Country of the Blind

Our next narrative nonfiction book club pick is the 2024 Pulitzer Prize Finalist The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight by Andrew Leland.  Come pick up a copy of the book at the adult services desk, register to attend, and then join us at our book club meeting on Saturday, June 7th at 11am in the Hermann room to share your thoughts!  To register now, CLICK HERE!

Synopsis:  “We meet Andrew Leland as he’s suspended in the liminal state of the soon-to-be blind: he’s midway through his life with retinitis pigmentosa, a condition that ushers those who live with it from sightedness to blindness over years, even decades.  He grew up with full vision, but starting in his teenage years, his sight began to degrade from outside in.  Soon – but without knowing exactly when – he will likely have no vision left.

Full of apprehension but also dogged curiosity, Leland embarks on a sweeping exploration of the state of being that awaits him: not only the physical experience of blindness but also its language, politics, and customs.  He negotiates his changing relationships with his wife and son, and with his own sense of self, as he moves from his mainstream, “typical” life to one with a disability.

Part memoir, part historical and cultural investigation, The Country of the Blind represents Leland’s determination not to merely survive this transition but to grow from it – to seek out and revel in that which makes blindness enlightening.  Brimming with warmth and humor, it is an exhilarating tour of a new way of being.”