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Long Time, No See
Long Time, No See is certainly an inspiring story, but Beth Finke does not aim to inspire. Eschewing reassuring platitudes and sensational pleas for sympathy, she charts her struggles with juvenile diabetes, blindness, and a host of other hardships, sharing her feelings of despair and frustration as well as her hard-won triumphs. Rejecting the label “courageous,” she prefers to describe herself using the phrase her mother invoked in times of “She did what she had to do.”
With unflinching candor and acerbic wit, Finke chronicles the progress of the juvenile diabetes that left her blind at the age of twenty-six as well as the seemingly endless spiral of adversity that followed. First she was forced out of her professional job. Then she bore a multiply handicapped son. But she kept moving forward, confronting marital and financial problems and persevering through a rocky training period with a seeing-eye dog.
Finke’s life story and her commanding knowledge of her situation give readers a clear understanding of diabetes, blindness, and the issues faced by parents of children with significant disabilities. Because she has taken care to include accurate medical information as well as personal memoir, Long Time, No See serves as an excellent resource for others in similar situations and for professionals who deal with disabled adults or children.
With unflinching candor and acerbic wit, Finke chronicles the progress of the juvenile diabetes that left her blind at the age of twenty-six as well as the seemingly endless spiral of adversity that followed. First she was forced out of her professional job. Then she bore a multiply handicapped son. But she kept moving forward, confronting marital and financial problems and persevering through a rocky training period with a seeing-eye dog.
Finke’s life story and her commanding knowledge of her situation give readers a clear understanding of diabetes, blindness, and the issues faced by parents of children with significant disabilities. Because she has taken care to include accurate medical information as well as personal memoir, Long Time, No See serves as an excellent resource for others in similar situations and for professionals who deal with disabled adults or children.
216 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
2 people are currently reading
56 people want to read
About the author
Beth Finke
11 books7 followersBeth Finke is an award-winning author, teacher, journalist, and a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant. She also happens to be blind.
Author of Long Time, No See and Hanni and Beth: Safe and Sound, Beth has now published her third book.
Writing Out Loud: What a Blind Teacher Learned from Leading a Memoir Class for Seniors chronicles the challenges and rewards of Beth’s decade-long adventure in helping older adults write their stories. Their poignant memories intertwine with her own story, and the experience is rich with life lessons for both students and teacher.
Ever since Beth's children's book, Hanni & Beth: Safe and Sound, was published in 2007, she has been visiting schools to talk with kids about disability, trust, adapting to change, bonding with animals, service dogs, teamwork, diversity, and dealing with bullying.
Beth is a featured commentator on NPR. Her articles have been published by National Geographic School Publishing, the Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine, Woman’s Day Magazine, The Writer, Business Law Today, University of Chicago Magazine, the New York Post, Dog Fancy and The Bark.
Whitney, her Seeing Eye dog, leads Beth through airports and hotels to conferences and other appearances all over North America. She has spoken at an American Library Association annual conference in Anaheim; an Easterseals national convention in Washington, D.C.; a PAWS International conference in Vancouver; the Pacific Northwest Writers Association conference in Seattle; the Words & Music Festival in New Orleans; the Arkansas Literary Festival in Little Rock; the Vision Forward Conference in Milwaukee; the Women’s Best Weekend in Orange Beach, Alabama; and Diabetes Partners in Action Coalition in Lansing, Michigan.
You can also find Beth speaking to corporate audiences on disability and workplace accessibility, and more generally on overcoming life’s adversities. She has presented at company retreats at PepsiCo, United Stationers, and West Monroe Partners. Academic audiences include classes at the University of Chicago Medical School, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of New Hampshire, Loyola University, DePaul University and the University of Colorado.
Every year Beth leads writing workshops at Northwestern University Summer Writers’ Conference, appears regularly at the Printers Row Lit Fest, and was on the Oprah Show in a short segment about the job she had modeling nude for university art students before her writing career took off.
Beth is the recipient of a writing fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and the ASPCA’s Henry Bergh award for children’s literature.
And last, but not least, the Lisagor Award she won for a radio piece about the Chicago White Sox makes her the only blind woman in America to be honored for sports broadcasting.
Beth is married to Mike Knezovich. They have one grown son, Gus, and live in the Printers Row neighborhood of Chicago with Beth’s Seeing Eye dog, Whitney.
Author of Long Time, No See and Hanni and Beth: Safe and Sound, Beth has now published her third book.
Writing Out Loud: What a Blind Teacher Learned from Leading a Memoir Class for Seniors chronicles the challenges and rewards of Beth’s decade-long adventure in helping older adults write their stories. Their poignant memories intertwine with her own story, and the experience is rich with life lessons for both students and teacher.
Ever since Beth's children's book, Hanni & Beth: Safe and Sound, was published in 2007, she has been visiting schools to talk with kids about disability, trust, adapting to change, bonding with animals, service dogs, teamwork, diversity, and dealing with bullying.
Beth is a featured commentator on NPR. Her articles have been published by National Geographic School Publishing, the Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine, Woman’s Day Magazine, The Writer, Business Law Today, University of Chicago Magazine, the New York Post, Dog Fancy and The Bark.
Whitney, her Seeing Eye dog, leads Beth through airports and hotels to conferences and other appearances all over North America. She has spoken at an American Library Association annual conference in Anaheim; an Easterseals national convention in Washington, D.C.; a PAWS International conference in Vancouver; the Pacific Northwest Writers Association conference in Seattle; the Words & Music Festival in New Orleans; the Arkansas Literary Festival in Little Rock; the Vision Forward Conference in Milwaukee; the Women’s Best Weekend in Orange Beach, Alabama; and Diabetes Partners in Action Coalition in Lansing, Michigan.
You can also find Beth speaking to corporate audiences on disability and workplace accessibility, and more generally on overcoming life’s adversities. She has presented at company retreats at PepsiCo, United Stationers, and West Monroe Partners. Academic audiences include classes at the University of Chicago Medical School, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of New Hampshire, Loyola University, DePaul University and the University of Colorado.
Every year Beth leads writing workshops at Northwestern University Summer Writers’ Conference, appears regularly at the Printers Row Lit Fest, and was on the Oprah Show in a short segment about the job she had modeling nude for university art students before her writing career took off.
Beth is the recipient of a writing fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and the ASPCA’s Henry Bergh award for children’s literature.
And last, but not least, the Lisagor Award she won for a radio piece about the Chicago White Sox makes her the only blind woman in America to be honored for sports broadcasting.
Beth is married to Mike Knezovich. They have one grown son, Gus, and live in the Printers Row neighborhood of Chicago with Beth’s Seeing Eye dog, Whitney.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
July 18, 2023
I had the pleasure of meeting Beth in August 2004 when she spoke at a community college close to my house. I obtained a copy of this book and, while waiting for the audio version to arrive, my mom read this book aloud to me. I re-read it several years later, but I don't remember when that was exactly, so I picked this one up again to revisit.
Though Beth lost her sight and I've been blind since birth, a lot of what she writes about regarding her blindness really resonates with me. I admire her honesty, and I love the way she writes. This book is still one of my favorites.
Though Beth lost her sight and I've been blind since birth, a lot of what she writes about regarding her blindness really resonates with me. I admire her honesty, and I love the way she writes. This book is still one of my favorites.
September 13, 2017
I wanted to read this because I'm interested in memoirs written by people with type 1 diabetes. However, this book is more of a memoir of Finke's visual impairment (and her life in general) than a memoir of her experience with diabetes. So, it's more like Sonia Sotomayor's "My Beloved World" or Ron Santo's "For the Love of Ivy" than memoirs more focused on the writer's experience with diabetes itself.
When she does talk about diabetes, she mostly does a thorough and accurate job of relaying the facts. (However, I found it strange that those facts weren't cited in any way, particularly the statistical ones.) However, one claim did take me aback: "Type 1 diabetes is a matter of heredity, not behavior. Type 1 diabetics seem to be born with a trait that incapacitates insulin-producing cells. It runs in families (my cousin, my sister, and me)" (p. 23). I get that she is contrasting it with type 2 diabetes here, and that her own experience verifies the genetic hypothesis, but I've never heard that the cause of type 1 is so clear-cut. For example, JDRF's web site reads, "While [type 1 diabetes'] causes are not yet entirely understood, scientists believe that both genetic factors and environmental triggers are involved" (http://www.jdrf.org/about/fact-sheets/, retrieved 9/13/17).
I do appreciate that Finke acknowledges that the state of the art in type 1 treatment today (as opposed to when she was diagnosed, in 1966) is a "bigger hassle...in the short run" but makes those of us diagnosed more recently "much, much less likely to suffer diabetic complications such as blindness" (pp. 26-27). Hopefully, hers will be the last in the canon of diabetes memoirs to focus on such an unfortunate side effect of type 1 diabetes--because experiencing such side effects will be so much less common.
When she does talk about diabetes, she mostly does a thorough and accurate job of relaying the facts. (However, I found it strange that those facts weren't cited in any way, particularly the statistical ones.) However, one claim did take me aback: "Type 1 diabetes is a matter of heredity, not behavior. Type 1 diabetics seem to be born with a trait that incapacitates insulin-producing cells. It runs in families (my cousin, my sister, and me)" (p. 23). I get that she is contrasting it with type 2 diabetes here, and that her own experience verifies the genetic hypothesis, but I've never heard that the cause of type 1 is so clear-cut. For example, JDRF's web site reads, "While [type 1 diabetes'] causes are not yet entirely understood, scientists believe that both genetic factors and environmental triggers are involved" (http://www.jdrf.org/about/fact-sheets/, retrieved 9/13/17).
I do appreciate that Finke acknowledges that the state of the art in type 1 treatment today (as opposed to when she was diagnosed, in 1966) is a "bigger hassle...in the short run" but makes those of us diagnosed more recently "much, much less likely to suffer diabetic complications such as blindness" (pp. 26-27). Hopefully, hers will be the last in the canon of diabetes memoirs to focus on such an unfortunate side effect of type 1 diabetes--because experiencing such side effects will be so much less common.
August 16, 2024
The author was in my high school class. She has juvenile diabetes, went blind in her 20s, married and gave birth to a severely handicapped son. Fascinating.
May 10, 2015
As a blind person, I thought this book was very disappointing and not at all inspiring. I thought it portrayed a negative image of blind people. There were several points in the book that I found offensive, and not at all encouraging as far as the idea of a successful blind person. Not washing your hands in a public restroom because you are unable to locate the sink/soap? Saying that it is hard for blind people to exercise? Taking a half hour just to decipher one page of Braille? I really did try to give it a fair chance, but in my opinion, this book really does not put forth a positive view of blindness.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 22, 2013
super, super brave book. I have never read a memoir from the perspective of a disabled person. I've read several from the point of view of caregivers, and though those were honest, this was a completely different ballgame. I'm not entirely sure who her target audience was, and maybe neither was the author, because she would randomly go off into longwinded explanations about how she made breakfast or found her mailbox. But at other times, her candor was incredible. Everyone reacts to disability differently, and that she had not only the courage to share her frustrations and regrets, as well as the victories, is incredibly courageous.
September 11, 2016
Beth Finke is an immensely interesting person, for whom blindness is only one aspect of her life. In her memoir, she welcomes us into her world, sharing not just the whys and wherefores of her blindness, but also how it has affected her inner person and relationships. I love memoirs in which the authors are brave enough to tell us about mistakes they've made and things they continually struggle with. Beth's story is like that. It is inspiring in a very realistic way.
February 26, 2008
I was led to this book after hearing Beth Hinke's NPR tribute after Christopher Reeve's death. Her very readable account of going blind in her twenties because of uncontrolled diabetes is brutally honest and funny. I recommend this book to anyone interested in relating to someone with blindness or any other physical disability.
January 4, 2009
This was another one of those books that I wanted to like more than I did. Unsparing autobiography of a very difficult life(juvenile diabetes before easy blood testing leads to blindness & then she gives birth to a severely disabled child), the author comes off as demanding & difficult- a few great scenes though. I always enjoy her commentaries on NPR, so go figure.
May 20, 2011
I'd liked Beth Finke's essays on NPR and wanted to read more about her. My father was a Type I diabetic, so I have an idea of what Beth struggles with. I get cranky with much less justification, so it was a good reality check for me. The bar is set higher for some people, and to have said of one "She did what she had to do" (her mother's outlook on life) can be pretty high praise.
July 25, 2011
This was a good book. Because Finke is so honest about her feelings and her weaknesses, her story is even more inspiring. This is a real-life book about an ordinary person who has had to deal with some extraordinarily difficult cirmcustances. I would love to meet this author, and I would love to have my students and their parents meet her as well!
December 11, 2012
Beth Finke provides a clear insight into what her journey from juvenile diabetic to a young woman just on untied shoelace away from blindness.
I first encountered her writing in her blog "Safe and Sound" which is quite enjoyable and a fascinating insight to life as a partner\handler for a Seeing Eye Dog.
Worth getting the book thru interlibrary loan!
I first encountered her writing in her blog "Safe and Sound" which is quite enjoyable and a fascinating insight to life as a partner\handler for a Seeing Eye Dog.
Worth getting the book thru interlibrary loan!
April 27, 2015
Excellent insight given to me about the 2 types of diabetes and their associated health problems. Written with humor and reality, no sugar coating here, Beth takes you through the loss of her eyesight due to diabetes and her challenges to learn how to live differently. Kudos to having a great husband and seeing eye companions to help along the way.
November 18, 2010
I felt like I was talking to a neighbor, Beth hails from Urbana, Illinois -- just a few miles down the road. She had many challenges in her life, but she solders on with grace and fortitude. A worthy read.
March 18, 2012
Hard to imagine going through everything she did. I need to remember this book if I'm ever feeling that things are hard for me or not going well.
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April 8, 2008Isaacs, Susan
June 20, 2008
Very good autobiography of a local author (I've met her!) who became blind as an adult.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews