Product Description

Stephen Kuusisto, an American, has been almost completely blind since a post-natal operation severely damaged his retinas. In this autobiography he tells of the years of lonely childhood spent behind bottle-lens glasses, the struggle through high school and college, and first love and sex. Derided by classmates, his parents pretending that nothing was wrong, he stumbled through life enraged and mortified. Only when a five-year-old labrador entered his life did he begin to trust, and learn to "walk upright".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #289637 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 200 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Blind. Far from being an objective medical term, the word carries cultural baggage far in excess of the narrow definition from which it starts. Stephen Kuusisto could not bring himself to apply it personally, despite severely impaired vision; nor could his family. His mother in fact acquired the art of seeing ghosts as an expression of her inability to relate to her son. Planet of the Blind traces the struggle Kuusisto endured with his family, our society, but most of all with himself to come to terms with his condition and make peace with his soul. It is a harrowing, angry, majestic journey that burns an image into the mind's eye long after it is finished.

Kuusisto was a premature baby, with under-developed retinas that were then scarred by an over- oxygenated incubator. Aged three he hid his first pair of glasses under the leaves of a rhubarb plant; through his 20s he was still riding a bicycle, by making his head "tilt towards the light". Rather than be pigeon-holed by society he resolutely remained in the darkness of the closet, emerging only to collide with the world. It took a state of unemployed depression for him finally to grasp a cane--a "divining rod", as he puts it--and, the door unlatched, he trains for a dog, Corky, who provides a confidence and lease of life that he had denied himself for so long.

Kuusisto's unflinching prose sparkles with the grace of the poet he also is and time after time he wields phrases that thrill in their unexpected beauty. As an account of coming to terms with vision impairment it is brutally honest and searching; as a debut literary offering it bristles with a darkly original talent that refuses to be hidden under the rhubarb. --David Vincent

Customer Reviews

A dazzling description ofthe process of accepting blindness
Stephen Kuusisto is a poet; his prose is dazzlingly descriptive as he tells what it is like to be almost completely blind and to live a lie - pretending that he can see - for more than 30 years. His gradual acceptance of his real identity as a blind person and his metamorphosis through first using a cane and then acquiring a guide dog, is incredibly moving. The dog becomes the love of his life, apparently. I was left wondering "what next?" when he finally became liberated of the fear of falling over, being run down by trucks or most importantly, being seen as a blind man. A terrific read - as good as a novel.

A fascinating book on blindness- an eye opener (sorry!)
Any book that challenges your perceptions on life is a very valuble thing and after reading this book I realised how lucky I was being able to see the world around me. Not only does Kuusisto tell us (with very little self pity) the difficulties faced with serious visual impairment but also amusingly how the sighted deal with his condition. His frustration sometimes seeps through the narrative but this only increases the book's human quality- it is easy to imagine Kuusisto struggling along determined not to be seen as disabled.
The introduction of Kuusisto to his guide dog, Corky, is very emotional (and I have to admit I did have a little cry here). The bleakness of his condition gives way to this optimistic future with his dog, so despite Planet of The Blind being an unhappy story during much of its pages, it ends on a deserved happy ending.
A simple, easy to read book which really has something to say.

Remarkable
I can hardly claim I read this book with great pleasure, that would be the wrong adjective entirely, but I can definitely say I read it with a huge amount of admiration for the author himself (the humour and courage he displays are astounding) and by extension all visually impaired people. The book goes way beyond the day-to-day practical difficulties of being (almost) blind, it probes into the very essence of not being able to see properly or not at all, and forcefully makes you understand how that affects your entire being. It's written in a very simple and plain language, which makes it all the more moving. Warmly recommended!