Plain Seeing

by Sandra Scofield

When 15-year-old Lucy, the protagonist of Sandra Scofield's Plain Seeing , loses her mother, grief compounds with sorrow at the realization that she never really knew her--and now never will. Lucy's few memories of her mother include the days spun out in regret, and the image of her 17-year-old mother stepping off the train and into her own mother's arms--devastated, young, and pregnant with Lucy. Plain Seeing begins in 1938 in a farming community east of Lubbock, Texas, with a description of a family portrait. But there are, in fact, two photographs, and later, while comparing them, Lucy is compelled to tell her mother's story. It is through this re-creation of her mother's life that Lucy finally comes to know her. Almost 25 years later, in "Lucy's Book," her own life has begun to unravel. She flees to Aunt Opal in Lubbock, where she spots another photograph in a Depression-era photography exhibit. The picture moves her to attempt to understand her mother as a younger woman, and the discoveries Lucy makes along the way free her to live a full life, without dwelling in the past. Scofield, whose literary achievements include the American Book Award, again demonstrates her knack for dramatizing the lives of ordinary people and the cauldron of family dynamics.

Genres: Fiction

Paperback

First published September 1, 1997

Reviews

[Karla Kitalong · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought I was rereading this, but I couldn't recall anything about it, so I don't think I read it before. It was good, but I kept getting the characters Laura, Laurie, Lucy mixed up. Lucy is the main character.

[Rhonda Wiley-Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awkward. An awkward book to read. Names confusing. Time frame shot back and forth. But the longer I read the book the more invested in it I became. Probably worth it for most folk.

[Anne · Rating 1 out of 5]

A girl loses her mother at 15, then spends the rest of her life suffering from it and trying to recover.She searches for information into her mother's past, which took place in Texas during the Depression and Hollywood during the 1940s. The writing is graceless and stiff, short and choppy; odd transitions; mixed-up paragraphs. Not pleasing.

[Laura McKelvey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was not hopeful that this book would be good when I first started reading it, but I ended it impressed. Here is my blog entry about it:

http://thedismantledlibrary.blogspot....

[Candice · Rating 1 out of 5]

The beginning had me hooked, by the middle I was getting annoyed, come to the end, I was just glad it was over.