Have You Seen Luis Velez?

This was a wonderful story of compassion and love for our fellow man. I really enjoy Cathryn Ryan Hyde books. I have never been disappointed.

Catherine Ryan Hyde, Author of “Have You Seen Luis Velez” has written a unique, enthralling, emotional, intriguing, captivating and heartwarming novel. The Genre for this story is Fiction. This is also a Beautiful Coming of Age Story. I love everything about this wonderful book. Catherine Ryan Hyde is an amazing storyteller, and her vivid and colorful descriptions of her characters and the landscape are so realistic. The story takes place in and around New York City. The author describes her dramatic characters as complex and complicated. Raymond Jaffe, 17 years old feels like an outcast in his family. His best friend is moving away, and his other friend is a kitten that he rescues. He is in his building when an older woman asks him if he or anyone has seen Luis Velez? As Raymond is speaking to Mildred Gutermann, who is 92 years old and blind, he realizes she has no caretaker. Raymond starts helping Mildred and is looking for Luis Velez, who had been helping Mildred. Meanwhile, Raymond and Mildred are becoming good friends. It seems there are a number of Luis Velez’s’ in the phone book. Raymond goes and visits some of them. There are some interesting encounters, but Raymond has yet to find the correct Luis Velez. I appreciate that Catherine Ryan Hyde discusses the importance of kindness and friendship. Also discussed are the different prejudices and biases that are based on wealth and poverty, and religion and race. The author writes about love, acceptance, friendship, family, kindness, love, and hope. I highly recommend this amazing book.

This is a tale of unlikely friendships, crossing the bounds of diversity, and finally understanding the core of what friendship is all about. Norman, our main character, is "different. He is a sensitive young man who doesn't quite fit in to the main stream of society. His pension for detail and exacting nature is beyond the bounds of a normal sixteen year old young man . He is biracial, and is indifferent in identifying with either male or female. He lives with his mother and her new husband and his two daughters'. Norman hs no bond with any of them. He makes friends with an elderly blind woman in her nineties named Milly. She lives in the same apartment building in abject poverty, forlornly missing her caregiver, Luis Velez who fails to show up at her apartment one day. Milly and Norman strike up a friendship. Norman, formerly at loose ends has a goal to find out what has happened to Luis Velez.. What takes place in this interesting adventure has many twists and turns. Catherine Ryan Hyde has written a very sweet novel, full of emotion, captivating her readers with this unlikely tale allowing us to witness a tale of true friendship and acceptance and how the spirit of empathy changes minds and hearts. I found the events that took place at times a bit farfetched or I would have given it 5 stars. However, I loved the novel and would urge anyone at any age to read it.

Great book!

Very unusual book searching for Luis!

There is something about this book that appealed to me greatly. Those who hand out awards may not think it as a top-award material, but for me, this story has human material. Then maybe, I like the so-called loner idiots because I likened the main character, Raymond Jaffe, to Dostoyevski's Idiot, Prince Myshkin, and that's why the five stars. The second important character, the old lady Mrs. G. or Mildred “Millie” Gutermann, was also important as a catalyst and as a wise-cracking teacher figure who was helpful to Raymond. In fact, all characters in the story were different in their psychological make-up but all with good sides and flaws. They all helped make the story a success. In the story, sixteen-year-old Jaffe feels he doesn’t fit in well with his family or most of his schoolmates. He is a loner and an outcast. Around the time when his only friend Andre moves to California and he is left totally friendless, except for a cat he feeds in a condemned building, Raymond meets a blind, ninety-two-year-old lady who has been living in the same apartment building. The woman asks him if he has seen Luis Velez. Raymond learns that Luis Velez was this old lady Millie Gutermann’s caretaker and he hasn’t been around for a long time. Since he wasn’t around, Millie doesn’t have food and has no way to fend for herself because she cannot see enough to go to the bank alone and to buy groceries. Thus, Raymond takes over himself the care of the old woman, and also, without telling her in the beginning, he begins to search for Luis Velez. He does this to figure out why Luis Velez left Millie so suddenly. Because the setting is New York City, Raymond finds about twenty people who are named Luis Velez. When some of the other Luis Velezes and their families find out what Raymond is trying to do, they befriend him. Finally, Raymond finds out that the Luis Velez who took care of Millie was murdered by a hearing-disabled woman who mistook Luis for a thief. The tragic news affects Millie, making her feel depressed, even though at this time, Raymond is caring for her and has even brought her the cat to keep her company, the cat he had been feeding in the condemned building which he later rescued from the hands of a cruel person. The trial of Luis Velez’s murder deeply involves Millie, Raymond, and Luis’s young wife and three children. In the end, Raymond learns more about Millie’s past and her Holocaust experience which left her with an ongoing sadness and survivor’s guilt. Just like Millie helped Raymond to see into himself at the beginning of the story, in the end, Raymond helps her to find a renewed hope in the world. More important than what happens in the story, are its several themes, such as compassion, love, kindness, friendship, acceptance, hope, and family, together with the personal biases of the characters and how those biases shape the story. All these themes and ideas are masterfully injected into the plot, and except for a few rare instances where Millie’s advice to Raymond sounds like a sermon, the story flows well. The point of view is that of Raymond’s. This may present the book as a coming-of-age novel, but there are subplots and ideas in it that may involve all ages. At the end of the novel, almost all characters show some change, which is a very welcome occurrence for sure.

As Raymond discovers a friendship with Millie, his 92 year old neighbor, and begins a quest to find Luis Velez, he discovers more about himself, his place in the world, his family, and even quantum physics. If some of the book seems to try too hard to include every overlooked perspective, we are willing to make the trade for what it helps us discover along the way.

A teenager helps a blind lady and he finds himself and more about the world and friends and family too.

If you want a feel-good book, this is one. A 92 year old blind woman, a 17 year old gawky boy and a world that's not so kind to either of them. Their paths cross, their chemistry works and the same world acquires a different tinge. As someone tells the teenager, "The world is terrible and wonderful at the same time. One doesn't negate the other, but the wonderful keeps us in the game." I have become a fan of Ms Hyde. This is her third book that I've read (the other two being Boy Underground and Seven Perfect Things). Her books are full of human warmth. The stories at times do take unrealistic turns, but there is enough realism in actual life; it is human warmth that we can all do with a little more of.

I adored this story and its sombre undertones that made each character stand out on their own in a beautiful way. Raymond’s character was just so totally loveable and endearing in every way. There should be more ‘Raymonds’ in this world. All the characters and the plot made for soul searching moments that made you think deeply throughout. I gave it 5 stars and recommend it to anyone that just loves a really good book.

Très bon livre de cette auteure que je suis régulièrement. Belle histoire et études de caractères.

Digno de leerse!

Lovely story renewing hope in mankind and in the power of friendship and of never giving up. I didn’t want the book to end.