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What Is Visible: A Novel
A vividly original literary novel based on the astounding true-life story of Laura Bridgman, the first deaf and blind person who learned language and blazed a trail for Helen Keller.
At age two, Laura Bridgman lost four of her five senses to scarlet fever. At age seven, she was taken to Perkins Institute in Boston to determine if a child so terribly afflicted could be taught. At age twelve, Charles Dickens declared her his prime interest for visiting America. And by age twenty, she was considered the nineteenth century's second most famous woman, having mastered language and charmed the world with her brilliance. Not since The Diving Bell and the Butterfly has a book proven so profoundly moving in illuminating the challenges of living in a completely unique inner world.
With Laura-by turns mischievous, temperamental, and witty-as the book's primary narrator, the fascinating kaleidoscope of characters includes the founder of Perkins Institute, Samuel Gridley Howe, with whom she was in love; his wife, the glamorous Julia Ward Howe, a renowned writer, abolitionist, and suffragist; Laura's beloved teacher, who married a missionary and died insane from syphilis; an Irish orphan with whom Laura had a tumultuous affair; Annie Sullivan; and even the young Helen Keller.
Deeply enthralling and rich with lyricism, WHAT IS VISIBLE chronicles the breathtaking experiment that Laura Bridgman embodied and its links to the great social, philosophical, theological, and educational changes rocking Victorian America. Given Laura's worldwide fame in the nineteenth century, it is astonishing that she has been virtually erased from history. WHAT IS VISIBLE will set the record straight.
At age two, Laura Bridgman lost four of her five senses to scarlet fever. At age seven, she was taken to Perkins Institute in Boston to determine if a child so terribly afflicted could be taught. At age twelve, Charles Dickens declared her his prime interest for visiting America. And by age twenty, she was considered the nineteenth century's second most famous woman, having mastered language and charmed the world with her brilliance. Not since The Diving Bell and the Butterfly has a book proven so profoundly moving in illuminating the challenges of living in a completely unique inner world.
With Laura-by turns mischievous, temperamental, and witty-as the book's primary narrator, the fascinating kaleidoscope of characters includes the founder of Perkins Institute, Samuel Gridley Howe, with whom she was in love; his wife, the glamorous Julia Ward Howe, a renowned writer, abolitionist, and suffragist; Laura's beloved teacher, who married a missionary and died insane from syphilis; an Irish orphan with whom Laura had a tumultuous affair; Annie Sullivan; and even the young Helen Keller.
Deeply enthralling and rich with lyricism, WHAT IS VISIBLE chronicles the breathtaking experiment that Laura Bridgman embodied and its links to the great social, philosophical, theological, and educational changes rocking Victorian America. Given Laura's worldwide fame in the nineteenth century, it is astonishing that she has been virtually erased from history. WHAT IS VISIBLE will set the record straight.
321 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 3, 2014
38 people are currently reading
2803 people want to read
About the author
Kimberly Elkins
3 books38 followersWHAT IS VISIBLE is Kimberly's first novel, and it continues to garner great critical acclaim, having been reviewed by Barbara Kingsolver on the cover of the New York Times Book Review and picked as a NYTBR Editors' Choice book, in addition to being chosen as The Most Inspirational Book of 2014 by Woman's Day. WIV was also listed in Best Summer Debuts by the LA Times and Library Journal, and was the June Top Fiction Pick by Bookpage.
According to the Washington Post, "Elkins makes this great American woman visible again, in all her remarkable, fully human complexity," The Atlanta Constitution-Journal calls the book "a literary triumph," and the Toronto Star named it "a tour de force, uplifting and powerful."
Bestselling author J. Courtney Sullivan wrote of WHAT IS VISIBLE: "Beautiful, heart-wrenching, and at times quite funny, this book is a marvel."
Kimberly's fiction and nonfiction have been published in The Atlantic Monthly, Best New American Voices, The Iowa Review, The Village Voice, The Chicago Tribune, Maisonneuve, Glamour, Prevention, and Slicee, among others.
She was a finalist for the 2004 National Magazine Award and has received fellowships from the Edward Albee and William Randolph Hearst foundations, and a joint research fellowship from the Houghton Library at Harvard, the Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe, and the Massachusetts Historical Society for research on her novel. Residencies include the 2009 Kerouac Writer in Residence, and she and has also won a New York Moth Slam.
Kimberly grew up in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, and received a BA from Duke University, an MA in Creative Writing from Florida State, and an MFA in Fiction from Boston University. She has taught at Florida State and BU, and is currently a Visiting Lecturer in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at the University of Hong Kong. She lived in New York for almost 20 years, but currently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
According to the Washington Post, "Elkins makes this great American woman visible again, in all her remarkable, fully human complexity," The Atlanta Constitution-Journal calls the book "a literary triumph," and the Toronto Star named it "a tour de force, uplifting and powerful."
Bestselling author J. Courtney Sullivan wrote of WHAT IS VISIBLE: "Beautiful, heart-wrenching, and at times quite funny, this book is a marvel."
Kimberly's fiction and nonfiction have been published in The Atlantic Monthly, Best New American Voices, The Iowa Review, The Village Voice, The Chicago Tribune, Maisonneuve, Glamour, Prevention, and Slicee, among others.
She was a finalist for the 2004 National Magazine Award and has received fellowships from the Edward Albee and William Randolph Hearst foundations, and a joint research fellowship from the Houghton Library at Harvard, the Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe, and the Massachusetts Historical Society for research on her novel. Residencies include the 2009 Kerouac Writer in Residence, and she and has also won a New York Moth Slam.
Kimberly grew up in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, and received a BA from Duke University, an MA in Creative Writing from Florida State, and an MFA in Fiction from Boston University. She has taught at Florida State and BU, and is currently a Visiting Lecturer in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at the University of Hong Kong. She lived in New York for almost 20 years, but currently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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May 5, 2014
Took me a while to read this one, not because I did not like it but because I kept looking things up in Wiki. Most everyone has heard or read about Helen Keller, but I for one had never heard of Laura Bridgman. Her story, on fact, began fifty years before that of Kellers.
She was left blind and mute following an illness when she was two yrs. Old, she was eight when she was sent to The Perkins School under the guidance of Samuel Howe. She is the first to learn English and the first to learn to communicate using finger writing. The author did a fabulous job portraying Laura, her fears and inner turmoil, her confusion over religion, her strength and her naiveté. She was an extraordinary woman, dealing with multiple handicaps.
The character of Samuel was of course as a man of the times. The sun should only involve around him and he did everything he could to keep the woman in his life in line. I did not much like him, though I realize his character was not an uncommon one for this time period.
Samuels wife was Julia Ward Howe, who was a poet and suffragist as well as an abolitionist. She was not allowed to publish under her name
while married to Samuel. He would not allow it but of course she became famous in her own right.
So many people passed through this book, so much history, John Brown, whom Laura thought mad, and the Harpers Ferry disaster. The assassination of Lincoln, The Civil War, The study of phrenology, and the debates about religion.
The afterward explains exactly what was true and what was not. Annie Sullivan actually lived with Laura for several years and graduated from the Perkins school herself.
Wonderful book, clearly stated prose, well rounded characters make this a very informative read. As is stated in the book, without Laura Bridgman there would have been no Helen Keller.
ARC from publisher.
She was left blind and mute following an illness when she was two yrs. Old, she was eight when she was sent to The Perkins School under the guidance of Samuel Howe. She is the first to learn English and the first to learn to communicate using finger writing. The author did a fabulous job portraying Laura, her fears and inner turmoil, her confusion over religion, her strength and her naiveté. She was an extraordinary woman, dealing with multiple handicaps.
The character of Samuel was of course as a man of the times. The sun should only involve around him and he did everything he could to keep the woman in his life in line. I did not much like him, though I realize his character was not an uncommon one for this time period.
Samuels wife was Julia Ward Howe, who was a poet and suffragist as well as an abolitionist. She was not allowed to publish under her name
while married to Samuel. He would not allow it but of course she became famous in her own right.
So many people passed through this book, so much history, John Brown, whom Laura thought mad, and the Harpers Ferry disaster. The assassination of Lincoln, The Civil War, The study of phrenology, and the debates about religion.
The afterward explains exactly what was true and what was not. Annie Sullivan actually lived with Laura for several years and graduated from the Perkins school herself.
Wonderful book, clearly stated prose, well rounded characters make this a very informative read. As is stated in the book, without Laura Bridgman there would have been no Helen Keller.
ARC from publisher.
April 22, 2018
Having recently read The Story of My Life, I wanted to read What Is Visible. The first book I gave two stars; this three. Without Laura Bridgman (1829 – 1889) there never would have been the Helen Keller we know today. Laura Bridgman was the first blind and deaf person to get a significant education in the English language, fifty years before the more famous Helen Keller.
In the 1880s Anne Sullivan (1866 – 1936) shared a cottage with Laura at Boston’s Perkins School for the Bind. Laura, in her fifties but no longer in the public limelight, was still residing there. Anne, Irish Catholic, nearly blind, her mother dead and then abandoned by her father to an almshouse, needed comfort when she came to the school. Laura was looking for a companion, someone with whom she could communicate, and so it was Laura who taught Anne the manual touch alphabet. It was this Anne who later came to teach Helen Keller. The book tells not only about Laura, from the year she first came to the school until her death, but also about Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe (1801 – 1876), the school’s founder and director, and his wife, Julia Ward Howe (1819 - 1910). She was as outstanding a person as he—abolitionist, suffragist, pacifist, writer and poet. It was she that penned “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”. Husband and wife had a tumultuous relationship. The Civil War also plays out in the background.
After a brief prologue describing the meeting between Laura and Helen Keller in 1888, the story backtracks to 1842 with Laura at the Perkins School for the Blind, having come there in 1837 shortly before her eight birthday. She has already been taught how to communicate via tactile finger movements on the palm. How this was taught is unfortunately not explained. Each chapter’s title consists of a year or a timespan and a person’s name, in this way informing the reader whose thoughts we are listening to and when the events described occur. People are not introduced; you are plunged into a person’s thoughts or what they are saying to others. This makes the beginning confusing, but soon you understand how the story is being told. Flipping between different people allows one to see how different individuals interpret what is happening, and one sees their different personalities. I came to like this presentation. Laura neither sees nor hears. Nor can she smell or taste. Her only sense is touch. She could feel vibrations. Her perception of the world had to be disjointed! In this way the flow of the book mirrors her world. I also like getting into different people’s heads; I want to see each one’s personal view. Different views provide interesting contrasts. How the story is told enhances a reader’s perception of Laura’s world. This is exactly what I was looking for.
The book and the audiobook conclude with an author’s note, This is a book of historical fiction. The author explains what she has invented and what she has added beyond the known facts. I am very thankful that she has explained in detail. She explains why she added what she did. I do understand how she reasoned, but I still think she went too far when she added . Juicy details sell books. This is a more probable reason for the addition. The author also fictitiously adds that . Some readers may seek excitement, they want to be horrified, but I say stick to the facts! I find it rather telling that the fictitious section about was less engaging than those that were real. Much of Laura Bridgman’s midlife was calm and without event; the author thought spice had to be added. I disagree; I found the reality of her life very difficult and grim.
I have two other minor quibbles. Religion was a contentious element in Laura’s life. Samuel Howe was a Unitarian, but he believed that religion should not be taught to Laura, that it should / would engulf her instinctively. She on the other hand was seeking help and guidance from religion. Her family were Baptists. Her later conversion to her family's faith and subsequent baptism should have been more thoroughly explained. Of course, it is not hard to draw conclusions as to why her views may have changed. I believe that her tie to Samuel weakened with every time he let her down. She matured, grew away from Samuel, her once beloved and all engrossing teacher, and thus reverted to her family’s religious beliefs. She needed religion and there was no religious guidance to be gotten from him. My second quibble is the number of times Laura uses colors in descriptions. For a person who cannot see, blind at twenty-four months from scarlet fever, this just does not make sense to me. She would not have thought in such terms.
The audibook was easy to follow and the pacing was perfect. Jo Howarth narrates the audiobook and she narrates it well. I imagine that when those who are deaf and blind communicate, unnecessary words are removed. This is reflected both in the text and in Howarth’s pacing.
In the 1880s Anne Sullivan (1866 – 1936) shared a cottage with Laura at Boston’s Perkins School for the Bind. Laura, in her fifties but no longer in the public limelight, was still residing there. Anne, Irish Catholic, nearly blind, her mother dead and then abandoned by her father to an almshouse, needed comfort when she came to the school. Laura was looking for a companion, someone with whom she could communicate, and so it was Laura who taught Anne the manual touch alphabet. It was this Anne who later came to teach Helen Keller. The book tells not only about Laura, from the year she first came to the school until her death, but also about Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe (1801 – 1876), the school’s founder and director, and his wife, Julia Ward Howe (1819 - 1910). She was as outstanding a person as he—abolitionist, suffragist, pacifist, writer and poet. It was she that penned “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”. Husband and wife had a tumultuous relationship. The Civil War also plays out in the background.
After a brief prologue describing the meeting between Laura and Helen Keller in 1888, the story backtracks to 1842 with Laura at the Perkins School for the Blind, having come there in 1837 shortly before her eight birthday. She has already been taught how to communicate via tactile finger movements on the palm. How this was taught is unfortunately not explained. Each chapter’s title consists of a year or a timespan and a person’s name, in this way informing the reader whose thoughts we are listening to and when the events described occur. People are not introduced; you are plunged into a person’s thoughts or what they are saying to others. This makes the beginning confusing, but soon you understand how the story is being told. Flipping between different people allows one to see how different individuals interpret what is happening, and one sees their different personalities. I came to like this presentation. Laura neither sees nor hears. Nor can she smell or taste. Her only sense is touch. She could feel vibrations. Her perception of the world had to be disjointed! In this way the flow of the book mirrors her world. I also like getting into different people’s heads; I want to see each one’s personal view. Different views provide interesting contrasts. How the story is told enhances a reader’s perception of Laura’s world. This is exactly what I was looking for.
The book and the audiobook conclude with an author’s note, This is a book of historical fiction. The author explains what she has invented and what she has added beyond the known facts. I am very thankful that she has explained in detail. She explains why she added what she did. I do understand how she reasoned, but I still think she went too far when she added . Juicy details sell books. This is a more probable reason for the addition. The author also fictitiously adds that . Some readers may seek excitement, they want to be horrified, but I say stick to the facts! I find it rather telling that the fictitious section about was less engaging than those that were real. Much of Laura Bridgman’s midlife was calm and without event; the author thought spice had to be added. I disagree; I found the reality of her life very difficult and grim.
I have two other minor quibbles. Religion was a contentious element in Laura’s life. Samuel Howe was a Unitarian, but he believed that religion should not be taught to Laura, that it should / would engulf her instinctively. She on the other hand was seeking help and guidance from religion. Her family were Baptists. Her later conversion to her family's faith and subsequent baptism should have been more thoroughly explained. Of course, it is not hard to draw conclusions as to why her views may have changed. I believe that her tie to Samuel weakened with every time he let her down. She matured, grew away from Samuel, her once beloved and all engrossing teacher, and thus reverted to her family’s religious beliefs. She needed religion and there was no religious guidance to be gotten from him. My second quibble is the number of times Laura uses colors in descriptions. For a person who cannot see, blind at twenty-four months from scarlet fever, this just does not make sense to me. She would not have thought in such terms.
The audibook was easy to follow and the pacing was perfect. Jo Howarth narrates the audiobook and she narrates it well. I imagine that when those who are deaf and blind communicate, unnecessary words are removed. This is reflected both in the text and in Howarth’s pacing.
July 13, 2015
This superb historical fiction debut explores the life of America’s first deaf-blind poster child, Laura Bridgman. As William James declared, “Without Laura Bridgman there could never have been a Helen Keller.” Yet Laura has been largely forgotten, whereas Helen is an inspirational household name. Elkins imagines Laura’s rich inner life and places her within a fertile mid-century New England context – replete with educators, scientists, and reformers, but also with the threat of war and debates over slavery and religion. It is delightful to watch historical figures flit in and out of the novel like cameo actors.
(Non-subscribers can read an excerpt of my full review at BookBrowse.)
Related reads:
Both The Visitors by Rebecca Mascull and Helen Keller in Love by Rosie Sultan give a sensitive portrayal of deaf-blind characters, including their romantic possibilities.
(Non-subscribers can read an excerpt of my full review at BookBrowse.)
Related reads:
Both The Visitors by Rebecca Mascull and Helen Keller in Love by Rosie Sultan give a sensitive portrayal of deaf-blind characters, including their romantic possibilities.
July 7, 2014
From the book: "That's what I hope they think of me: a present to them all from God, to show how little one can possess of what we think it means to be human while still possessing full humanity. I am a gift . . ." It took me awhile to get reeled into this marvelous debut. After reading Alice Hoffman's lush prose, Elkins' simpler style seemed a tad dull. And I am not a fan of books that change points of view. I'd rather stick with the one. However, after a few chapters, I was completely captivated by this incredible jewel of a true story that Elkins unearthed.
I'm so glad she did. I'm so glad she gave us the gift of Laura Bridgman, the predecessor to Helen Keller. Though this is fiction, and there are notes at the end that let the reader know how much is fact and imagination, I admire the author's ability to write from multiple povs. And while the reader has to suspend some belief in the eloquence of the chapters narrated by Laura, who can neither hear, see, smell, nor taste, the empathy and refusal by the author to make her subject only sympathetic makes this story full of depth and intelligence. You will not always like Laura, but you will root for her in a misogynistic world, cry for her when she loses something, celebrate when she gains the smallest bits of humanity.
What is even more remarkable about this story is that so much of U.S. history crosses over and around Laura: Charles Dickens, Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller, John Brown, Julia Ward Howe, John Wilkes Booth's brother; the list of 19th-century names is one of those truth is stranger than fiction things. It almost reads like a Victorian soap opera, but Elkins manages to rise about the suds and deliver a short but epic story that reveals the growth of her characters and "how strangely the tides and times change for every man [or woman]." Questions about philosophy, the role of religion, sexuality, women's rights, disabilities, raise this novel above the usual historical fiction. I hope this remarkable book with an unvarnished heroine wins some awards. After reading it, I feel more awakened to life. What more can you ask from a book?
I'm so glad she did. I'm so glad she gave us the gift of Laura Bridgman, the predecessor to Helen Keller. Though this is fiction, and there are notes at the end that let the reader know how much is fact and imagination, I admire the author's ability to write from multiple povs. And while the reader has to suspend some belief in the eloquence of the chapters narrated by Laura, who can neither hear, see, smell, nor taste, the empathy and refusal by the author to make her subject only sympathetic makes this story full of depth and intelligence. You will not always like Laura, but you will root for her in a misogynistic world, cry for her when she loses something, celebrate when she gains the smallest bits of humanity.
What is even more remarkable about this story is that so much of U.S. history crosses over and around Laura: Charles Dickens, Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller, John Brown, Julia Ward Howe, John Wilkes Booth's brother; the list of 19th-century names is one of those truth is stranger than fiction things. It almost reads like a Victorian soap opera, but Elkins manages to rise about the suds and deliver a short but epic story that reveals the growth of her characters and "how strangely the tides and times change for every man [or woman]." Questions about philosophy, the role of religion, sexuality, women's rights, disabilities, raise this novel above the usual historical fiction. I hope this remarkable book with an unvarnished heroine wins some awards. After reading it, I feel more awakened to life. What more can you ask from a book?
August 17, 2014
Wow! This book was simultaneously devastating and fascinating for me. Overall, I found it to be a downer, a huge one.
I had hoped I’d see Laura’s life as one well worth living and uplifting, and that I’d find strength and inspiration there, despite her extreme sensory deprivation (she’d lost 4 senses, all but touch) but I didn’t, not as much as I’d have liked anyway. I found the book and Laura’s life very depressing, but I also found myself laughing a lot. Thank goodness for humor.
It didn’t help that I didn’t like these people. I did love Asa (though I might not have in real life) and at least some of these people were abolitionists which helped me dislike them a lot less, that and the simple fact of life’s difficulties helped me feel empathy for them, especially Laura, but most of them. What a world they were all trapped in. I guess I had the most problems with Doctor and Laura’s father, but really while I could sort of understand everyone, it was hard for me to like them. Given that, it’s amazing how much I enjoyed the book.
I found it interesting to see miscommunications magnified even more than usual, due to Laura’s limitations and isolation, severe even in the best of times, which was sometimes funny and often tragic.
At first I was disappointed when I found that every chapter wouldn’t be in Laura’s voice, and I’d assumed I’d be most interested in the young Laura, but it turned out I was able to get engaged with everyone’s voices and with Laura throughout her lifetime.
I enjoyed the Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller short portions. I’d been interested in Laura perhaps because of my longstanding interest in Helen and Annie.
I don’t know if this is good or bad, but I kept reading this as non-fiction, but it’s a novel. I think I might have to read a biography of her, with a lot of “in her own words.” I’m really grateful that at the end of the book the author cleared up some things about what was fictionalized and what actually happened.
I came away really enjoying the book but feeling horrified and sad about Laura’s life, and others’ lives too. It wasn’t only Laura’s sensory deprivation, though that was most of it, but the heartbreaking ways in which she was treated, educated, and how clear communication was gravely impacted, and how helpless in the world she so often was, how dependent she was, by necessity. I could 100% forgive and understand Laura’s religiosity. The whole story was difficult to read, but hard to forget, and very enjoyable in its own way.
I actually won this at GR First Reads but it came about a month after publication, which would have been fine if it was the hardcover edition I was expecting, but it was a very unattractive uncorrected proof edition, which would have been fine only if it had truly been an advance copy. So, I read a borrowed library edition, and didn’t touch the received uncorrected proof. I felt a bit blackmailed into reading the book. I wanted to read it, but with all the books on my to-read shelf, I’m not sure I’d have gotten to it, and doubt would have gotten to it as quickly as I did. I’m glad I did though so I can’t be that irked about how I came to read it now.
I had hoped I’d see Laura’s life as one well worth living and uplifting, and that I’d find strength and inspiration there, despite her extreme sensory deprivation (she’d lost 4 senses, all but touch) but I didn’t, not as much as I’d have liked anyway. I found the book and Laura’s life very depressing, but I also found myself laughing a lot. Thank goodness for humor.
It didn’t help that I didn’t like these people. I did love Asa (though I might not have in real life) and at least some of these people were abolitionists which helped me dislike them a lot less, that and the simple fact of life’s difficulties helped me feel empathy for them, especially Laura, but most of them. What a world they were all trapped in. I guess I had the most problems with Doctor and Laura’s father, but really while I could sort of understand everyone, it was hard for me to like them. Given that, it’s amazing how much I enjoyed the book.
I found it interesting to see miscommunications magnified even more than usual, due to Laura’s limitations and isolation, severe even in the best of times, which was sometimes funny and often tragic.
At first I was disappointed when I found that every chapter wouldn’t be in Laura’s voice, and I’d assumed I’d be most interested in the young Laura, but it turned out I was able to get engaged with everyone’s voices and with Laura throughout her lifetime.
I enjoyed the Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller short portions. I’d been interested in Laura perhaps because of my longstanding interest in Helen and Annie.
I don’t know if this is good or bad, but I kept reading this as non-fiction, but it’s a novel. I think I might have to read a biography of her, with a lot of “in her own words.” I’m really grateful that at the end of the book the author cleared up some things about what was fictionalized and what actually happened.
I came away really enjoying the book but feeling horrified and sad about Laura’s life, and others’ lives too. It wasn’t only Laura’s sensory deprivation, though that was most of it, but the heartbreaking ways in which she was treated, educated, and how clear communication was gravely impacted, and how helpless in the world she so often was, how dependent she was, by necessity. I could 100% forgive and understand Laura’s religiosity. The whole story was difficult to read, but hard to forget, and very enjoyable in its own way.
I actually won this at GR First Reads but it came about a month after publication, which would have been fine if it was the hardcover edition I was expecting, but it was a very unattractive uncorrected proof edition, which would have been fine only if it had truly been an advance copy. So, I read a borrowed library edition, and didn’t touch the received uncorrected proof. I felt a bit blackmailed into reading the book. I wanted to read it, but with all the books on my to-read shelf, I’m not sure I’d have gotten to it, and doubt would have gotten to it as quickly as I did. I’m glad I did though so I can’t be that irked about how I came to read it now.
May 11, 2014
I already want to read this book again! I am in awe of Elkins' lyrical, intricate writing, both on the sentence level (beautiful, concise phrases such as "praying with a split tongue") and in the larger narrative structure of the novel. It's clear that a wealth of research went into the making of this book, and the historical details serve to lend a quiet, subtle authority to book while the characters, emotions, and plot remain at the forefront.
Those characters are mesmerizing--I kept wondering how Laura's story has been looked over for so long! But now that it's being told, Elkins more than does it justice. Bridgman is a fascinating, complex character whose voice cuts clearly through the ages, and the characters surrounding her are just as vivid: Asa, a childhood friend that pulled at my heartstrings; the doctor and founder of the institute for the blind, Samuel Gridley Howe, whose control of Laura's life is infuriating; Howe's wife, a vibrant and intelligent woman in her own right; and the list goes on. Laura remains the gravitational center of the book, of course, as do her struggles to communicate, love, and be loved in a world designed for people with five (or at least four) senses, rather than just the sense of touch.
This is a striking, enthralling novel, and I can't wait to read what Elkins writes next.
Those characters are mesmerizing--I kept wondering how Laura's story has been looked over for so long! But now that it's being told, Elkins more than does it justice. Bridgman is a fascinating, complex character whose voice cuts clearly through the ages, and the characters surrounding her are just as vivid: Asa, a childhood friend that pulled at my heartstrings; the doctor and founder of the institute for the blind, Samuel Gridley Howe, whose control of Laura's life is infuriating; Howe's wife, a vibrant and intelligent woman in her own right; and the list goes on. Laura remains the gravitational center of the book, of course, as do her struggles to communicate, love, and be loved in a world designed for people with five (or at least four) senses, rather than just the sense of touch.
This is a striking, enthralling novel, and I can't wait to read what Elkins writes next.
July 8, 2014
First of all, while I knew in advance from the blurb that it would be alternating POVs, the letters do not work for me. At times they make no sense or I don't much see their purpose, or they bring up issues I couldn't care less about, such as the doctor and Charles Sumner's possible romance.
I'm also disappointed that Laura is already hand-writing and quite educated when the book starts. I was hoping to see some of what occurred during her education process.
However, I related very well to Laura and while others may have seen a bratty girl, I saw a young girl frustrated with living in darkness and silence. She simply wants people to pay attention to her. She can't just say, "Hey, guess what?" She has to get their attention, grab their hands to communicate with them, find them at times. And so very much is out of her control--almost everything.
Another quibble I have, though minor compared to the ones I mention above: If they are finger-spelling, how do the people around them know what they are saying? Is someone translating? The book doesn't say.
As for Laura's romance, I am wondering why the author felt it necessary to add. Why does nearly every famous woman who existed and never married made into a lesbian? Why cannot a woman's sexuality be left alone? I don't care if she was a lesbian, but WHY, why can it just not be accepted that perhaps a woman existed who wasn't interested in sex and perhaps never had an encounter?
Long review short: I liked getting a glimpse into what could have been Laura's life, but I loathed Chev (what a turd, a controlling turd), didn't care about Julia, and while I liked Sarah, in the end, I don't feel that trudging through this title enriched my life in any way.
A longer review will be posted, a discussion, actually, with my blog partner later this month.
The longer review, the discussion between Shomeret and I, is here: http://wwwbookbabe.blogspot.com/2014/...
I'm also disappointed that Laura is already hand-writing and quite educated when the book starts. I was hoping to see some of what occurred during her education process.
However, I related very well to Laura and while others may have seen a bratty girl, I saw a young girl frustrated with living in darkness and silence. She simply wants people to pay attention to her. She can't just say, "Hey, guess what?" She has to get their attention, grab their hands to communicate with them, find them at times. And so very much is out of her control--almost everything.
Another quibble I have, though minor compared to the ones I mention above: If they are finger-spelling, how do the people around them know what they are saying? Is someone translating? The book doesn't say.
As for Laura's romance, I am wondering why the author felt it necessary to add. Why does nearly every famous woman who existed and never married made into a lesbian? Why cannot a woman's sexuality be left alone? I don't care if she was a lesbian, but WHY, why can it just not be accepted that perhaps a woman existed who wasn't interested in sex and perhaps never had an encounter?
Long review short: I liked getting a glimpse into what could have been Laura's life, but I loathed Chev (what a turd, a controlling turd), didn't care about Julia, and while I liked Sarah, in the end, I don't feel that trudging through this title enriched my life in any way.
A longer review will be posted, a discussion, actually, with my blog partner later this month.
The longer review, the discussion between Shomeret and I, is here: http://wwwbookbabe.blogspot.com/2014/...
August 28, 2014
Quite simply, this is the best book I've read in a long time, both in itself and in its portrayal of disability, and the various issues that arise from it.
It is a fictional account (but based a great deal in fact) of the life story of Laura Bridgman, the first deaf-and-blind person to be educated and taught English, preceding Helen Keller. In fact, the novel starts when Laura is an older woman, meeting Helen Keller the child, and then goes back in time to Laura's childhood.
Now, I was a bit wary of this book, because the accounts I read of Helen Keller's life when I was a child tended to be moralistic, sentimentalising disability and disabled people, and making her out to be a brave saint and all that sort of crap. But the beginning of this novel soon made me realise this was unlikely to be the case here - Laura is rather a grumpy old woman!
It's hard to articulate quite how much this book impressed me, on so many levels. I work with severely disabled children, and have also worked with disabled adults, and I'm on the autism spectrum myself, so I know what it's like to live with a disability that affects the way people treat you and the way you can process and undesrtand the world. And I get frustrated at how very few novels there are about disabled characters (compared to, say, other minorities like gay characters, ethnic minorities, etc), and how the novels that I do read about disabled characters often seem to sentimentalise disabled people, or reduce them into being 'brave' and 'inspirational'. Whereas this novel totally blows apart all these stereotypes. Laura is sentimentalised by many people in the novel, and seen as an inspiration - but her acute intelligence and awareness in expressing her thoughts about it draw attention to how confining and unreal it is. She doesn't want to be an 'inspiration' - she wants to be herself. She wants to be able to express herself, be respected, be loved, live her life, etc. And it's incredibly hard for her, because she has so little control and is so dependent on others.
Laura can't get information about the world from listening or reading or seeing - she relies on people communicating by spelling out words on her hand. So of course people can lie to her or withhold information, etc, and she doesn't know - this is cleverly made clear by the fact that the novel is from several perspectives rather than just Laura's. She also relies on feeling people she meets - it's her only way of getting any sense of them, since she can't see or hear them - but people are often creeped out by that and find it intrusive. In her frustration, she acts in a way that people find difficult - she gets angry, she is stubborn, she doesn't always do what people want her to. So there is the dichotomy (so true of so many disabled people) that while she is sentimentalised from a distance, by people who don't know her, the people who know her and interact with her find her difficult or scary or they simply get freaked out by her - she looks odd, she makes strange noises, she seems like an animal. Of course, nowadays there is more of an understanding (at least among people who work with disabled people) that 'challenging behaviour' generally comes from frustration and lack of control and an attempt to communicate when the normal ways are not available, but there was no such understanding in Laura's time. And there was more of a black-and-white view of morals and religion.
The theme of control and power struggles seems to be a strong one in the novel - Laura is a spirited person and tries to have some control over her environment, but she is really totally under the control of Dr Samuel Howe, who has taught her to communicate, and takes all the glory for her abilities. He has all the arrogance and self-assurance of a successful, famous man in a male-dominated society. But all kinds of subtleties arise through his marriage to Julia, who is an independent-minded woman who wants to be a successful poet. She dislikes Laura to begin with - finding her disability distasteful, something she doesn't want to look at or be reminded of. But she begins to understand the frustration and oppression Laura endures when she herself finds her own wishes and ambitions denied by her husband - they begin to bond as she realises they are both oppressed by her husband.
There is so much more I could say about this novel, but mostly I'd simply recommend reading it. It deals with a whole host of issues - disability, feminism, sexuality, religion, control, and most of all the human spirit. Laura is never a character that you pity. You empathise with her - but on a human level, as an equal fellow human. And it gave me a real insight into what it might be like to be deaf and blind - the author had really thought it through and imagined a whole host of implications that I would never have thought of.
There were a couple of niggles I had with the realism. Laura is punished by having gloves put on her hands, and this is terrible for her, because her fingers are the way she experiences the world. But I wondered - what about her mouth? The mouth is the most sensitive sensory area, more so than the fingers. If you can't feel something well with your hands, because they covered in gloves, wouldn't you put it to your mouth? Wouldn't you put it to your mouth anyway, if you're not too bothered about social conventions and feeling is your only way of sensing the world. Many disabled children do. Also, she doesn't like eating, as she has no sense of taste. I found this odd, because people who lose their sense of taste say they learn to really appreciate the textures of food - and I was thinking surely for someone with no other senses, the texture of food would be one of the most amazing sensory experiences. I can see how losing your sense of taste as an adult can make food less appetising, but surely if you've lost it as a baby, along with your other senses other than touch, then eating would be all about texture.
On the other hand, the bit about her not eating was true to life - apparently she did develop anorexia. But I would imagine that would be less about not enjoying eating and more about control. Anorexia tends to happen when people experience a lack of control over their lives (which is true in bucketloads for Laura!), as not eating provides one area they can control. Just as people who are held hostage go on a hunger strike for a few days, as a way of maintaining some control in a situation where all control has been taken from them. I suspect this is the reason Laura became anorexic.
The other thing is her language. Her perspective is expressed very eloquently. I was thinking, from a language development point of view, that she wouldn't have such a command over language. She has very little access to language other than the basic communication through finger spelling, which is telegrammatic, using key words rather than grammatical structures. She has access to a few books in braille, but it doesn't seem to be very many - the information she is given is very controlled. So, realistically, her language wouldn't be as developed as it is - not for lack of intelligence, but for lack of exposure. On the other hand, it would be pretty difficult to try to imagine the form such language would take, and it would likely form a barrier between the reader and Laura, and make her seem less intelligent than she is. So I imagine that eloquent expression was the best way to do it, even if not wholly realistic. How else do you express a complex, intelligent inner world in a novel, after all.
It is a fictional account (but based a great deal in fact) of the life story of Laura Bridgman, the first deaf-and-blind person to be educated and taught English, preceding Helen Keller. In fact, the novel starts when Laura is an older woman, meeting Helen Keller the child, and then goes back in time to Laura's childhood.
Now, I was a bit wary of this book, because the accounts I read of Helen Keller's life when I was a child tended to be moralistic, sentimentalising disability and disabled people, and making her out to be a brave saint and all that sort of crap. But the beginning of this novel soon made me realise this was unlikely to be the case here - Laura is rather a grumpy old woman!
It's hard to articulate quite how much this book impressed me, on so many levels. I work with severely disabled children, and have also worked with disabled adults, and I'm on the autism spectrum myself, so I know what it's like to live with a disability that affects the way people treat you and the way you can process and undesrtand the world. And I get frustrated at how very few novels there are about disabled characters (compared to, say, other minorities like gay characters, ethnic minorities, etc), and how the novels that I do read about disabled characters often seem to sentimentalise disabled people, or reduce them into being 'brave' and 'inspirational'. Whereas this novel totally blows apart all these stereotypes. Laura is sentimentalised by many people in the novel, and seen as an inspiration - but her acute intelligence and awareness in expressing her thoughts about it draw attention to how confining and unreal it is. She doesn't want to be an 'inspiration' - she wants to be herself. She wants to be able to express herself, be respected, be loved, live her life, etc. And it's incredibly hard for her, because she has so little control and is so dependent on others.
Laura can't get information about the world from listening or reading or seeing - she relies on people communicating by spelling out words on her hand. So of course people can lie to her or withhold information, etc, and she doesn't know - this is cleverly made clear by the fact that the novel is from several perspectives rather than just Laura's. She also relies on feeling people she meets - it's her only way of getting any sense of them, since she can't see or hear them - but people are often creeped out by that and find it intrusive. In her frustration, she acts in a way that people find difficult - she gets angry, she is stubborn, she doesn't always do what people want her to. So there is the dichotomy (so true of so many disabled people) that while she is sentimentalised from a distance, by people who don't know her, the people who know her and interact with her find her difficult or scary or they simply get freaked out by her - she looks odd, she makes strange noises, she seems like an animal. Of course, nowadays there is more of an understanding (at least among people who work with disabled people) that 'challenging behaviour' generally comes from frustration and lack of control and an attempt to communicate when the normal ways are not available, but there was no such understanding in Laura's time. And there was more of a black-and-white view of morals and religion.
The theme of control and power struggles seems to be a strong one in the novel - Laura is a spirited person and tries to have some control over her environment, but she is really totally under the control of Dr Samuel Howe, who has taught her to communicate, and takes all the glory for her abilities. He has all the arrogance and self-assurance of a successful, famous man in a male-dominated society. But all kinds of subtleties arise through his marriage to Julia, who is an independent-minded woman who wants to be a successful poet. She dislikes Laura to begin with - finding her disability distasteful, something she doesn't want to look at or be reminded of. But she begins to understand the frustration and oppression Laura endures when she herself finds her own wishes and ambitions denied by her husband - they begin to bond as she realises they are both oppressed by her husband.
There is so much more I could say about this novel, but mostly I'd simply recommend reading it. It deals with a whole host of issues - disability, feminism, sexuality, religion, control, and most of all the human spirit. Laura is never a character that you pity. You empathise with her - but on a human level, as an equal fellow human. And it gave me a real insight into what it might be like to be deaf and blind - the author had really thought it through and imagined a whole host of implications that I would never have thought of.
There were a couple of niggles I had with the realism. Laura is punished by having gloves put on her hands, and this is terrible for her, because her fingers are the way she experiences the world. But I wondered - what about her mouth? The mouth is the most sensitive sensory area, more so than the fingers. If you can't feel something well with your hands, because they covered in gloves, wouldn't you put it to your mouth? Wouldn't you put it to your mouth anyway, if you're not too bothered about social conventions and feeling is your only way of sensing the world. Many disabled children do. Also, she doesn't like eating, as she has no sense of taste. I found this odd, because people who lose their sense of taste say they learn to really appreciate the textures of food - and I was thinking surely for someone with no other senses, the texture of food would be one of the most amazing sensory experiences. I can see how losing your sense of taste as an adult can make food less appetising, but surely if you've lost it as a baby, along with your other senses other than touch, then eating would be all about texture.
On the other hand, the bit about her not eating was true to life - apparently she did develop anorexia. But I would imagine that would be less about not enjoying eating and more about control. Anorexia tends to happen when people experience a lack of control over their lives (which is true in bucketloads for Laura!), as not eating provides one area they can control. Just as people who are held hostage go on a hunger strike for a few days, as a way of maintaining some control in a situation where all control has been taken from them. I suspect this is the reason Laura became anorexic.
The other thing is her language. Her perspective is expressed very eloquently. I was thinking, from a language development point of view, that she wouldn't have such a command over language. She has very little access to language other than the basic communication through finger spelling, which is telegrammatic, using key words rather than grammatical structures. She has access to a few books in braille, but it doesn't seem to be very many - the information she is given is very controlled. So, realistically, her language wouldn't be as developed as it is - not for lack of intelligence, but for lack of exposure. On the other hand, it would be pretty difficult to try to imagine the form such language would take, and it would likely form a barrier between the reader and Laura, and make her seem less intelligent than she is. So I imagine that eloquent expression was the best way to do it, even if not wholly realistic. How else do you express a complex, intelligent inner world in a novel, after all.
June 5, 2014
It's always gratifying when an author rescues a deserving historical figure from complete obscurity (think about what Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff did for Chuck Yeager, the pilot who first broke the sound barrier). But What is Visible has so much more than just that going for it. Kimberly Elkins has written something almost unwriteable -- the inner life of a woman who had no direct experience of the spoken word, who had four of her five senses taken away, leaving her with nothing more than the sense of touch from which to build a life.
The book is extremely well researched, and provides an excellent depiction of pre-Civil War Boston and, by extension, the US. But as I was reading it, it never really felt like a work of historical fiction to me. Elkins's Laura seems completely contemporary, her milieu strikingly similar to our own, her intelligence transcending her time and place. And yet, with Bridgman's flaws and her foibles also on display, Elkins has made her completely human, completely accessible.
This is an exceptional book, and, in its imagining of the complexities of Bridgman's extremely difficult life and the lives of those she touched, an exceptional achievement.
October 23, 2014
All I can say about this book is Wow! Lyrical, haunting and pulls at every emotional string as it runs its course.
What is visible is the story of Laura Bridgman. A woman I had never heard of before reading this book. Laura was the first deaf-blind person to receive a significant education in America. Laura was stricken with scarlet fever when she was two, taking away 4 of her senses, sight, hearing, smell and taste. The only sense she was left with was touch. During her life, she was referred to as the second most important woman in the world. Though she seems to have been lost in history, replaced by her successor, Helen Keller with scarlet fever when she was two, taking away 4 of her senses, sight, hearing, smell and taste. The only sense she was left with was touch. She wore shades over her eyes and only a couple of people ever saw what was behind those shades. During her life, she was referred to as the second most important woman in the world. Though she seems to have been lost in history, replaced by her successor, Helen Keller.
What Is Visible is told in the form of diary entries from Laura as well as all the people she interacts with the exception of her childhood friend, Tenny. Ms. Elkins does an amazing job of giving a distinct voice to each of the characters in the book and weaving their voices in a way that brings you into the room with them and witness to their thoughts.
I think it would be very easy to find the need to portray someone as disabled as Laura in the light of a saint or martyr. But, Ms. Elkins did not fall prey to this either with Laura nor any of the other characters in the story. And that is what makes this such an incredible book. The characters are very human.
Laura moves between being this intelligent rational observer of her dark world to moments of vanity and arrogance. There are times when she shows petty jealousy, meanness and downright hatefulness. But, in the blink of an eye, you get another insight into her where you want to cry and forgive her any and all cruel thoughts she has.
She speaks of her impressions of the people around her, what she likes and dislikes. Her need to touch, her only sense, often overwhelms the people around her and she is often disciplined for crawling in bed with the other girls and fondling them. Her discipline for misbehaving is having gloves put on her hands for a unique version of time out.
Ms. Elkins creates a love affair for Laura, in the form of a servant named Kate. And she again shone her talent here as she described the intense relationship between the two women which often migrated into the realm of S&M. Her reasoning in the afterward was that she had to imagine that such an area would be explored as far as it could be taken with one whose only sense was that of touch. And also given that it was well documented that Laura did "hurt herself". And she executes it well, creating an intense and beautifully blossomed relationship between these women.
The other voices in Laura's life are given equal consideration. From the "doctor" and his wife, the servants, teachers, friends. The triumphs, frustrations, anger and disappointments, not only in Laura, but in every aspect of their lives. It is not just a picture of Laura's life, but equally a picture of the life of her universe, both when it is alongside her as well as when it has moved on.
I laughed, I cried, my heart sometimes sinking deep with the weight of the words. At times, my breath was taken for a moment at the sheer beauty and wisdom of the words in this book. Through it, I not only got a peek inside what it must be like to live your life in a form of solitude, with only one tiny gateway to the outside world, but what it was like to take the hand of that soul for just a while.
Most of the story is true and based on documented research, according to the author's afterward. She took some liberties, gave Laura some things she only guessed or hoped she would have experienced. I appreciated the fact that she laid all this out in the afterward. Because, you walk away knowing that almost all of it was real. And you are glad for the elaborations she made, and hope, that maybe even in those, Laura was granted those boons. They just weren't "known".
Sephi
http://sephipiderwitch.com/what-visib...
What is visible is the story of Laura Bridgman. A woman I had never heard of before reading this book. Laura was the first deaf-blind person to receive a significant education in America. Laura was stricken with scarlet fever when she was two, taking away 4 of her senses, sight, hearing, smell and taste. The only sense she was left with was touch. During her life, she was referred to as the second most important woman in the world. Though she seems to have been lost in history, replaced by her successor, Helen Keller with scarlet fever when she was two, taking away 4 of her senses, sight, hearing, smell and taste. The only sense she was left with was touch. She wore shades over her eyes and only a couple of people ever saw what was behind those shades. During her life, she was referred to as the second most important woman in the world. Though she seems to have been lost in history, replaced by her successor, Helen Keller.
What Is Visible is told in the form of diary entries from Laura as well as all the people she interacts with the exception of her childhood friend, Tenny. Ms. Elkins does an amazing job of giving a distinct voice to each of the characters in the book and weaving their voices in a way that brings you into the room with them and witness to their thoughts.
I think it would be very easy to find the need to portray someone as disabled as Laura in the light of a saint or martyr. But, Ms. Elkins did not fall prey to this either with Laura nor any of the other characters in the story. And that is what makes this such an incredible book. The characters are very human.
Laura moves between being this intelligent rational observer of her dark world to moments of vanity and arrogance. There are times when she shows petty jealousy, meanness and downright hatefulness. But, in the blink of an eye, you get another insight into her where you want to cry and forgive her any and all cruel thoughts she has.
She speaks of her impressions of the people around her, what she likes and dislikes. Her need to touch, her only sense, often overwhelms the people around her and she is often disciplined for crawling in bed with the other girls and fondling them. Her discipline for misbehaving is having gloves put on her hands for a unique version of time out.
Ms. Elkins creates a love affair for Laura, in the form of a servant named Kate. And she again shone her talent here as she described the intense relationship between the two women which often migrated into the realm of S&M. Her reasoning in the afterward was that she had to imagine that such an area would be explored as far as it could be taken with one whose only sense was that of touch. And also given that it was well documented that Laura did "hurt herself". And she executes it well, creating an intense and beautifully blossomed relationship between these women.
The other voices in Laura's life are given equal consideration. From the "doctor" and his wife, the servants, teachers, friends. The triumphs, frustrations, anger and disappointments, not only in Laura, but in every aspect of their lives. It is not just a picture of Laura's life, but equally a picture of the life of her universe, both when it is alongside her as well as when it has moved on.
I laughed, I cried, my heart sometimes sinking deep with the weight of the words. At times, my breath was taken for a moment at the sheer beauty and wisdom of the words in this book. Through it, I not only got a peek inside what it must be like to live your life in a form of solitude, with only one tiny gateway to the outside world, but what it was like to take the hand of that soul for just a while.
Most of the story is true and based on documented research, according to the author's afterward. She took some liberties, gave Laura some things she only guessed or hoped she would have experienced. I appreciated the fact that she laid all this out in the afterward. Because, you walk away knowing that almost all of it was real. And you are glad for the elaborations she made, and hope, that maybe even in those, Laura was granted those boons. They just weren't "known".
Sephi
http://sephipiderwitch.com/what-visib...
October 25, 2014
We all know the heroic tale of Helen Keller. As a child I remember watching the movie multiple times in school. But hardly anyone is familiar with Laura Bridgman, her predecessor who had the strength and determination to conquer her disabilities and set the stage for all of those that followed. In the early 1830's (Helen's story takes place 50 years later) Laura, at two years old, is struck with scarlet fever. It leaves her not only deaf and blind but without her sense of smell and taste as well. Touch is all she has, and intelligence, wit, curiosity and determination beyond comprehension. This is the story of Laura's amazing life. Her struggles, her triumphs, her love and her losses. As young a girl whom most people had given up on, she is taken to the Perkins Institute in Boston which is primarily a school for the blind. Dr. Samuel Howe falls in love with this little girl and begins his mission of miracles by unlocking her mysteries and developing methods of communication. Her love of knowledge has no bounds. Her thoughtful writings and perceptions of religion, politics, and poetry to name a few are astonishing. Laura pushes the people and her capabilities to their very limits. There are those that adore her and she forms lifelong bonds, and those who have neither the patience or understanding for this girl that they simply cannot connect with. Her companion in the last years of her life is Annie, a young orphan kitchen girl, who later becomes the teacher of Helen Keller. This is a remarkable piece of historical fiction that I could not put down. I cannot believe I had never heard of this woman and I cannot believe this is Kimberly Elkins first novel. www.readingandeating.com
September 1, 2014
This book hold came up at the library at a time when I was overwhelmed with others, and I almost didn't read it. I'm so glad I did. It is such an interesting story of Laura Bridgman, the first deaf and blind person who learned to talk using her hands many years before Helen Keller appeared on the scene. Laura was even more deprived than Keller, having lost five of her senses at age two, leaving her only touch to encounter the world. She was essentially adopted by Dr Samuel Gridley Howe, who developed a system of spelling using the hands in another's. He was founder of Perkins Institute in Boston. Laura was famous world wide because Dr Howe promoted her through presentations to raise money for the Institute (and coincidently stroked his own ego). We are introduced to other well-known historical figures such as Julia Ward Howe, a renowned writer, abolitionist, and suffragist, whom Dr. Howe married. While there is no doubting Laura's life was improved by what she learned, she still had a very lonely and sad life, especially after Dr. Howe married. Annie Sullivan was her teacher for a short time and paved the way for her to teach Helen Keller. But Laura had other teachers who truly loved her and tried to make her life more enjoyable. I am so glad Kimberly Elkins brought this forgotten story to life. It is a fascinating read!
May 13, 2014
I fell in love with this book; I fell in love with Laura Bridgman. You'd think that a character who was deaf/blind/mute wouldn't be very interesting, but she's brilliant, funny and stubbornly her own person against all odds. The writing itself is absolutely gorgeous, and I also wouldn't have expected this book to have such elements as romance, bisexuality, affairs, etc., but it's all based on tons of research and history, and covers over 50 years. I also learned a lot of Civil War and Victorian-era history. Bottom line: How could this American icon, once considered the 19th century's 2nd most famous woman, have been forgotten, and now we only remember Helen Keller, who was actually called "the second Laura Bridgman"? The novel examines the why and how of that fact dealing with ideas about female beauty, religion, politics, etc. Besides Laura, there's Julia Ward Howe, who I eventually also came to care about, and her husband, the head of Perkins Institute, who's everything you could love and hate in a man, and even Annie Sullivan and the young Helen Keller. Unputdownable!
March 24, 2014
Everyone knows Helen Keller’s story but not many have written about Laura Bridgeman. She was born in 1829 and is known as the first deaf-blind American child to learn the English language, fifty years before Helen Keller. WHAT IS VISIBLE tells her story. It is a well researched and well written historical fiction debut. Laura’s story is heartbreaking and heartwarming. She is not only deaf and blind but has no sense of taste or smell either yet her life is rich. The book also explores the life of “Chev” the founder of the Perkins Institute, his wife and various other people who touch Laura’s life. Laura’s outlook on life, religion, and humanity in general make this a fascinating read.
May 16, 2014
What Is Visible is a beautifully crafted historical novel that is meticulously researched. Kimberly Elkins' prose not only sparkles on the page, it earns her a place in today's literary scene as a master story teller.
September 6, 2020
Historical fiction at its finest! I had never heard of Laura Bridgman or the Perkin's Deaf and Blind Institute, so this was a fantastic education in the history. I really appreciated Elkins' afterword in which she explains exactly what was historical fact and what she herself imagined to be possible. She did an incredible job and this must have required a huge amount of research. Every character is complex and multifaceted. The historical context is clearly demonstrated (good for me, because my knowledge of 19th century America is not particularly in depth) and the plot itself is well-paced and absorbing. Highly recommended!
May 14, 2014
How do I like this book, let me count the ways.
Told largely from the perspective of an historically real blind deaf-mute woman in the 19th century - Laura Bridgeman - What Is Visible is a fictional impression of Bridgeman's factually rich life story.
If you are reading this blog you have probably already read summaries of the story. So I will just add my two cents why I think this book is important. Elkins manages somehow to offer a character in Bridgeman who is scary - she's hit the trifecta of human misery - completely cut off sensorily from us, and, we, by extension, from her. Plus she grunts and groans and screams. She rages. But somehow, like any well-written protagonist, we instantly identify with her stumbling and incoherence; we see ourselves in her. This is us, metaphorically shouting mutely, seeing nothing, hearing silence, when everything is aroar; when we long so desperately to connect to our fellow humans, even when our own senses confound us, defy us to do so. Disconnected, locked inside our pathetic coils. The reason Bridgeman can't connect with people is not because she's blind. Again, the brilliance of Elkins's storytelling is to turn Laura's deficits, her uniqueness, into universals: Left without light and sound, her blindness only intensifies Laura's realization that she can't truly understand other people. Her deficits are her assets. She sees people as they truly are. There are no eyes and ears to filter out people's true nature. Suddenly, Bridgeman's story is ours. It's really quite ingenious.
In Elkins's telling, Bridgeman overcomes the impossible barriers that separate her from everyone else and she falls in love and learns to think and we follow this evolution from our introduction to her as a little girl to her rosy blossoming falling in love with her Irish caretaker - a lesbian romance - even as she falls differently in love with her sponsor, Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, who lifted her out from an isolated home, taking her in at his School for the Blind. This love is an intellectual love, Bridgeman models herself after the nineteenth century reformist ideals taught by Howe. But she is unable to fully realize the standards for behavior, and, by extension, humanity, he seeks for her, because she is her own person, because his standards are rules. Howe is kind of a jerk. He's a moralist. Although he tries, he's unable to reach out to Laura because of his limitations, not hers.
The storytelling is extremely tight, the prose creative and largely immaculate. So, reading for reading's sake, you will get your money's worth.
What's triumphant is that you close the book thinking, yeah, Bridgeman probably could have, perhaps even did, feel and think these things. Like I think and feel.
Every time I read a truly great 19th century novel, Middlemarch, Jude the Obscure, I am reaffirmed because I know that we as humans, our emotional life, our needs as sentient animals changes but little. This dusky moon I see outside my train car window as I ride home right now moved my forebears in the same existential way as they looked toward the heavens.
Elkins twists this connection; instead of requiring you and I to step into the shoes of our predecessors, she faithfully modernizes them to show us that Bridgeman, 19th century deaf dumb and blind Bridgeman is us. And oh how she roars.
Told largely from the perspective of an historically real blind deaf-mute woman in the 19th century - Laura Bridgeman - What Is Visible is a fictional impression of Bridgeman's factually rich life story.
If you are reading this blog you have probably already read summaries of the story. So I will just add my two cents why I think this book is important. Elkins manages somehow to offer a character in Bridgeman who is scary - she's hit the trifecta of human misery - completely cut off sensorily from us, and, we, by extension, from her. Plus she grunts and groans and screams. She rages. But somehow, like any well-written protagonist, we instantly identify with her stumbling and incoherence; we see ourselves in her. This is us, metaphorically shouting mutely, seeing nothing, hearing silence, when everything is aroar; when we long so desperately to connect to our fellow humans, even when our own senses confound us, defy us to do so. Disconnected, locked inside our pathetic coils. The reason Bridgeman can't connect with people is not because she's blind. Again, the brilliance of Elkins's storytelling is to turn Laura's deficits, her uniqueness, into universals: Left without light and sound, her blindness only intensifies Laura's realization that she can't truly understand other people. Her deficits are her assets. She sees people as they truly are. There are no eyes and ears to filter out people's true nature. Suddenly, Bridgeman's story is ours. It's really quite ingenious.
In Elkins's telling, Bridgeman overcomes the impossible barriers that separate her from everyone else and she falls in love and learns to think and we follow this evolution from our introduction to her as a little girl to her rosy blossoming falling in love with her Irish caretaker - a lesbian romance - even as she falls differently in love with her sponsor, Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, who lifted her out from an isolated home, taking her in at his School for the Blind. This love is an intellectual love, Bridgeman models herself after the nineteenth century reformist ideals taught by Howe. But she is unable to fully realize the standards for behavior, and, by extension, humanity, he seeks for her, because she is her own person, because his standards are rules. Howe is kind of a jerk. He's a moralist. Although he tries, he's unable to reach out to Laura because of his limitations, not hers.
The storytelling is extremely tight, the prose creative and largely immaculate. So, reading for reading's sake, you will get your money's worth.
What's triumphant is that you close the book thinking, yeah, Bridgeman probably could have, perhaps even did, feel and think these things. Like I think and feel.
Every time I read a truly great 19th century novel, Middlemarch, Jude the Obscure, I am reaffirmed because I know that we as humans, our emotional life, our needs as sentient animals changes but little. This dusky moon I see outside my train car window as I ride home right now moved my forebears in the same existential way as they looked toward the heavens.
Elkins twists this connection; instead of requiring you and I to step into the shoes of our predecessors, she faithfully modernizes them to show us that Bridgeman, 19th century deaf dumb and blind Bridgeman is us. And oh how she roars.
July 1, 2014
I had never heard of Laura Bridgman, a woman who could not see, hear, taste or smell since the age of two. Until I began reading this book, Laura and the Perkins Institute were unknown to me. Written as historical fiction, the author creates a sensitive and informational work about Laura's life and of the era in which she lived. Events during the Civil War, acceptable medical practices, and social topics of the time, are all masterfully included as Laura's life unfolds.
Elkins creates a nearly incredible story revealing Laura's thoughts and reasoning capabilities. Laura is surrounded by educated and famous people. Elkins uses these well-researched characters to present the special, unconventional life of Laura Bridgman.
I enjoy historical fiction, but the validity of specific details always leaves me wondering whether an item or event is part of the history or part of the fiction. Elkins removes all doubt. At the end of the book she corroborates what is fact and admits to the fictional aspects. She goes further and explains her reasoning in fabricating events for the benefit of the story. She presents both the facts and the fiction beautifully.
I loved reading this book. Yes, I loved the storyline, but more than that, I loved how the words were arranged on each page. Elkins does justice to the story of Laura Bridgman. Even more so, Elkins shows her own gift for exquisite writing.
Elkins creates a nearly incredible story revealing Laura's thoughts and reasoning capabilities. Laura is surrounded by educated and famous people. Elkins uses these well-researched characters to present the special, unconventional life of Laura Bridgman.
I enjoy historical fiction, but the validity of specific details always leaves me wondering whether an item or event is part of the history or part of the fiction. Elkins removes all doubt. At the end of the book she corroborates what is fact and admits to the fictional aspects. She goes further and explains her reasoning in fabricating events for the benefit of the story. She presents both the facts and the fiction beautifully.
I loved reading this book. Yes, I loved the storyline, but more than that, I loved how the words were arranged on each page. Elkins does justice to the story of Laura Bridgman. Even more so, Elkins shows her own gift for exquisite writing.
June 20, 2014
Ok, after a first hasty review of this book, I am going to put out another one and just say what I think. I never heard of Laura Bridgman, she was famous in her own right, but her life was a hard one having lost four out of five senses that most of us take for granted. I was sad for her sometimes, I loved that she fought back for what she wanted. I was sometimes angry because her much revered Dr. Howe was a total self serving schmuck and his wife Julia wasn't much better, she either detested Laura or she wanted to try and like her and then it was back to not thinking much of her. I could have done without the described intimacies of her sexual life, but I did enjoy this and now I wish to learn of more Laura Bridgman.
April 7, 2015
a novel based on the life of laura bridgman. as the result of an illness at 2 1/2 years, she lost alk senses except touch. taken in at the] Perkins Institute, she learned to communicate by finger spelling. as an adult she taught Annie Sullivan to finger spell. Annie Sullivan left to teach Helen Keller a few years later. it is said that without Laura, Helen Keller would not have progressed so well. perhaps if laura had had the benefit of a single teacher over the years, as Helen had, she might have had a happier, more productive life. as it was, her life was controlled by Dr. Howe, who kept her almost add a pet until he married. this story also addresses the relationship between Dr. Howe and his wife Julia Ward Howe. I found this book fascinating and absorbing.
July 9, 2016
I read somewhere that about 4000 books are published every day, but a book like this one comes along very, very rarely. The power of Laura Bridgman's voice, her belief in God and herself, despite being left with only the sense of touch through fever and accident, are sure to haunt readers long after they've finished reading. This character is determined to love and be loved, and she absolutely broke my heart.
June 26, 2018
4/5 ⭐
This was a refreshing and enjoyable read! I didn't even realize there was another dead/blind person besides Hellenic Keller! It was really awesome to get in Laura's head and see how she interprets the world around her.
This was a refreshing and enjoyable read! I didn't even realize there was another dead/blind person besides Hellenic Keller! It was really awesome to get in Laura's head and see how she interprets the world around her.
October 6, 2016
Most people know the story of Helen Keller. But few people are aware of the story of Laura Bridgman. Laura was born in 1829. At the age of two, she was stricken with scarlet fever which left her deaf and blind, and also deprived her of her sense of taste and sense of smell. At the age of 8 she was sent to the Perkins Institution (now known as the Perkins School for the Blind) in Boston where Dr. Samuel Howe succeeded in teaching her words and how to spell them. She was the first American deaf-blind child to learn the English language and how to communicate it manually. Her story was known throughout the world. Charles Dickens met her and wrote about her.
When Laura was in her twenties, she still resided at Perkins and became a mentor to another girl whose sight was impaired. That girl was Annie Sullivan who later became the teacher of Helen Keller.
Author Kimberly Elkins succeeds in bringing the world of Laura Bridgman to life. Mixing fact and fiction, Elkins presents a plausible account of the life and thoughts of Laura Bridgman as she attempts to navigate her world. It’s an interesting read in which the reader is made aware of this complex young lady, as well as the ordinary and famous individuals who influenced her throughout her life.
When Laura was in her twenties, she still resided at Perkins and became a mentor to another girl whose sight was impaired. That girl was Annie Sullivan who later became the teacher of Helen Keller.
Author Kimberly Elkins succeeds in bringing the world of Laura Bridgman to life. Mixing fact and fiction, Elkins presents a plausible account of the life and thoughts of Laura Bridgman as she attempts to navigate her world. It’s an interesting read in which the reader is made aware of this complex young lady, as well as the ordinary and famous individuals who influenced her throughout her life.
August 21, 2014
This book is at the top of my Best Books of 2014 so far. It's a fictional account of the life of Laura Bridgman, a woman who lost her senses of sight, hearing, taste, and smell to scarlet fever at the age of two, and was admitted to the Perkins School for the Blind. She predated Helen Keller by fifty years or so, and was famous worldwide (Charles Dickens wrote about her in his American Notes). You might say that Bridgman put the Perkins School and its director, Samuel Gridley Howe, on the map. However, Helen Keller's fame has been lasting, whereas Laura Bridgman's was not.
This book is very well researched, though one major plotline related to affairs of the heart is strictly from the author's imagination. (In an Afterword, the author discusses this plotline and her reasons for including it.) The story is told from different points of view; for context, each chapter is headed with the name of the speaker and the year. I thought this was an effective way to relay important elements of the story (for example, Howe's wife, the author and suffragist Julia Ward Howe, did not get along very well with Bridgman; we hear from Mr. Howe, Mrs. Howe, and Laura herself about why this was so).
Laura is, by turns, sarcastic, rude, loving, giving, desperate, violent, mildly sadomasochistic, depressed, vindictive, vulnerable, calculating, kind .. in short, Elkins portrays her with a full complement of emotions and personality aspects. Her family is mostly unsupportive; Howe treats her like a daughter until he marries and she gets too old to do party tricks at the school's exhibition days on cue; she has a succession of teachers and minders that enter and leave her life.
The most heartbreaking, but richest, part of this book is Laura's efforts to live her life to the fullest using the one sense she has available to her: touch. Samuel and Julia Ward Howe, the teachers, the other students, her family, others who enter her life sphere: their irritation and displeasure with the ways that she attempts to enrich her life with touch are justified in some ways (Laura can be grasping and inappropriate and violent), but most of them don't want to see beyond their sensual privilege, if you will, to try to address the real issue: that Laura is yearning for as normal a life as she can have with her limitations. Addressing 500 people during one of the School's weekly Visiting Days does not satisfy her gnawing need for connection; climbing into other girls' beds at night and tangling her fingers in their hair does.
This book is very well researched, though one major plotline related to affairs of the heart is strictly from the author's imagination. (In an Afterword, the author discusses this plotline and her reasons for including it.) The story is told from different points of view; for context, each chapter is headed with the name of the speaker and the year. I thought this was an effective way to relay important elements of the story (for example, Howe's wife, the author and suffragist Julia Ward Howe, did not get along very well with Bridgman; we hear from Mr. Howe, Mrs. Howe, and Laura herself about why this was so).
Laura is, by turns, sarcastic, rude, loving, giving, desperate, violent, mildly sadomasochistic, depressed, vindictive, vulnerable, calculating, kind .. in short, Elkins portrays her with a full complement of emotions and personality aspects. Her family is mostly unsupportive; Howe treats her like a daughter until he marries and she gets too old to do party tricks at the school's exhibition days on cue; she has a succession of teachers and minders that enter and leave her life.
The most heartbreaking, but richest, part of this book is Laura's efforts to live her life to the fullest using the one sense she has available to her: touch. Samuel and Julia Ward Howe, the teachers, the other students, her family, others who enter her life sphere: their irritation and displeasure with the ways that she attempts to enrich her life with touch are justified in some ways (Laura can be grasping and inappropriate and violent), but most of them don't want to see beyond their sensual privilege, if you will, to try to address the real issue: that Laura is yearning for as normal a life as she can have with her limitations. Addressing 500 people during one of the School's weekly Visiting Days does not satisfy her gnawing need for connection; climbing into other girls' beds at night and tangling her fingers in their hair does.
July 1, 2014
IN PLAIN SIGHT:
Laura Bridgman, one of the most celebrated women of her time, has been mostly lost to ours. Now, Kimberly Elkins’s wonderful novel salvages her story from the sunken wreckage of history and tells it anew in riveting, poignant detail.
Born in 1829, Laura became blind and deaf at age 2, from scarlet fever, which also took her senses of smell and taste. But despite her disabilities, she acquired the use of language, 50 years before Helen Keller did. Laura stunned large audiences with displays of her knowledge and wit. She composed letters and poems. Charles Dickens and Henry James wrote about her. A popular toy, the “Laura Doll,” was made in her likeness — with the eyes poked out and an eyeshade of the kind Bridgman wore.
Her fame and accomplishments were due to the teaching of Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, founder of the Perkins Institute in Boston, where Laura was taken at age 7. Howe taught her finger-spelling, to read raised type by touch, and treated her as an adopted daughter. The girl adored him.
In “What Is Visible,” Elkins weaves together Laura’s story with that of Howe and his wife, Julia Ward Howe, the poet, suffragist and abolitionist. Their tumultuous marriagedrives a compelling plot and illustrates the novel’s lyrical themes of freedom and transcendence, which were preoccupations of 19th-century social reformers and thinkers like the Howes.
Dr. Howe was a brilliant, autocratic man, prominent in Boston intellectual circles. He displayed Laura in public to show off his accomplishments in teaching the deaf-blind. He also made her a pawn in his battle against Calvinism, to argue for the Unitarian ideal that humans would naturally come to spirituality without Biblical indoctrination. His prize pupil was a handy exhibit, too, in the doctor’s promotion of phrenology, the wacky 19th-century belief that the bumps and contours of the head revealed character.
Laura revels in the attention her fame provides, but….
[To read the rest of this review, please go to:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/enterta...
Laura Bridgman, one of the most celebrated women of her time, has been mostly lost to ours. Now, Kimberly Elkins’s wonderful novel salvages her story from the sunken wreckage of history and tells it anew in riveting, poignant detail.
Born in 1829, Laura became blind and deaf at age 2, from scarlet fever, which also took her senses of smell and taste. But despite her disabilities, she acquired the use of language, 50 years before Helen Keller did. Laura stunned large audiences with displays of her knowledge and wit. She composed letters and poems. Charles Dickens and Henry James wrote about her. A popular toy, the “Laura Doll,” was made in her likeness — with the eyes poked out and an eyeshade of the kind Bridgman wore.
Her fame and accomplishments were due to the teaching of Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, founder of the Perkins Institute in Boston, where Laura was taken at age 7. Howe taught her finger-spelling, to read raised type by touch, and treated her as an adopted daughter. The girl adored him.
In “What Is Visible,” Elkins weaves together Laura’s story with that of Howe and his wife, Julia Ward Howe, the poet, suffragist and abolitionist. Their tumultuous marriagedrives a compelling plot and illustrates the novel’s lyrical themes of freedom and transcendence, which were preoccupations of 19th-century social reformers and thinkers like the Howes.
Dr. Howe was a brilliant, autocratic man, prominent in Boston intellectual circles. He displayed Laura in public to show off his accomplishments in teaching the deaf-blind. He also made her a pawn in his battle against Calvinism, to argue for the Unitarian ideal that humans would naturally come to spirituality without Biblical indoctrination. His prize pupil was a handy exhibit, too, in the doctor’s promotion of phrenology, the wacky 19th-century belief that the bumps and contours of the head revealed character.
Laura revels in the attention her fame provides, but….
[To read the rest of this review, please go to:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/enterta...
July 29, 2014
I personally thought this was a fantastic book. I borrowed it from my local library for the family vacation I went on and started it on Tuesday July 22nd, I finished it 3 days later. I couldn't put it down. I plan to buy it as soon as I can.
I'll admit I was a little upset reading the Afterword and finding that some of the details (including an entire character and 'plot' with that character) were fictionalized. I can understand changing a little bit here and there, which will happen when the author only has access to select resources from times past whether it's people having destroyed pieces or just being lost over time.
Either way, it's still a wonderful book, set in between 1840(ish; I don't remember the exact start year) and 1888. I never knew there was someone with these disabilities before Helen Keller, it's amazing that Laura was able to keep strong over all those years (though she did have her big rough patches along the way).
I highly recommend this book to anyone, especially those who like historical fiction (this is partially fiction as some parts and events were altered, but for the most part is based off of real people and events).
I'll admit I was a little upset reading the Afterword and finding that some of the details (including an entire character and 'plot' with that character) were fictionalized. I can understand changing a little bit here and there, which will happen when the author only has access to select resources from times past whether it's people having destroyed pieces or just being lost over time.
Either way, it's still a wonderful book, set in between 1840(ish; I don't remember the exact start year) and 1888. I never knew there was someone with these disabilities before Helen Keller, it's amazing that Laura was able to keep strong over all those years (though she did have her big rough patches along the way).
I highly recommend this book to anyone, especially those who like historical fiction (this is partially fiction as some parts and events were altered, but for the most part is based off of real people and events).
August 9, 2014
This is a fictionalized account of the real life woman named Laura Bridgman, who was a deaf/blind person who preceded Helen Keller. At the age of 2, she contracted Scarlet Fever and lost all of her senses except for the sense of touch. Through her own voice and that of Samuel Gridley Howe (the director of the Perkins Institute for the Blind), his wife Julia Ward Howe, and Laura's beloved teacher Sarah Wight, Laura's story form the age of seven until her death at the age of 59 is told. Using both historical and fictionalized details, the author reveals the inner world of a unique individual and provides an informative, inspiring and moving account. For somewhat obvious reasons, she became deeply religious, and there are a lot of references to her Lord Jesus Christ and her almighty Father. Being an atheist, I had a bit of a difficult time completely relating to this aspect of the story, and it was a rather important part of the tale. However, the characters and situations were so well drawn, and the inner life of Laura so compelling and moving, that the book won me over in the end.
February 12, 2015
Holy cow! What a smashing historical debut. I so loved WHAT IS VISIBLE, a fictional account based on Helen Keller's predecessor, Laura Bridgman. And who is Laura Bridgman, you may ask...as the last few pages of the book indicate, without Helen Keller, there would have been no Laura Bridgman.
The second famous woman in the mid-nineteenth century (second only to the Queen), Laura was a deaf-blind woman who also had no sense of taste or smell; she could only feel (touch), due to a bad case of scarlet fever as a young child of two years. Laura is taken to the Perkins Institute in Boston where she is tended to by a doctor Howe and swarmed by doting fans and students.
I had heard so many positive things about WHAT IS VISIBLE but I honestly didn't think I would care for her story--but that is a gross understatement. I loved it. Elkins took some creative libterties with Laura's story, but she shares how she arrived to some fictional conclusions regarding Laura's experiences, personality, and so forth in the afterword.
Beautifully executed, artistically rendered, carefully researched, WHAT IS VISIBLE is superb in all literary regards.
The second famous woman in the mid-nineteenth century (second only to the Queen), Laura was a deaf-blind woman who also had no sense of taste or smell; she could only feel (touch), due to a bad case of scarlet fever as a young child of two years. Laura is taken to the Perkins Institute in Boston where she is tended to by a doctor Howe and swarmed by doting fans and students.
I had heard so many positive things about WHAT IS VISIBLE but I honestly didn't think I would care for her story--but that is a gross understatement. I loved it. Elkins took some creative libterties with Laura's story, but she shares how she arrived to some fictional conclusions regarding Laura's experiences, personality, and so forth in the afterword.
Beautifully executed, artistically rendered, carefully researched, WHAT IS VISIBLE is superb in all literary regards.
April 3, 2015
I've been interested in Laura Bridgman since I was a little girl, and have always been surprised that there has been so little written about her. This novel fills a huge gap. It's historical fiction, but largely based on fact. I appreciated that the author includes an epilogue that makes it very clear which parts (and characters) she made up. Laura's ability not only to learn about the world, but also to ask questions and draw her own conclusions despite the efforts of Samuel Howe to mold her into his own image are what really shine through for me in this book. Other reviewers found the book depressing, and most of the other supporting characters despicable. For me, the book was simply realistic. I found Howe, Julia, and the other characters flawed--yes--but not without redeeming traits. This isn't a sugar-coated story that is meant to be inspiring, but neither is it a shocking expose of a miserable existence. For me, this is a story about what it is that really makes us human.
August 7, 2015
This is my BOOK OF THE YEAR. I'm recommending it to everyone I know. The prose is gorgeous, the characters fully three-dimensional (even if, as some readers point out, you don't like all of them!), and Laura Bridgman has earned a place in my heart forever. As someone who grew up with a deaf mother, this book especially means a lot. Kimberly Elkins does not sentimentalize those with handicaps; she empowers them.
With WHAT IS VISIBLE, you get great history, an astonishing story, a master class in compassion, and Laura, who will make you laugh, make you cry, but most of all, make you understand. You will never forget her or this book.
With WHAT IS VISIBLE, you get great history, an astonishing story, a master class in compassion, and Laura, who will make you laugh, make you cry, but most of all, make you understand. You will never forget her or this book.
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