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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I loved the descriptive nature of the writing in this book. Especially the scientific description of the bomb in the first chapter. I also enjoyed the characters and storylines of the different characters. And the audiobook narrator is great!
The main problem of the book for me is the way the plot was setup. The initial what if scenario serves no purpose other than allowing the author to write a multi perspective book with five different people whose lives have nothing in common. There is no crossover, there is no reference back to the bomb until the last sentences, where I guess the author feels obliged to tie everything back together. And the jumping around perspectives that are not connected to each other was distracting.
The main problem of the book for me is the way the plot was setup. The initial what if scenario serves no purpose other than allowing the author to write a multi perspective book with five different people whose lives have nothing in common. There is no crossover, there is no reference back to the bomb until the last sentences, where I guess the author feels obliged to tie everything back together. And the jumping around perspectives that are not connected to each other was distracting.
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
fast-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
informative
medium-paced
This book is a case of “it’s not you, it’s me”. I just didn’t care about the characters much and some were a bit long winded, for me. I can appreciate why it has been long listed.
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-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
(Audiobook narrated by Imogen Church)
Booker Prize Longlist 2021
A bomb is dropped on a London Woolworths in WWII killing everyone inside, including children. What follows is a ‘what if?’ story. What if the bomb had fallen metres away in a park and everyone in Woolworths had gone home? What would those children have grown up to be? Good? Bad? Ordinary?
Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it? However, the more I listened the more I thought ‘But what was the point of the bomb?’ Well, there isn’t a point. It’s purely a gimmick to get you interested in the story – and it worked! At least on me. I eventually ended up looking up the bombing – and it was real – though of course the characters are entirely fictional.
First, what I liked: I liked the descriptive writing, and I did find the storylines interesting. In fact, I would have read a book just about Val and her twin sister, Jo.
What I didn’t enjoy: As I already said, the story is sold as a ‘what if?’ alternative life, but you realise as you read that it’s not. For that to be true we would have to know something about the children before the bomb and we would have to see the real alternative of the future of their families and their community if they had indeed died. Otherwise, this is simply a story of some children who went to the same primary school and the different paths they followed in life, neatly ticking some diversity boxes along the way. That’s an interesting, if ordinary, story so I feel like the bomb was a plot device included to grab our attention and then discarded.
Still, it’s worth a read and I’m interested to hear what others think. It’s my second from the longlist and obviously better than No One is Talking About This (when will we stop talking about it?) but Great Circle looks like it just might blow all competition out of the water.
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Firstly, huge thank you to Faber & Faber for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
CW: Homophobia, racism, violence
On a Saturday in 1944, a Woolworths on Bexford High Street is bombed, everything and everyone inside the shop turned to dust in an instant. Among the people in the shop are five young children. Five children who had their futures snatched away from them… But what if they survived? Light Perpetual explores the idea of what if this never happened, what if these children grew up to see all the changes that the twentieth century brought?
The narrative of this novel alternates between perspectives of these five characters. We see a snapshot of all of their lives at particular times of their lives, rather than following each of them continuously throughout the 65 years that this novel spans. I really enjoyed this way of telling the story, because even though you have decade wide gaps between the parts, it was very easy to follow what had happened in the missing years. Of course, there were a couple of instances where I couldn’t quite remember what had happened to particular characters in their previous chapter. However, this was mainly down to the fact I was more drawn to certain characters lives at times rather than others. Although, this also changed throughout the novel for me.
At the beginning of the novel I found that I was more drawn to Ben’s story and Alec’s story. As the novel progressed I then found myself fascinated by the situation Val found herself in and then, by the end, I really liked the direction Jo and Vern found their lives. Now, just because I preferred certain characters’ stories at different times of their lives, that doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy their stories at all because I did, as Spufford has done a wonderful job creating such individual characters who all develop in interesting ways or they grew up. Even though they all started off attending the same school in Bexford, it was fascinating to me to see how differently all their lives turned out. Additionally, by framing this narrative as these are lines that weren’t supposed to happen, it put the entire novel in a completely different perspective. You find yourself wondering how the lives of the additional characters in the novel would have played out if the five protagonists did die in 1944.
Although there were moments where the writing style seemed poetic or lyrical (which I loved) this novel still had a Modernist, almost James Joyce-esque, feeling to it. These snapshots into these people’s lives have all been carefully crafted, each illustrating not only important moments of the characters lives but also, important moments and changes in British history, especially ones that are sometimes ignored. This meant that among more poignant moments of the characters finding love or reflecting on life; there are also some very powerful chapters which made for difficult, and uncomfortable, reading such as when Ben is confronted on the bus, or when Val gets mixed up with Mike who is very passionate about the ‘British Movement’.
Whilst this novel isn’t exactly what I was expecting going into it, I thoroughly enjoyed it all the same. I loved its modernist tone and how it was, essentially, an incredibly in depth and interesting character study, which makes you question the meaning and value of life. This is a novel that I recommend you give a try as it can really open your eyes to a different way of thinking and give a brief look into some of the darker moments of modern British history.
CW: Homophobia, racism, violence
On a Saturday in 1944, a Woolworths on Bexford High Street is bombed, everything and everyone inside the shop turned to dust in an instant. Among the people in the shop are five young children. Five children who had their futures snatched away from them… But what if they survived? Light Perpetual explores the idea of what if this never happened, what if these children grew up to see all the changes that the twentieth century brought?
The narrative of this novel alternates between perspectives of these five characters. We see a snapshot of all of their lives at particular times of their lives, rather than following each of them continuously throughout the 65 years that this novel spans. I really enjoyed this way of telling the story, because even though you have decade wide gaps between the parts, it was very easy to follow what had happened in the missing years. Of course, there were a couple of instances where I couldn’t quite remember what had happened to particular characters in their previous chapter. However, this was mainly down to the fact I was more drawn to certain characters lives at times rather than others. Although, this also changed throughout the novel for me.
At the beginning of the novel I found that I was more drawn to Ben’s story and Alec’s story. As the novel progressed I then found myself fascinated by the situation Val found herself in and then, by the end, I really liked the direction Jo and Vern found their lives. Now, just because I preferred certain characters’ stories at different times of their lives, that doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy their stories at all because I did, as Spufford has done a wonderful job creating such individual characters who all develop in interesting ways or they grew up. Even though they all started off attending the same school in Bexford, it was fascinating to me to see how differently all their lives turned out. Additionally, by framing this narrative as these are lines that weren’t supposed to happen, it put the entire novel in a completely different perspective. You find yourself wondering how the lives of the additional characters in the novel would have played out if the five protagonists did die in 1944.
Although there were moments where the writing style seemed poetic or lyrical (which I loved) this novel still had a Modernist, almost James Joyce-esque, feeling to it. These snapshots into these people’s lives have all been carefully crafted, each illustrating not only important moments of the characters lives but also, important moments and changes in British history, especially ones that are sometimes ignored. This meant that among more poignant moments of the characters finding love or reflecting on life; there are also some very powerful chapters which made for difficult, and uncomfortable, reading such as when Ben is confronted on the bus, or when Val gets mixed up with Mike who is very passionate about the ‘British Movement’.
Whilst this novel isn’t exactly what I was expecting going into it, I thoroughly enjoyed it all the same. I loved its modernist tone and how it was, essentially, an incredibly in depth and interesting character study, which makes you question the meaning and value of life. This is a novel that I recommend you give a try as it can really open your eyes to a different way of thinking and give a brief look into some of the darker moments of modern British history.