Review: "Farsighted," by Emlyn Chand

I really love Emlyn Chand's book, "Farsighted." It's so different from most of the books I have read. There is a sequel out now, too. Even though Emlyn is female, she writes from Alex Kosmitoras's point of view convincingly as a guy.

The guy's point of view is different enough to be fun -- but wait, Alex is also blind. Emlyn Chand does a great job showing us what it might be like to not only be blind, and a guy, but to also have visions of things that come to pass. Get it? Far sighted, like seeing things in the future.

The story even gets better! Enter Simmi, a mysterious new girl from India. Alex knows whenever Simmi is around because the air smells like coconuts. I use a Kirkland hair conditioner from Costco that smells like coconuts, and I am reminded of Simmi every time I use it.

It is fun just imagining myself hanging out at school with Alex and Simmi as Alex bumbles through his day and begins to fall in love with Simmi. She amazes Alex by actually taking an interest in him and hanging out with him. Their other friend, Shapri, is fun to hang out with, too -- she stands up to the school bully! There is a surprising amount of action in this book, but it is rated G.

Alex's home life is engrossing, too. He is almost a man. He wants to be independent, but his mom always wants to baby him. I guess any mom with a blind son probably would baby him. Talk about an extra hard time breaking free and becoming your own person.

But those visions Alex has that come to pass -- they spell doom for Simmi. Over and over again, Alex "sees" Simmi die a violent death. How can he stop this from happening? Alex has to figure out how to use his visions in time to save Simmi's life.