A Northern Light

Last year, I used to go every day to the library of the bank where my dad works at--I'm homeschooled, and it was the perfect place to study for upcomin' exams. There I stumbled upon a Reader's Digest Condensed Version book, which basically features 3 to 4 abridged books in one volume, and one of the novels it featured was A Gathering Light by Jennifer Donnelly (which I later found out was called A Northern Light in the states). Since I am the queen of procrastination, I began reading it during studying and soon was so swept away by the beautiful story I couldn't stop until I was finished. And when I did reached the ending, I loved it so much I was crying and doing my best not to cheer aloud since I was in, you know, a library. So when I got the chance to order some books from Amazon some time ago, I had only a quota of four books and I selected this one first-up. My sister was confused, since she couldn't understand why I was ordering a novel I'd already read when I could order a new very-highly-anticipated one. That's because I love this novel so much it was never even a question I'd get a copy for myself. And soon after it arrived, I began reading it, tossing away the resolution to not before exams (see, exams never seem to end in my life). It was just too tempting! And the book...WOW. The condensed version did NOT do it justice. Because I savored every single word of it and only fell even more in love with it, so much that it's officially my No. 1 favorite book EVER, Hands. Down. And if you know me, you'll know it's not very easy to get that title. I love it so much I actually took a picture of it and edited it up to use it as my cellphone wallpaper. I'm super picky about my cellphone wallpaper, so this is also a Big Deal. But that's just my history with the book. And now I'll review it, and hopefully I'll do it justice so that you'll go read and fall in love with it too. I mean, it DID win the Carnegie Medal, was a Michael L. Printz Honor book, and fetched numerous blurbs as well as starred reviews, which in itself makes it a must-read book. The first time I read this novel I was a bit puzzled by the simplicity of the prose. At that time, I believed you needed to use Big Words often to be a good writer (thank you, Steph Meyer!), and this novel barely employed any. And I was struck by how, despite this, the novel read so beautifully. And that's when I learned that the best kind of writing is not the Overwrought Kind, but the one that seems utterly effortless. Mattie is a lover of all things literature, and you wouldn't believe how well the author has incorporated this fact into the story. This book pretty much nails the rule of `show, not tell'. Every day Mattie learns a new word, its origins and all, and does her best to use it in that day. And a fellow word-lover meself (actually, I can safely bet that whoever's reading this review is also fond of words, right?), I loooved this aspect. And you can see how much she loved words through the following passages: "Well, it seems to me that there are books that tell stories, and then there are books that tell truths...The first kind, they show you life like you want it to be. With villains getting what they deserve and the hero seeing what a fool he's been and marrying the heroine and happy endings and all that. Like Sense and Sensibility or Persuasion. But the second kind, they show you life more like it is. Like in Huckleberry Finn where Huck's pa is a no-good drunk and Jim suffers so. The first kind makes you cheerful and contented, but the second kind shakes you up... Why don't they tell the truth? Why don't they tell how a pigpen looks after the sow's eaten her children? Or how it is for a girl when her baby won't come out? Or that cancer has a smell to it? All those books...I bet not one of them will tell you what cancer smells like... I don't mean to be coarse. I just...I don't know why I should care what happens to people in a drawing room in London or Paris or anywhere else when no one in those places cares what happens to people in Eagle Bay." "I had looked around. I'd seen all the things she'd spoken of and more besides. I'd seen a bear cub lift its face to the drenching spring rains. And the silver moon of winter, so high and blinding. I'd seen the crimson glory of a stand of sugar maple in autumn and the unspeakable stillness of a mountain lake at dawn. I'd seen them and loved them. But I'd also seen the dark of things. The starved carcasses of winter deer. The driving fury of a blizzard wind. And the gloom that broods under the pines always. Even on the brightest of days." "What I saw next stopped me dead in my tracks. Books. Not just one or two dozen, but hundreds of them. In crates. In piles on the floor. In bookcases that stretched from floor to ceiling and lined the entire room. I turned around and around in a slow circle, feeling as if I'd just stumbled into Ali Baba's cave. I was breathless, close to tears, and positively dizzy with greed." The setting is so, so vivid, and I felt as if I were really transported back to the early 1900s. In the same way, I felt like I personally knew every character. Especially Royal, Mattie's spankin' good-looking neighbor who she's attracted to, even if she maybe shouldn't be. I distinctly remember the first time round I read this book, how my heart both soared with hers and then came crashing down when things got rough. I actually began crying and very badly wanted to punch Royal's face. Yep, my connection with this book runs VERY deep. And it's not just this: Mattie yearning to be both an educated woman and eventually an author, as well as have a family and a loving husband...it was so very relatable. Especially since I often go through the same dilemma, even in this day and age, thanks to the backward society I'm from. I remember this quote really affected me: "And I knew in my bones that Emily Dickinson wouldn't have written even one poem if she'd had two howling babies, a husband bent on jamming another one into her, a house to run, a garden to tend, three cows to milk, twenty chickens to feed, and four hired hands to cook for. I knew then why they didn't marry. Emily and Jane and Louisa. I knew and it scared me. I also knew what being lonely was and I didn't want to be lonely my whole life. I didn't want to give up on my words. I didn't want to choose one over the other. Mark Twain didn't have to. Charles Dickens didn't." So, yeah, that's my review. Jennifer Donnelly is now one of my all-time fave authors, and her novel Revolution also definitely deserves to be read. In fact, if you read both and compare then, you'll be seriously shocked the same author penned both books. I mean, yes, they're both at least partially historical, but that's kind of as far as the similarities go.

I enjoyed the story of the character development of the main character Mathilda (Mattie). I admired her courage and love of reading, books, words, and education in spite of her poverty and loss of her mother. Her love for her father and younger brothers and sisters and the hard work on the farm she displayed was very admirable. I enjoyed her struggle between her wanting to become an author and go to New York City and go to college versus her desire to have a husband and her own farm in addition to wanting to be near her family and having someone to love. The details of life in the North Woods was very well portrayed in her description and added to the story. The use of the word of the day and the device of using the dictionary in the telling of the story was very good.

This book ranks very high on my list of Worthwhile Reading. It is well written, it has social value, and it totally engrossed me. It is one of the few books that will stay with me a long time and that I know I will read again. You would do well to read the Amazon review of this book, because in these Amazon reviews, I do not do proper book reviews; I simply tell how books impact me. This book has as its backdrop the classic novel A Place in the Sun by Theodore Dreiser, upon which two movies were loosely based: An American Tragedy in 1931 and A Place in the Sun in 1951. As I was reading A Northern Light, I had a vague remembrance of seeing A Place in the Sun. I don’t know if this helped me or hindered. Did my recollections, though vague, put events in a better perspective or did it distract me from more important issues? There are correlations between Dreiser’s and Donnelly’s characters. However, Donnelly brings those correlations to light through letters, and we are not overwhelmed by them. We get to see Dreiser’s characters through Donnelly’s eyes, and they are only important as they impact our young protagonist in the decisions she makes. Donnelly’s characters are rich and full. Her writing is clean, clear, absorbing. While I was reading this book, I became a part of it and became involved in those lives. Donnelly made me care. This is not a can’t-put-it-down book. It’s a don’t-want-it-to-end book.

The book is good, but the cover has had multiple peeling problems. Many other individuals that I know that ordered the book from this seller have also had this problem with the cover, on both front and back.

This book is based on an actual tragedy that occurred on a small lake in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State. It is told from the view of a young girl who lived with her family on a small farm, hardscrabble living. A teacher introduced her to different kinds of literature and encouraged her writing abilities. She was trying to save money to leave the farm where every family member helped with chores and earned money to keep the farm going.Her brief encounter, as a waitress in a summer hotel, with the young woman guest who drowned, awakened her as to the real reason she had been asked to marry and the decision she made. This book was very believable as it actually used the names of existing small towns and lakes and told the story about the differences in the very poor year-rounders who don't know any other life and the "summer people" whom they serve during the very short summer season. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dressier told the story in a far more tedious way with ficticious names and places I only gave it four stars because of the many spelling mistakes that should have been edited. It was a great book and I highly recommend it. I look forward to more books by this author.

The threads of this novel are woven seamlessly. The letters of Grace Brown, the people around whom the story revolves and the inclusion of intriguing words from the dictionary make for an engrossing experience.

I've just finished this book and was totally absorbed by it. Two stories run on parallel grounds. Set in the early 1900's, Mattie is a young lady very torn between her dreams of becoming a writer and family related responsibilities. To add to her dilemmas, she falls in love, feeling more and more confused. Grace is another young lady whose body is found lifeless in the lake by the Glenmore Hotel, where Mattie works. Both girls' tales entwine and merge in a clever and entertaining combination. The prose is pictorial and detailed, conveying the surroundings, the characters and their feelings so nicely. There's a little gem embedded in the beginning of each chapter, which is not numbered but starts off with the introduction of a new word, as part of a game that Mattie and her friend Weaver play every day to strengthen their vocabulary. Each word is irrelevant to the core of the story but there's always the appropriate space for it, a clever touch. I found myself playing along and testing my own vocabulary! There are many themes in this book: poverty, racism, love, compassion, hope are but a few. The narrative is creative and clever, with very sad and very funny situations too. The sense of humour conveyed by Mattie is remarkable. When I started it, I had avoided reading the summary on the back cover (a bit revealing I later realised), but I was glad I did, so that the last part of the book took me completely by surprise. Definitely a timeless novel, I would suggest it for young readers too (15+). P.S. A little note: "A Gathering Light" and "A Northern Light" are exactly the same book, the second one being the American original title. I was about to buy it when I realised they were the same. Just so you know.

Product Quality is extremely good for the price. As for the story- I read the book a few years back and it's one my favourites. Totally recommend it.

Previous reviews have praised the book. I can only add that I too enjoyed this book tremendously. Mattie, who is writing this , is a delightful young girl/woman. There is not one false tone in the book. It's a coming of age story, plus a mystery.Themes of poverty,racism,childbirth,and single parenthood are handled honestly and true to the times. The crime in the book is based on an actual murder in 1906. The story of the murdered young woman is told through her letters. These letters ( Donnelly uses the actual letters) are heartrending to read. The characters in the book are diverse : Weaver Smith, Matties friend (he and his mother are the only black people in the area); Royal Loomis , the son of a neighbouring farmer and sweet on Mattie; Minnie , Matties best friend , who is pregnant with twins; Emmie Hubbard a widow with several children but most have different fathers and, and.... So many characters, all of them so well drawn that they truly come to life on the page. The choices that Mattie has to make are difficult and I was torn just as much as she was. This is not just for young readers. I think that it will appeal to women more than men.

Proper packaging, books arrived in great condition.