Reviews

The Lightness by Emily Temple

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starness's review against another edition

3.0

I’m still uncertain of my feelings for this book, I felt like it started off strong, I was immediately intrigued and thought the concept interesting. A girl heads to a meditation retreat high up in the mountains, to search for answers surrounding the disappearance of her father. She becomes mesmerised then befriends three girls attending the summer camp, they slowly form a strange bond, she eventually uncovers their plans for enlightenment lead by the mysterious leader of the group revealing her ultimate goal of levitation. Immediately you are aware that something occurs to one of the girls and the story unravels from there, everything is shrouded in this eerie mysterious quality from the beginning there is an ominous foreshadowing but it takes a long time for the ultimate reveal, for some reason the book felt disjointed at times as the book delves deeply into Buddhist philosophy, the book infuses many elements of this into the storytelling which was fine and interesting as I’m interested in the concept of Eastern philosophy but didn’t completely keep me immersed in the storyline I felt like it had the opposite effect I forgot I was meant to care about the big reveal and I wasn’t invested in any of them enough to care about any of them befalling a bad ending. The book is rich in texture, and although the book centres around a bunch of problematic teen girls it’s far from a “light” read, there’s much to take from and consider, a good book to stretch out and savour for those brief moments of inspiration, it’s kind of weird and kind of cool, it possibly tries too hard to be different and deep or whatever but for all the hype I felt at the beginning it didn’t deliver what I felt it initially promised.

torgiepie's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

This might be a me thing, but I have no idea what happened in this book. I understand the basic plot, but I couldn't tell you a majority of it.

oliveoilenthusiast's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

Teenage girls can be so sinister and crazy in such a whimsical way ❤️

jerrica's review against another edition

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3.0

Hm. Hm. Hm. Almost 4 stars, and it was cool to read a book by a fellow Midd grad, but something about the writing style was a bit irksome. There were far too many references to The Incident, and I get that we all need to foreshadow but Temple wasn't even letting the sun in. I liked the atmosphere, but it felt a little forced at times. Idk. Give it a shot if you like weird summer camps and the 4 girl trope.

elhealy5's review against another edition

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3.0

Did not finish. In general I really enjoyed the writing style, it was quick and witty. It just got sooo repetitive and felt really heavy handed.

tazurrrnov's review against another edition

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3.0

Summary for myself: the girls all want to learn how to levitate. They flirt with a way older man. One of the girls is the most mysterious and powerful. Shocking act of violence. The end.

I'll start by saying that Emily Temple is a wonderful wordsmith. Her sentences are beautiful; I really enjoyed the style in which this was written. Clear setting, clear characters, clear conflict. However, she's a far better wordsmith than she is a writer -- the plot was thin, the structure was weak, and the pay-off was spectacularly disappointing. This is another pale, hollow imitation of The Secret History, but it does NOT deliver at all on what it says it will. The whole thing reads like a fortune cookie, and I found myself growing so tired of the constant "but little did we know... our joy was soon to end... disaster would destroy everything we loved..." on every other page.

I suppose this book takes on a different shade when one remembers that the protagonist is supposed to be a teenager (aren't all teenagers this pretentious?) but it's so un-self-aware that it was honestly kind of funny. And also kind of horrifying, when you look at the "romance" plotline with a man far older than any of the girls. I can't even say I enjoyed this book, really, because the pay-off for the foreshadowing (is it even foreshadowing if you're being given neon warning signs every few minutes?) was so disappointing. But again, beautifully written!