From Publishers Weekly
"Both forgiving and healing are true arts," says Hattie Barnes, the narrator of Gibbons's moving novel; readers will be thoroughly in thrall to her clear, true voice and to the poignant story she tells. In flashback, Hattie describes the summer and fall of 1967, when she was 12 and living in Bend of the River, N.C., and when her beautiful, psychotically volatile mother, Maggie, was temporarily committed to the psychiatric ward at Duke University. A near-miracle occurs: for the first time in nearly two decades, Maggie becomes stabilized on medication. And, for the first time in her life, Hattie experiences a mother who relates to, touches and cares for her. Gibbons tells this story of family dislocation and crisis in restrained prose of unflinching clarity, with a honing eye for the small domestic details that conjure a time, place and emotional atmosphere. She conveys the hellish condition of a home where one parent is delusional and dangerous to herself and others; where the other is a full-time caretaker; and where the children, Hattie and her older brother Freddie, are lonely, anxious, bewildered victims. The fifth member of the family is the grandfather, Mr. Barnes, a manipulative bully who protects and spoils his daughter-in-law, and indulges her every manic whim from his ample wallet; he is the truly destructive element in the Barnes family's lives. The dynamics of this dysfunctional group, their balance precariously maintained by the calm ministrations of their black housekeeper, Pearl, are spelled out with tender understanding. Gibbons is equally sensitive when conveying the aberrant wiring of Maggie's jangled brain. This is her best novel since Ellen Foster, a haunting story that begs to be read in one sitting. BOMC and QPBC featured alternates. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
YA?A story that chronicles the devastating effects of growing up in a dysfunctional family. Hattie's mother, a manic depressive, experiences erratic mood swings and irrational outbursts. She is incapable of nurturing her daughter, shopping, talking, or providing a role model for something as basic as cooking. Narrated by Hattie, the book is permeated with sadness and disillusionment because of her constant disappointment over the lost opportunities for bonding, her fears and embarrassment with peers, and her lack of mothering. The minor characters emerge as shadowy figures who must tiptoe around the mother's moods. Readers witness violent verbal attacks on Hattie's father and experience her brother's protective response of staying in his room. The entire family is grateful for the respite provided by the mother's institutionalization. The novel will elicit empathy in most YAs, providing information to those who have never experienced this type of family situation and reassurance to those who have.?Barbette Timperlake, R.E. Lee High School, Springfield, VACopyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
The illustrious Gibbons burst onto the literary scene with her award-winning first novel, Ellen Foster, which was "written with the freshness of a child but the wisdom of an adult" (LJ 4/15/87). One hopes this will live up to that debut.Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
Regional fiction is a special challenge for the audiobook performer. Especially in the literature of the American South, accents vary from state to state, class to class, race to race. Kate Fleming does a beautiful job with the many voices of this sad and funny story of Hattie, whose mother is known to her Carolina community as "that Barnes woman with all the problems," problems that today would be called being bi-polar or manic depressive. Hattie's father is nearly overwhelmed by loving a wife who is beautiful but often outrageous, and even a danger to others and herself. The household is held together by loving and lovely black Pearl; the story is held together by Kaye Gibbons's wry and sensitive writing and by Fleming's skillful performance. B.G. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
Gibbons writes seamless and resonant novels, the sort of fiction that wins hearts as well as awards. In her last book, Charms for the Easy Life (1993), a daughter recounts the lively life stories of her mother and grandmother; here, in this far more focused and subtle tale, a woman remembers her manic-depressive mother. Hattie is a quiet yet powerful narrator--calm, lucid, trustworthy, and, most importantly, forgiving. Almost dismissive of her own suffering both as a frightened, lonely child and as a grieving adult in the aftermath of her mother's death, Hattie chronicles her mother's dramatic battle with her demons in stark, indelible detail. Maggie's insidious illness rendered her incapable of performing the simplest motherly tasks. Luckily for her and her two children, she was blessed with a loyal and unceasingly patient husband, an amazingly resourceful and resilient housekeeper, and a wealthy, indulgent father-in-law. All were able to ride out the storms generated by Maggie's highs and lows, and Hattie and her precocious brother grew up strong and relatively unscarred. But oh, the stories, the madness, the fear, the shame. Gibbons has her quietly heroic narrator relate one wild and poignant incident after another, holding us rapt with wonder and empathy for Maggie and her loving, self-sacrificing family. This is a novel that deserves unwavering attention from start to finish, like a symphony or a sunset. Donna Seaman

FROM OUR EDITORS

Often referred to as the ``Father of Ecclesiastical History,'' Eusebius (A.D. 263-339) has earned fame as the historian of Christian antiquity. An intimate friend of the Emperor Constantine, the Greek Bishop wrote the only surviving account of the Church during its crucial first 300 years. This translation makes the great work easily accessible--clarifying phrases, shortening sentences and adding informative headlines.

ANNOTATION

In potent prose, Sights Unseen tells the story of the troubled relationship between Hattie Barnes and her elusive mother, Maggie, known by their neighbors as "that Barnes woman with the problems." Plagued by Maggie's suicidal lows and delirious highs, Hattie struggles to find a place in her mother's heart. From the bestselling author of Charms fo the Easy Life.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Kaye Gibbons has long been known as an inventive and artful writer who can traverse the rocky terrain of intimate family experience with sure, graceful, and inspiring steps. Now, in a poignant tale of a child searching for a place in her mother's heart among the hopes and fears that are buried there, Gibbons moves us once again. In Hattie Barnes, a child grows up by coming to terms with two worlds - the private one inside her house, where her mother is unpredictable, elusive, adoring, and adored, and the public one of her small North Carolina town, in which her mother is politely known as "the Barnes woman with all the problems."

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

``Both forgiving and healing are true arts,'' says Hattie Barnes, the narrator of Gibbons's moving novel; readers will be thoroughly in thrall to her clear, true voice and to the poignant story she tells. In flashback, Hattie describes the summer and fall of 1967, when she was 12 and living in Bend of the River, N.C., and when her beautiful, psychotically volatile mother, Maggie, was temporarily committed to the psychiatric ward at Duke University. A near-miracle occurs: for the first time in nearly two decades, Maggie becomes stabilized on medication. And, for the first time in her life, Hattie experiences a mother who relates to, touches and cares for her. Gibbons tells this story of family dislocation and crisis in restrained prose of unflinching clarity, with a honing eye for the small domestic details that conjure a time, place and emotional atmosphere. She conveys the hellish condition of a home where one parent is delusional and dangerous to herself and others; where the other is a full-time caretaker; and where the children, Hattie and her older brother Freddie, are lonely, anxious, bewildered victims. The fifth member of the family is the grandfather, Mr. Barnes, a manipulative bully who protects and spoils his daughter-in-law, and indulges her every manic whim from his ample wallet; he is the truly destructive element in the Barnes family's lives. The dynamics of this dysfunctional group, their balance precariously maintained by the calm ministrations of their black housekeeper, Pearl, are spelled out with tender understanding. Gibbons is equally sensitive when conveying the aberrant wiring of Maggie's jangled brain. This is her best novel since Ellen Foster, a haunting story that begs to be read in one sitting. BOMC and QPBC featured alternates. (Sept.)

Library Journal

The illustrious Gibbons burst onto the literary scene with her award-winning first novel, Ellen Foster, which was "written with the freshness of a child but the wisdom of an adult" (LJ 4/15/87). One hopes this will live up to that debut.

School Library Journal

YA-A story that chronicles the devastating effects of growing up in a dysfunctional family. Hattie's mother, a manic depressive, experiences erratic mood swings and irrational outbursts. She is incapable of nurturing her daughter, shopping, talking, or providing a role model for something as basic as cooking. Narrated by Hattie, the book is permeated with sadness and disillusionment because of her constant disappointment over the lost opportunities for bonding, her fears and embarrassment with peers, and her lack of mothering. The minor characters emerge as shadowy figures who must tiptoe around the mother's moods. Readers witness violent verbal attacks on Hattie's father and experience her brother's protective response of staying in his room. The entire family is grateful for the respite provided by the mother's institutionalization. The novel will elicit empathy in most YAs, providing information to those who have never experienced this type of family situation and reassurance to those who have.-Barbette Timperlake, R.E. Lee High School, Springfield, VA

BookList - Donna Seaman

ibbons writes seamless and resonant novels, the sort of fiction that wins hearts as well as awards. In her last book, "Charms for the Easy Life" (1993), a daughter recounts the lively life stories of her mother and grandmother; here, in this far more focused and subtle tale, a woman remembers her manic-depressive mother. Hattie is a quiet yet powerful narrator--calm, lucid, trustworthy, and, most importantly, forgiving. Almost dismissive of her own suffering both as a frightened, lonely child and as a grieving adult in the aftermath of her mother's death, Hattie chronicles her mother's dramatic battle with her demons in stark, indelible detail. Maggie's insidious illness rendered her incapable of performing the simplest motherly tasks. Luckily for her and her two children, she was blessed with a loyal and unceasingly patient husband, an amazingly resourceful and resilient housekeeper, and a wealthy, indulgent father-in-law. All were able to ride out the storms generated by Maggie's highs and lows, and Hattie and her precocious brother grew up strong and relatively unscarred. But oh, the stories, the madness, the fear, the shame. Gibbons has her quietly heroic narrator relate one wild and poignant incident after another, holding us rapt with wonder and empathy for Maggie and her loving, self-sacrificing family. This is a novel that deserves unwavering attention from start to finish, like a symphony or a sunset.

AudioFile