I enjoyed learning more about Molly after following her online since the beginning! As a blind woman I love hearing other stories from blind people.
Molly did such a good job in her book telling the good and bad part of her story and keeping it informative. I relayed to a lot of her story, but also realized I’ve got a lot more to experience.

Wow this was an incredible read! It was so nice to get to know more about Molly's life; I follow her on social media. She really goes into detail about her challenges she faced in life, how she overcame them, and also how she is just like any sighted person. She has her ups and downs too!

This book is easy to read but also a heavy hitter at the same time.

I "discovered" Molly Burke when Trevor Noah interviewed her on the daily show and I instantly followed her. She opened up my mind to a real blind person's life. I love her style and I can relate to a lot of the things she talks about despite my disability being mental and not physical. Of course, I jumped at the chance to review her new book, thank you Netgalley. Despite following her for years this book is not a repeat of her social media, as so many are. It stays new and interesting throughout.

Paralleling my introduction to Molly, the book starts with the interview with Trevor Noah. Molly takes us all throughout her life, from little kid Molly to a badass winning awards. She didn't shy away from the tough parts of her life. At times I had tears in my eyes, I am so angry with how she was treated and at times abused! But the book didn't wallow, and her positive attitude shines through the pages. I feel honored to laugh and cry along with the front runner for disability advocacy for a generation.

When I saw this pop up in one of my publishing magazines, I knew I had to read it. I work with blind and visually impaired people as an Outreach Librarian for a program that provides them with free audiobooks and braille. I wanted to read this so I could recommend it out to my patrons. And I definitely will.

In this memoir, Molly Burke, a young social media/Youtube influencer dives into the ups and downs she has faced as a person with progressive vision loss, and from a rather young age. Her story is unique in that she was not born blind, so she had years of vision before her disease took most of her vision from her. Her young voice was prevalent throughout her book, shining a fresh light on what it is like to live with a condition that does not allow her to see, but does not have her living in darkness. From being bullied to being taken advantage of by both people and charity organizations, she tells her tale with a fun and uplifting flair that only a millennial could. It was sad in places, but never heartbreaking, as Molly exudes the "life gives you lemons, make lemonade" mentality. Her humor and wit has been her companion and it comes across in her book as well, truly making the reader proud of her and her accomplishments.

Both insightful and intriguing, Unseen was fun to read. I enjoyed learning about Molly and her experiences and believe I can take away many lessons from it, as a seeing person, as well. Highly recommended.

Thank you to Netgalley, Abrams Press, and of course, the fabulous Molly Burke for allowing me access to this advanced readers' copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Special thanks to Abrams and NetGalley for giving me access to this advance review copy prior to the publication date.

I follow Molly on social media, where she comes across as such a vibrant, engaging person, and I felt much the same about her voice throughout this book: it’s engaging and open, with glimmers of humor shining throughout what can be some heavy subject matter. Also included is a helpful glossary of terms, defined in Molly’s own words.

This narrative, which is not always chronologically linear but isn’t hard to follow, touches on Molly’s early years including her diagnosis—retinitis pigmentosa—and how she realized her early ambitions to become a motivational speaker, including the toll it took on her while she gave everything to her employer at the time.

The book also shines light on the stigma faced by the disabled community, and recounts some of Molly’s experiences with that, like the mother who didn’t believe Molly—a fully qualified and trained rock climbing instructor for her local YMCA—could keep her daughter safe while climbing because of her blindness, even though she had never had an accident or an issue belaying a climber.

I loved reading about the support she received in that position from her first boss and from her coworkers, but it was heartbreaking to read about what she went through with that parent—though reading about how it made her feel was, if you’ll pardon the pun, eye-opening. (I did search for a synonym but no other word seemed to fit as well.) How many of us non-disabled people have ever, whether intentionally or unintentionally, made a disabled person feel less than?

“People dehumanize us, and we are othered from society, thought of as less than or separate from, instead of people realizing that we are YOU. And someday, YOU could be us. Most disabilities are acquired due to age, accident, or illness. We are the only minority community that anyone can join at any time. We as disabled people are frequently discriminated against, but disability itself does not discriminate. … You and your loved ones may one day be disabled, and the reality is, if you live long enough, you will be in some capacity.”

“As passionate as I am about advocacy and awareness, making it my entire life’s mission and my career, sometimes I do just want to have a normal moment of simply existing as me, the girl behind the disability.”

As a long time fan of Molly’s work, I was overjoyed to receive a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a review. The book gives more insight and background on events that you would not know even if you’ve been a longtime follower of Molly. She covers decades of her life; from childhood, to current day, this book throughly brings you a greater understanding of Molly’s life. We see the struggles she’s faced in life, but, more importantly, we see her existing as her authentic self— we don’t just see a poster child for blindness, we see Molly as her own person, living her life as she pleases, and staying true to her morals.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
What piqued my interest in this book is Molly's experiences with society as a blind person. I am legally blind and can relate to a lot of what she experienced from a discriminatory and uneducated society. I am not a millennial so the whole content creator parts didn't resonate with me. But I'm happy she's found her success and is willing to speak up for the disabled community.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. This was an interesting book and I devoured it! The cover is great! It took a bit to find herself but Molly never let anything stop her from chasing her dreams. Never let anyone or anything stand in the way of your dreams!