it would be a semi-happy ending. I was kinda shocked when he had feelings for Cammie. It was kinda strange. I mean, he wasn't too happy about reading to her at first, but then, well, that transition was sort-of strange. Still, this is a great book and I htink that people should read this.

[Alexandria Shafer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing and a great book just if you have some extra time in class. It is about a kid that is vert intelegent and is trying to make friends and write lyrics for a kid he knows. He is also trying to find a girlfriend and go on his frist date.

[Ailene · Rating 2 out of 5]

i was probably thrown off because at the age i was reading it, i didn't like the sex parts. looking back at it, more on the story line, it was good, i still think there was too much sex though. the guy liking that old lady was kinda weird, but hey, i won't judge. it was also sad.

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

16 yr old Kirk is a loner, doesn't care about school, works at a local library as a shelver. A fellow worker asks him to take over out loud reading to a blind lady-juggling a 1st girlfriend, family problems good

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

My daughter recommended this to me, so I picked it up and tried it. Its on an early-teen level of writing, and the story line is of the same age-group. It is compelling and keeps moving.

I am used to reading non-fiction, but enjoyed this enough to not put it down for very long.

[Shila · Rating 2 out of 5]

Guys, i dont recomend this book, it's pretty good, but it swears like 5 times in every page, and i got kinda scared it some of the scenes, so ya, i dont recomend it.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in two days. Overall, I really enjoyed it. I would give it 5 stars but the ending was weak. I love Kirk and I love the story.

[sabrina caho · Rating 2 out of 5]

yet another teen growing up story...