Reasonably Engaging, but Predictable, June 28, 2009


Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
This novel examines a girl's attempts to come to terms with parental abandonment. By thirteen Summer Davis's mother had run off without a trace, and her father was descending into serious mental illness. Summer quickly becomes the adult in a family spiralling out of control. There's not much that I found surprising or unusual about the plot of this book. It is, in fact, quite predictable. Summer's troubled parents shape ways in which she approaches school, career, and relationships. The plot proceeds just as one might expect. The twist Shepard adds to this particular story is Summer's fascination with DNA. She is first introduced to the concept soon after her mother leaves, and Summer spends much of her young adult life pondering the nature vs. nurture debate in light of her particular situation. I found this theme to be contrived, however, as it is only loosely woven into the narrative, and it added little value and effect to the plot. While I found Shepard to be a good writer, I wished the book had been more imaginative. ( )

Initially, the book read like a YA book-young adult protagonist who's mother abandons the family and the father sinks into a deep depression. There were so many family issues and situations, but the characters and emotions were flat. The "surprise" at the end was expected, and seemed tacked on leaving the reader unsatisfied. ( )

The Visibles opens in 1992 when a teacher tells Summer Davis’s high school biology class that DNA irrevocably controls every aspect of a person’s life -- that it effectively tethers children to their parents forever. That’s a reassuring concept for Summer, whose mother abandoned the family just days before. So reassuring, in fact (and later so unsettling), that it prompts Summer to persevere through serious family problems toward a career in genetics research.

The narrative is well written, particularly the transitions into flashbacks which are among the smoothest I’ve read. An intriguing sense of mystery is developed, especially about family secrets, and kept me reading for their reveal. Yet, despite plotlines of abandonment and mental illness, there’s a lack of dramatic tension and a lack of characters I cared about. A number of things seemed not-quite-believable, including Summer’s pursuit of genetics -- each mention of it felt like a label and bumped me, there having been nothing in her first-person narration to organically evoke the manner of a scientist. In the end, an interesting but emotionally neutral read. ( )

At first, I was taken aback by how depressing this book was. Maybe I didn't read the jacket copy carefully enough, but the pink cover and protagonist named Summer didn't prepare me for the darkness inside.

Summer Davis is the child of a mother who runs away (and is never fully developed) and a father who's mentally ill (he starts stabbing himself with broken glass). From the beginning, the narrative is peppered with secrets. The main thing that kept me reading was that I wanted to know what the answers were. Eventually, all the mysteries in the story were solved, and it came together like puzzle pieces. I have to say, it wasn't very believable. I don't think many people have so much angst and so many concealed secrets in their closets. One or two - maybe. This many - no.
Comment ( )

This is a coming of age story (with teen crossover appeal) about a girl who is devastated by her mother leaving the family, and then her father's descent into depression. This would appeal to readers who liked The Usual Rules by Maynard. It is NOTHING like Shepard's YA series Pretty Little Liars. MH ( )