Freddie OwensBesprekingen

Orbie: an outspoken, angry nine-year-old. He knew there would be problems coming the moment his widowed momma, Ruby, remarried Victor, but he was just a kid; no one asked his opinion. When Victor got mad, Orbie described his eyes as “slimy red worms turning over … twisting around on sharp glass, cutting themselves in there and getting mean.” On their trip from Detroit to Florida in the late 1950’s, it was Victor who insisted Orbie would stay with his maternal grandparents in Kentucky. Victor, his mom, and his five-year-old sister, Missy, continued on to Florida where Victor had a job opportunity waiting.

Harlan’s crossroads, KY was located at the foot of the Appalachian Mountains. People there had their own way of life and except for a few of the elites, they were a close-knit bunch. While Orbie was afraid of ‘colored’ kids in Detroit, he came to realize the blacks in Harlan’s Crossroads were much different and his Granny was close friends with Alma, who reminded Orbie of Aunt Jemima. He grew close to his Granny almost immediately, but it took some getting used to his eccentric Granpaw.

The dialog is so well done. I’ve read many where the words of hillbillies or backwoods people were so mutilated, you couldn’t even understand them. That is not the case here. The author also did well staying true to the mind of a nine-year-old boy. The story is his first person account. It’s Orbie’s coming-of-age story with some mystery and justice mixed in. That said, it is not a book for children’s reading. There are language and some situations that would not suit a younger reading level. Freddie Owen skillfully created many wonderful and true-to-life characters in his debut historical fiction novel. Rating: 4 out of 5.

Then Like the Blind Man: Orbie's Story by Freddie Owens sets up for a strong, emotional coming of age story with possibly a powerful statement about equality. Orbie is a sympathetic main character, a little boy with a tough guy exterior who you want to reach out and protect. Unfortunately, the story gets lost in the book's effort to establish authenticity through its use of language.

Read my complete review at: http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2015/02/then-like-blind-man-orbies-story.html

Reviewed based on a publisher’s galley received through Edelweiss

Orbie is a young boy growing up in Detroit. He is often bullied and he has very prejudiced ideas.
Orbie's father is killed. A short time later Orbie's mom marries the man who was his father's boss. Orbie doesn't like him. He has good reason. Orbie's new stepfather Victor is very abusive. He is physically abusive and molesting Orbie's sister. Victor doesn't like Orbie. He decides they are moving to Florida and he doesn't want to take Orbie with them. They drop him off at his mother's parent's house. Orbie feels deserted for good reason. He soon learns how prejudiced he was raised and that his grandparents truly do want the best for him. This is a realistic look at life in the early 1950's. The pacing is great. You don' t have a problem and then a sudden solution. It moves gradually so that everything flows smoothly and naturally. I would recommend this to people who love those coming of age stories set in a time period before most of us were born. I would warn that because of the time period there is the use of the "n" word, as well as other coarse language. The author did a great job with bringing everything to a VERY satisfying ending.

Nine year old Orbie Ray's beloved father dies and his susceptible, grieving mom marries the slick-talking Victor. Victor and his mom leave Orbie with his grandparents on their dirt farm and set off for Florida. While there he forms a friendship with Willis, a physically handicapped but remarkably talented black boy. Eventually, his mom, sister, and Victor return. What happens.is the story of domestic and child abuse, racial tensions, and even murder.

A young boys life is changed when he spends the summer in Kentucky with his grandparents. Set in the 1950's.

I fell in love with Orbie! What a moving, absorbing, and compelling story! A story told through the voice of a nine year old boy. Racism, domestic abuse, tragedy, the loving bonds of family, faith, evil, good, magic are all found within the pages of this beautifully written book. Freddie Owens debut novel is a winner.
I received this book as part of a Goodreads First Reads Giveaway. Thank you!

Good story.....feel good

Then Like The Blind Man: Orbie’s Story is the enthralling debut novel by Freddie Owens, which tells the story of a feisty wunderkind in the segregated South of the 1950s, and the forces he must overcome to restore order in his world.

I was immensely moved by this book, and found the ideas presented thoughtful and compelling. When I read this book, it was difficult at first; since it was too much like real life. I was pulling for Orbie to find peace and love in his life, going from home to home.

Five stars are not adequate to express my appreciation for this ground-breaking book which is destined to become a classic. A magnificent book and recommended it to everyone I know.

In a fascinating story of growing up in a totally alien environment, Freddie Owens gives us the story of Orbie, oldest child of Ruby missing his dead father and left with his Kentucky grandparents while Momma, the new husband and his little sister go to Florida to start anew. Orbie hates Victor for several reasons and, during his stay in the hills; learns a few more.
Coming from Detroit to the hills is a drastic change for anyone but, if you are only nine it’s worse than most. No friends, odd cultures, black folk who come and go without being seen and then there is Church. The Kingdom Church is mainly black but Orbie’s grandparents are members so his attendance is expected.
There is one character names Moses who captures the attention of the reader more than most. Tall, black, odd speaking and odder acting Moses serves as the significance of GoodEvil. He can do magic, gets Orbie to handle a snake at Church, keeps care of Willis, a crippled boy with the artistic talent of Da Vinci, and does odd jobs that no one ever sees him working on.
Orbie learns a lot in Kentucky and his grandparents learn quite a bit as well. The city slicker becomes a true hillbilly with a talent no one saw coming. Just an excellent story!

Debut author, Freddie Owens, swings for the fences and hits a home run with his excellent coming-of-age story set primarily in Kentucky, Then Like the Blind Man. When Orbie’s father dies, his life changes forever. His mother, Ruby, finds herself attracted to the smooth-talking, poetic atheist Victor Denalsky, who had been Orbie’s father’s foreman at a steel mill in Detroit. After Orbie’s father dies, Victor courts Orbie’s mother, and eventually marries her. Not wanting to nor desiring to take care of a nine-year-old boy with an attitude, like Orbie, who can’t stand his stepfather, anyway, Ruby and Victor decide to drop Orbie off at Ruby’s parents’ house in Kentucky, with the promise that they’ll come back to get him once they’ve settled in Florida, where Victor supposedly has a job lined up. Orbie’s mother and Victor take with them Orbie’s younger sister, Missy.

The novel is told in the first person by Orbie, who, though young, is very insightful for his age. As I read, I was often reminded of another famous novel told from the POV of a child, Scout, To Kill a Mockingbird. The themes are different, but Orbie’s and Scout’s perspectives on African Americans in the 1950′s are significant to understanding both books. Orbie has some bad experiences with some of the black people he comes in contact with early on in the novel, so he calls them the “n,” word at various points in the story.

Through the course of Then Like the Blind Man, Orbie eventually realizes that his grandparents are great people who love him. They may not have attained a high level of school education, but they are wise about farm life and human nature.

They don’t like it that their daughter, Ruby, has developed a prejudice for blacks, nor that she’s passed it on to Orbie. That’s one of the many nice touches I liked about Freddie Owen’s debut novel, that in it, it’s not Orbie’s grandparents who live in Kentucky that exhibit a prejudiced point of view, but it’s learned from experiences Orbie and his family have living in Detroit, in the north. Of course, in reality, unfortunately you can find prejudice in every state to this day; but, the author didn’t go the stereotypical route of having his northern characters expressing an enlightened POV, and his southern ones being all racists.
Owens, a published poet, has infused Then Like the Blind Man with a poetic sensibility that makes his story and characters come to life for the reader. Through Owens, and Orbie’s story, we feel the emotions of being dumped off somewhere he doesn’t want to live, at his grandparents’ house; but, we come to see them as positive, nurturing influences on Orbie’s life. Though Orbie despises the alcoholic Victor, and how his mother has made wrong decisions (to his POV, anyway), Victor is not portrayed as being completely bad. He does show an interest in Orbie at times, like when Orbie expresses his fascination with a scar Victor has on his neck that he got in WWII.

Orbie comes to think that Victor acts nicely towards him only further to ingratiate himself with Ruby, Orbie’s mother. Ruby is the type of woman who thinks she can change the man she loves, to rehabilitate him, and she always holds out a spark of hope for Victor. This is an aspect about her that kind of frustrated me as a reader, and made me want to tell her–if she was real and in front of me–to stop deluding herself and wake up and realize what a jerk Victor is most of the time. But, thinking of a man who has faults as being some sort of “project,” or someone who can be “rehabilitated,” is a trait that some women have, so Ruby’s having this trait brought even more realism to the story.

Besides there being various themes and messages in Then Like the Blind Man, Orbie’s boyhood exuberance, how he relates to his grandparents, his changing point of view about much of what he’d taken for granted; and his adventures are what really makes the novel captivating. Freddie Owens fills the pages of his novel with other very memorable characters, like the humpbacked elderly lady, Bird; Moses Mashbone; Mrs. Profit; and Nealy Harlan. If you’re a fan of novels like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird, Freddie Owens’s Then Like the Blind Man is s Must Read!

Debut author, Freddie Owens, swings for the fences and hits a home run with his excellent coming-of-age story set primarily in Kentucky, Then Like the Blind Man. When Orbie’s father dies, his life changes forever. His mother, Ruby, finds herself attracted to the smooth-talking, poetic atheist Victor Denalsky, who had been Orbie’s father’s foreman at a steel mill in Detroit. After Orbie’s father dies, Victor courts Orbie’s mother, and eventually marries her. Not wanting to nor desiring to take care of a nine-year-old boy with an attitude, like Orbie, who can’t stand his stepfather, anyway, Ruby and Victor decide to drop Orbie off at Ruby’s parents’ house in Kentucky, with the promise that they’ll come back to get him once they’ve settled in Florida, where Victor supposedly has a job lined up. Orbie’s mother and Victor take with them Orbie’s younger sister, Missy.

The novel is told in the first person by Orbie, who, though young, is very insightful for his age. As I read, I was often reminded of another famous novel told from the POV of a child, Scout, To Kill a Mockingbird. The themes are different, but Orbie’s and Scout’s perspectives on African Americans in the 1950′s are significant to understanding both books. Orbie has some bad experiences with some of the black people he comes in contact with early on in the novel, so he calls them the “n,” word at various points in the story.

Through the course of Then Like the Blind Man, Orbie eventually realizes that his grandparents are great people who love him. They may not have attained a high level of school education, but they are wise about farm life and human nature.

They don’t like it that their daughter, Ruby, has developed a prejudice for blacks, nor that she’s passed it on to Orbie. That’s one of the many nice touches I liked about Freddie Owen’s debut novel, that in it, it’s not Orbie’s grandparents who live in Kentucky that exhibit a prejudiced point of view, but it’s learned from experiences Orbie and his family have living in Detroit, in the north. Of course, in reality, unfortunately you can find prejudice in every state to this day; but, the author didn’t go the stereotypical route of having his northern characters expressing an enlightened POV, and his southern ones being all racists.
Owens, a published poet, has infused Then Like the Blind Man with a poetic sensibility that makes his story and characters come to life for the reader. Through Owens, and Orbie’s story, we feel the emotions of being dumped off somewhere he doesn’t want to live, at his grandparents’ house; but, we come to see them as positive, nurturing influences on Orbie’s life. Though Orbie despises the alcoholic Victor, and how his mother has made wrong decisions (to his POV, anyway), Victor is not portrayed as being completely bad. He does show an interest in Orbie at times, like when Orbie expresses his fascination with a scar Victor has on his neck that he got in WWII.

Orbie comes to think that Victor acts nicely towards him only further to ingratiate himself with Ruby, Orbie’s mother. Ruby is the type of woman who thinks she can change the man she loves, to rehabilitate him, and she always holds out a spark of hope for Victor. This is an aspect about her that kind of frustrated me as a reader, and made me want to tell her–if she was real and in front of me–to stop deluding herself and wake up and realize what a jerk Victor is most of the time. But, thinking of a man who has faults as being some sort of “project,” or someone who can be “rehabilitated,” is a trait that some women have, so Ruby’s having this trait brought even more realism to the story.

Besides there being various themes and messages in Then Like the Blind Man, Orbie’s boyhood exuberance, how he relates to his grandparents, his changing point of view about much of what he’d taken for granted; and his adventures are what really makes the novel captivating. Freddie Owens fills the pages of his novel with other very memorable characters, like the humpbacked elderly lady, Bird; Moses Mashbone; Mrs. Profit; and Nealy Harlan. If you’re a fan of novels like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird, Freddie Owens’s Then Like the Blind Man is s Must Read!