Seeing the light

I don't think of myself, particularly, as a bandwagon-jumper. I don't feel the need to read the latest most-talked-about books, the prizewinners, the big advance-garnerers, I just read what comes along, or what I've had for a while on the shelves, or what I've been given, so the fact that Jennifer Donnelly's A Gathering Light won the Carnegie Medal and was a Richard and Judy choice (I don't watch them and know little of their judging criteria)didn't sway me at all.

Three or four years since publication, and the chatter about this book has died down, so I read it without pre-conceptions and with only a brief glance at some of the many reviews on the cover, and I found it to be a cracking tale. That said, the major plot 'hook' which is the linking of the engaging heroine, Mattie, with a true murder story seemed almost irrelevant to me, and far less compelling than Mattie's own story, but it could be argued that it gives the book another dimension and provides the impetus for a crucial decision which forms the ending.

"When Mamma was alive, she could make breakfast for seven people, hear our lessons, patch Pa's trousers, pack our dinner pails, start the milk to clabbering, and roll out a piecrust. All at the same time and without ever raising her voice". As the eldest daughter of the family, Mattie has to take on her mother's role, but is forced to choose between loyalty to her family and her own dreams and ambitions, facing the inevitable compromise between what she wants and what she can actually get.

Set in the Adirondacks in 1905/6, it demonstrates excellent research and could happily be pigeon-holed alongside "To Kill a Mockingbird", "The Yearling" and "Little Women" - impressive company. It is a satisfying read, beautifully constructed and full of detail, and now I see what all the fuss was about!

(Note: The book is published in the US as "A Northern Light", and the author's website is here).

Comments

[Rebecca]

I had forgotten about this book, I didn't read it at the time either but now that I have read your review I may well pick it next time I go shopping. Thank you for posting your review.

[Peg]

I just ordered "A Northern Light" from my library. Thanks for the words on this book, and if it can stand with "To Kill A Mockingbird" that says it all for me. I am so often disappointed with a book that gets a lot of hype - perhaps my expectations are just too high on going into the book!
I was thinking of you this afternoon, as I was putting together a Moroccan meal - not because Morocco and you came together in my mind, but I get the feeling you may have taken some cooking lessons, or just love to cook. I went to a cooking class on Thursday evening - it was Moroccan cooking and I loved everything that was prepared! So on this showery, windy day, I have some nice spicy - not hot, just spicy with lots of cumin, garlic, ginger, coriander and lemon going on to fill the house with fragrancy of the gastric variety!

[Fay]

The on-line catalog shows that this is available at our local library, as well. One of my unannounced reading goals for this year was to read more historical fiction, and this fits right in.

Evidently, this is the same crime that inspired Theodore Dreiser's novel, _An American Tragedy_, another classic To Be Read, so those two would make good companion reads.