The Country of the Blind

May 1, 2023
Musings from the border between the countries of the sighted and the blind. While he was in college, journalist and podcaster Leland, an editor at the Believer, was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye condition leading to blindness. As he began writing this book, 20-some years later, his vision had deteriorated to the point that he sums up his status to a new blind acquaintance as "legally blind, using a cane, but still reading print." This memoir recounts the author's attempt to navigate the titular land, which, for him, is "no longer a legendary, proverbial sci-fi country [but] instead...a real place, populated by real people." He continues: "My hope is that...the sighted reader [will] likewise discover the largely invisible terrain of blindness, as well as other ways of living and thinking they might not have previously considered." His exploration touches on cultural perceptions of blindness ("a tour through the Western canon," he remarks with some acidity, "offers a highlight reel of blind abjection"); the socioeconomics of blindness; assistive technologies; learning to read braille as an adult; the elusiveness of treatment for RP, and more. In the process, Leland provides both fascinating capsule histories of the topics he's pondering, as with a survey of the disability rights movement, and searching glimpses into his own existential struggle to understand what it means for him to be blind. A discussion of racism and homophobia within the National Federation of the Blind, a leading advocacy group, reveals some uncomfortable truths. (Though much of Leland's exploration is mediated by the NFB, he takes care to explain that its advocacy has its detractors.) When the author gets personal, he does so with such honesty and vulnerability that by the end, readers will understand when he concludes, "The process of retinal degeneration has turned out to be one of the most generative experiences of my life." Emotional but never sentimental, this quest for insight delivers for its readers.

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Starred review from May 8, 2023
Believer editor Leland delivers a masterful exploration of disability in his brilliant debut. Living with retinitis pigmentosa, a condition that gradually results in total vision loss, since he was a teenager, Leland considers his ongoing transition from sightedness to blindness with ambivalence and curiosity: “I need to know how I will live, and what kind of blind person I’ll be.” While he mourns the loss of things like seeing his son’s face and reading printed text, he discovers new, more tactile ways of being, such as letting his son guide him through a museum, or sweeping his fingers across “marvelous” lines of braille. Interweaving his own experiences, dozens of interviews with blind people and cultural experts, and forays into philosophy, history, and literature, Leland constructs a nuanced understanding of “blind politics, blind tech, blind culture, and blind struggle,” discussing, among other topics, schisms within the National Federation of the Blind and the ways much modern technology can trace its roots back to “blind troubleshooters,” whose innovations have become integrated into the broader culture. At the core of his inquiry are the paradoxes of disability: how does one understand blindness as both an impairment and a “neutral characteristic,” and how can Leland accept his “new identity” as both central and incidental? Enriched y its sparkling prose, this is an extraordinary and intellectually rigorous account of adapting to change. Agent: Claudia Ballard, WME.

June 1, 2023

When Leland (an editor at The Believer magazine) was a teenager, he was diagnosed with an untreatable case of retinitis pigmentosa, a group of rare genetic eye conditions that affect the retina. He learned that his sight would deteriorate as he aged; eventually, he would be blind. In this debut book, Leland explores the legends and metaphors of blindness in history, literature, myth and art and interweaves his firsthand experiences with the accounts of others about topics such as reading braille, using audio descriptions to enjoy media, and learning to use a cane. Discussions of representation and advocacy by people who experience blindness are paired with issues of employment, government assistance, and access to education. Leland's aim, as he moves through his own emotions of uncertainty and doubt to curiosity and pride, is to show the wide variety of experiences of blindness. VERDICT This informative and engaging memoir will appeal to readers who like to be entertained as they broaden their awareness of disability and others' lives.--Catherine Lantz

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 31, 2023
In this thought-provoking memoir, the grandson of the famed playwright and screenwriter Neil Simon describes what it's like to lose his eyesight. More than two decades ago, Leland learned he would go blind from an incurable condition called retinitis pigmentosa. He compares the decline--a gradual, narrowing tunnel vision--to "ice cubes melting in hot water." Somehow he keeps his sense of humor, noting that his condition is painless "if you don't count the bruises that accumulate from violent encounters with inanimate objects." He honestly notes that he both embraces and reviles blindness, which both defines him and has nothing to do with who he really is. To make his points, he uses numbers. For example, a study found the general unemployment rate is usually around five percent, but for blind people, it's around seventy. Readers will find themselves rooting for Leland, his wife, and his son, and thinking a great deal about ableism and Braille, an essential tool; blind people who use it have higher rates of employment. That is one of many "wow, who knew" details offered in this memorable window into a remarkable life.

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