Lindsey Lane

This is the story of the disappearance of a teen named Tommy told from a number of perspectives. However, the book is not centered around Tommy, but around each character with a minor allusion to how they knew Tommy. This makes for a rather disjointed book. What was interesting was the combination of physics, Tommy’s passion, both in his journal entries and in some of the theories surrounding his disappearance, as well as in the conclusion. There are some likable characters here, but it felt more like a bunch of short stories weakly woven together than a novel.… (mere)

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One thing I can say for certain is that Evidence of Things Not Seen is like no book I’ve read before. It’s not often I can say that, but I love when it happens. Even when I don’t like the book, I’m sort of awe-struck by the books that manage to be completely original. Also, I’m generally gaping because they’re really strange, and I’m curious how anyone ever came up with that idea. Lindsey Lane’s debut is like that. I enjoyed it the whole way through and was impressed, but I also don’t feel like I entirely understood it. To me, Evidence of Things Not Seen feel like it reads more like a collection of short stories than a cohesive novel.

This book is WEIRD. I really can’t say that enough. Evidence of Things Not Seen is about the disappearance of a boy called Tommy Smythe, who was obsessed with the idea of parallel universes, but it’s also not about him at all. Sure, we get a picture of Tommy from other people’s accounts, but it’s actually about the other people and not him. The book alternates between first person accounts, one side of questioning by the police as they investigate, and third person sections about people who find something Tommy left behind. That latter connection I mostly got through the blurb, because, honestly, I wasn’t always sure that they found something of Tommy’s. Like, I guess the comic book Maricela found used to be Tommy’s? I don’t know. As I said, I didn’t entirely get this one. The first and third person switches were initially quite jarring, but I fell into the pace of it.

The first person sections present a portrait of Tommy. We learn about each person’s perspective on Tommy, all united in some aspects but with their own personal twists and theories. What was most interesting to this part was seeing the way each person reacts to disappearance. There are a whole host of assumptions that people make, like whether being disappeared for weeks equals dead or not. Lane has a serious talent for narrative voice, because there are twelve different first person perspectives in this book and they were all very distinct. That is impressive like whoa.

The third person chapters rarely have anything whatsoever to do with Tommy, aside from a momentary reflection in some cases about the found item, though those sometimes feel a bit forced, as in the case of Karla. These really feel like short stories and they’re good ones. What you should prepare for, though, is how incredibly dark and edgy they are. One of them includes incest. Another child prostitution and murder. Yet another involves physical abuse. If that’s not enough dark stuff for you, don’t worry because there’s also a story where a girl rapes her best friend. So yeah. This book is heavy. The scenes are also pretty graphic. I’m actually really impressed that this book got picked up and published.

I did like most of the chapters a lot, but I struggle majorly with the point of the book. There are these snippets of Tommy’s journal between chapters and I feel like the point is somewhere in there with all the science, but damn am I bad at science. I’m probably supposed to have an opinion on the overarching plot, but I really don’t. I’m not all that interested in Tommy, because I’ve never met him. I’m much more interested in learning the resolution of Izzy’s plot line than where Tommy’s gone, though I’d like to know both if I could. I guess I feel like I’m not smart enough for this book in some respects, sort of like I felt about Charm and Strange.

A lot of people probably are not going to like Evidence of Things Not Seen. It’s dark and risky and confusing and open-ended. It wasn’t a perfect read for me, but it is one that has me taking notice. I’ll most definitely be watching Lane’s career, because one thing’s for sure: this woman can write.… (mere)

I've never read a book quite like the debut novel from Lindsey Lane, EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN. I could compare Lindsey to authors like Meg Rosoff and David Levithan, writers who are adept at weaving multiple characters and storylines together to create one fascinating narrative ARC. I could compare her to Rainbow Rowell and Laurie Halse Anderson, who know how to hit you right in the feels, but keep you clutching their books for dear life, begging for more. I could compare her to so many other brilliant writers. But she's Lindsey Lane. And she does her own thing. And she does it beautifully.

EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN is the story of a missing boy, Tommy Smythe. Sort of. It's also the story of a bunch of other people who knew him, had run into him, had heard of him, and could have known him if their paths had crossed in a slightly different way. It's the story of migrant farm workers and popular girls and nerds and victims of violence and kind strangers and runaways and mechanics and rich kids.

As much as this book is a mystery, it is also an exploration of the human condition, a collection of interconnected short stories that in themselves are each brilliant and lovely, but together, with excerpts from Tommy's journal and a touch of string theory, EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN is a statement. What it says to you is something you'll have to decide by picking up the book. Which you should. Like, yesterday. This is one of my favorites of the year, and I expect to see it on many awards lists in the near future.… (mere)

According to those who barely knew him, Tommy Smythe was an odd student at Fred Johnson High. When he mysteriously disappeared, the sheriff began to question everyone who might have known him. Through their first-person narratives, readers gradually get a view of Tommy seeing him as a science nerd, possibly autistic loner fascinated with the theory of particle physics and parallel universes. Read the rest of the review on my blog: rel="nofollow" target="_top">http://shouldireaditornot.wordpress.com/2014/07/27/evidence-of-things-not-seen-l...… (mere)