Reviews - Heat and Light | The StoryGraph

126 reviews for:

Heat and Light

Ellen van Neerven

3.89 AVERAGE

ebonycasagrande's review against another edition

4.5

lighthearted

loosetoothfool's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I love short story collections I always forget! this one was a lot about family and queerness and nature, all with Aboriginal characters and looking at all those themes through that lens. written by a queer Aboriginal person! my favourite was FOR SURE the longest story, water, so beautiful and unique and powerful, I would 100% read a whole book of that. and the rest were similarly complex, emotional, melancholy at times, sometimes from a childhood perspective, exploring friendship and connection and Australia's landscape and many things. as with most short stories I read, I feel a bit empty at the end, not quite sure where to go next, as these glimpses pull U in for such a short time and leave u heavy when U exit the world shortly after. u are left with questions, but in a good way.
favourites:
Pearl
Crash
Water
Real Moment
Anything Can Happen
The Wheel
Sound
these all feel like full whole worlds. like real people seen in a glimpse. I especially loved piecing the different stories of the same family together in the Heat section of the book, very clever.

stellamckenna's review against another edition

3.5

challenging reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

chrischacos's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

silver999's review against another edition

4.0

so so good. i enjoyed every story, but especially loved water

justinm's review against another edition

3.0

I have to be honest that I'm not usually a huge fan of collections of stories but in many ways I was able to overcome that reading Heat and Light. Particularly the section entitled Water, which wasn't split into chapters itself and tells the story of the building of Australia2, under the President Tanya Sparkle, made from islands connected off the coast of Australia. First Peoples can apply for residency if they meet the criteria. However, the 'plantpeople' who are designated as plants but are very human-like reside here and their treatment by the supposedly progressive government is deplorable. Overall I enjoyed the queer theme throughout all the stories and the exploration of identity.