Reviews

The Sunlit Night by Rebecca Dinerstein Knight

minnaobrien's review against another edition

2.0

Meh.

holly_keimig's review against another edition

4.0

50 Book Reading Challenge 2015: A book set in a different country

This book was set in several places including Russia, the "Far North", and New York City. The author does a great job of making you care about the characters and the writing is beautiful. Even though I hate the cold, she made me want to visit the Far North. The sunlight almost becomes a character in this book and serves as the backdrop for a semi-love story between the two main characters. Not a lot happens plot-wise but so much happens emotionally that it keeps you enticed to keep reading. Definitely worth a read.

callies's review against another edition

3.0

Initially this is two stories told by two characters, both beginning in New York and seemingly completely unrelated. The idea behind their eventual meeting (Vassily's Sami hunting teacher and his decision to therefore be buried at the top of the world) seems a bit contrived and forced, but once you get over this, it is quite a charming tale about love and our place in the world.

The characters are all quite interesting, but some of these seem a bit like caricatures. There are some great one liners and observations however, and the tale itself is interesting though ends sooner than I expected. The writing feels a bit too crafted, like the author has just tried too hard. This is slightly off putting and breaks the feeling of reality you want in a novel. This may be because it’s Dinerstein’s first novel. I’m keen to see what she does next.

jojo_27's review against another edition

3.0

Lovely imagery. Flawed and interesting characters.

jjacobi's review against another edition

3.0

I was intrigued by the setting of this story, and I can honestly say I haven't read anything quite like it. There are some lovely lyrical passages, and some moments that I think are well-developed. But in general, I felt there were missed connections. Yasha and Frances' love did not feel magnetic, passionate, or profound - it felt lazy and convenient, incomplete. It was not what I wanted for them. But the author does paint a picture, and for the most part, I liked what I saw.

alekswhite's review against another edition

1.0

DNF.

I really tried but oh my god, this was so boring.

toniclark's review against another edition

2.0

I heard the author speak and loved listening to her story of how she happened to spend time in Norway. I also loved her descriptions of the natural beauty, so was keen to read this book. However, the characters and the story just didn't engage me and it was a struggle to keep reading. Dinerstein is a talented young woman, for sure. I bet her next book will be better.

boggremlin's review against another edition

2.0

I really did enjoy the first three-quarters of Rebecca Dinerstein's first novel, but the lower rating reflects my own intense, personal dislike of romantic relationships forming between teenagers and twenty-somethings. It was not explicitly rendered, but it's hard to enjoy a novel when the denouement is accompanied by an internal monologue of "no no no no."

My own upset and internal screeching aside, "The Sunlit Night" is engaging and human and a little dreamy. I enjoyed the writing very much and I was curious about most of the characters, even if the novel has a certain surface quality to its interactions---it's understandable when the protagonists are both outsiders and are experiencing something of a language barrier, but I was disappointed that Dinerstein skimmed over Frances' apprenticeship and her own coming to terms with herself. I liked Frances; I was rooting for her. But she just seemed to stay lost.

It's not an unapproachably quirky read, but the plot kind of loses track of where it's at toward the end of the book--one of the narrators is remembering these events and dropping little omniscient details about the future, and it's a shame we don't get that part of the action.

In the end, I think Dinerstein conveyed both Frances and Yasha's mutual sense of isolation, but didn't deliver on the characters developing any self-sufficent comfort. (Though that may be a lot to ask of any 17 or 21-year-old. I'm not sure.)

dayseraph's review against another edition

3.0

I'm not sure how to feel about this book. I really enjoyed the first half - basically through the judges' visit. Then it hit the summer doldrums, with no real plot drivers to move the momentum forward. The characters spent a lot of time developing intense feelings for each for no particular reason that I could see. Much like a YA novel, they just thought about each other and fell in love without needing to actually interact with or learn about each other. Ultimately, the only relationship developments that felt believable to me were between Yasha and his mother.
Then there is a coda tacked on at the end, in which we learn more about the future of Frances/the first person narrator's sister, who was mostly a plot device through the rest of the book. I had lots of questions about the characters as I finished the book, but none of them were about the sister. What happened to Nils? Why does Ian have money? Did Yasha inherit anything? What about that boar?

emiliedoleshel's review against another edition

4.0

Beautifully written book about losing oneself and finding it again.