When Laureth's father's notebook is unexpectedly found in New York, Laureth is convinced he has gone missing and sets out for America with her brother to find him. They have only one clue to guide them: the notebook. But the ideas they discover in its pages are strange, there's something haunting in the words, an obsession with coincidence, something a little like madness.
This novel was peculiar. It was a book, but not a story; it didn't have an intricate storyline, plot twists or character development. In their place were meanings hidden in every chapter, line and number. For me it wasn't anything outstanding, but I know it will be one book on my shelf that makes me stop and stare for a while, because there's something intriguing about all these concealed messages. They talk about the human obsession with being recognized. Sometimes we want to be noticed by the universe in the form of some crazy coincidence just so we can convince ourselves we're special. But in doing so, we forget the bliss of the ordinary. Coincidence is a strange thing, special but dangerous. As Laureth learned this, so did I.
I also loved the ever-present message in Laureth's character. Laureth is blind, and while that made her journey all the more terrifying and difficult, she still accomplished something amazing and she was still a fantastic protagonist to read about. She was funny, slightly sarcastic at times, sympathetic, kind and brave. A problem with how we react to blind people, that Laureth mentioned herself, was that we act as if we cannot see them, not the other way around. But blind people aren't invisible, they're just as capable of being extraordinary as anyone else. And an amazing thing about Laureth is that, although she couldn't see what we see, she could see something a lot of us can't: the real people behind the stereotypes and prejudice. Her sight is, in fact, perfect just the way it is.
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