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The Face of the Deep
The Face of the deep Jacob Twersky
Hardcover
Published January 1, 1953
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April 25, 2026
This book came from my grandmother's bookshelf; my mother took most of her books after my grandmother passed away; now that my mother has also passed, I have been selectively reading some of the books from the collection. This one caught my eye because it was written by a blind author about the experiences of blind people in the 1940s and 1950s. I have a close friend who is vision impaired and through her know several other blind people so am somewhat familiar with their experiences in modern times. However, reading about the challenges blind people faced in the mid-19th century was "eye-opening."
To start, this book is definitely "of its time." It needs trigger warnings for animal cruelty and death as well as racism and anti-Semitism. The author is a blind, Jewish man, and his novel is a collection of vignettes about a group of blind people's experiences from childhood through their mid-twenties. One of the point of view characters feels very autobiographical, which makes me wonder how many of the other characters are also based on people he knew.
The striking thing to me, once I can get past the casual racism (which is frankly shocking to me in 2026!) and the constant reminders of how much sighted people pity the blind, is how the characters are all people, with hopes & dreams, and some of them are successful and others are not; some have good character, others do not, and others are ambiguous -- just like they are in real life! Blind people are not monolithic any more than any other group of people! To be clear, I knew this already. However, it's clear that the author's experience is that blind people are often treated as though they are. It also surprised me to see that even some blind people discriminate against other blind people and pity the ones who are worse off than they are.
Overall this is a well-written book that entertained me and was enlightening. However, be prepared to be shocked by some of the attitudes that weren't given a second thought in 1953, when this was published.
To start, this book is definitely "of its time." It needs trigger warnings for animal cruelty and death as well as racism and anti-Semitism. The author is a blind, Jewish man, and his novel is a collection of vignettes about a group of blind people's experiences from childhood through their mid-twenties. One of the point of view characters feels very autobiographical, which makes me wonder how many of the other characters are also based on people he knew.
The striking thing to me, once I can get past the casual racism (which is frankly shocking to me in 2026!) and the constant reminders of how much sighted people pity the blind, is how the characters are all people, with hopes & dreams, and some of them are successful and others are not; some have good character, others do not, and others are ambiguous -- just like they are in real life! Blind people are not monolithic any more than any other group of people! To be clear, I knew this already. However, it's clear that the author's experience is that blind people are often treated as though they are. It also surprised me to see that even some blind people discriminate against other blind people and pity the ones who are worse off than they are.
Overall this is a well-written book that entertained me and was enlightening. However, be prepared to be shocked by some of the attitudes that weren't given a second thought in 1953, when this was published.
Displaying 1 of 1 review