Reviews

Northern Lights by Tim O'Brien

sunn_bleach's review against another edition

adventurous challenging medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

I'm a huge fan of every other book I've read by Tim O'Brien, with "The Things They Carried" occasionally being in my top ten books ever read. "Northern Lights" was his very first, and it's.... rough going. O'Brien attempted to evoke similar brevity as Hemingway but with a modernist bent, especially when capturing the not-at-ease bedtime conversations between lovers. Unfortunately it just didn't work, and it's no surprise that O'Brien never attempted this kind of prose again. Infamously, the two-pages of "do you love me?" repeated ad nauseam; I get what he was going for, but nah.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: War

hannahholmgren's review against another edition

challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

sgunther's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

tayloreb's review against another edition

1.0

The most tedious and boring book I've read in a long while.

jessicabolin's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

jegeiman's review against another edition

slow-paced

3.0

mollyisff's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

flint's review against another edition

4.0

Six word book review: Entropy briefly interrupts the bucolic forest.

brizzopotamus's review against another edition

4.0

This book was precisely what I needed in this odd time. I struggled with coming back to it, but every time I did, I got caught up in it all over again. It was slow progress for me but I think it was meant to be read that way. It felt more like taking my brain on a vacation than trying to keep its attention.

Was it the best book I’ve ever read? Nah. But it was a great read for this year.

lckeser7's review against another edition

2.0

Pacing is a real problem here, as the story doesn't really start until almost 200 pages in. Up to that point there's a lot of character development. Except that's not quite right. There's a lot of dialogue from the characters, but it doesn't reveal much because it's so repetitive.

Later in the book, I started to appreciate what O'Brien was doing with this dialogue a little more. The two main characters have never learned how to express themselves emotionally and they talk in repeating circles, talking around and around what they want to say without ever saying it. It works to an extent, but becomes tiresome and I often got the feeling that it was O'Brien holding back information and not the characters.

Definitely the worst of O'Brien's work that I've read. Not terrible by any means, but I don't see myself ever revisiting this like I do The Things They Carried or In the Lake of the Woods.