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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book. Somehow it was dark without being heavy. It was bleak without being depressing. Occasionally the prose would get a little purple and the narrative structure confusing, but overall I loved it. The characters were so compelling I didn’t really care that there was no obvious plot. Just a snapshot of complicated relationships as the world goes into a deep freeze. I usually HATE an unclear ending, but I was even ok with this one. Did they die? Did winter ever end? Was Constance holding Alastair’s hand too?! Who knows and honestly, I don’t care. Jenni Fagan is magic and I’ll read anything she writes.
For such an enticing premise, there was little movement, interpersonal growth, or sense of traditional story-arc to this book.
I felt that each of the two POV characters, Dylan and Stella, were charming and kept me engaged in an otherwise banal telling of an unprecedented environmental collapse. However, the relationship between Dylan and Constance felt like a telling-not-showing sort of relationship, one built on Dylan's distant pining after Constance, and her relaxed acceptance of his affection.
I didn't get much of a sense of resolution from the story at all, and I struggle to even think of a way the narrative could have been resolved, given the way it presented itself. Maybe it was getting somewhere, near the end, but then it just ended. It was fine.
I felt that each of the two POV characters, Dylan and Stella, were charming and kept me engaged in an otherwise banal telling of an unprecedented environmental collapse. However, the relationship between Dylan and Constance felt like a telling-not-showing sort of relationship, one built on Dylan's distant pining after Constance, and her relaxed acceptance of his affection.
I didn't get much of a sense of resolution from the story at all, and I struggle to even think of a way the narrative could have been resolved, given the way it presented itself. Maybe it was getting somewhere, near the end, but then it just ended. It was fine.
I was very disappointed in the way this book ended. The writing was beautiful and evocative, the characters were flawed and very human, the setting was bleak and then ...
Spoiler
There was no resolution whatsoever, did they live? die? did Spring ever come? did Dylan kill Alastair? make peace with Alastair? did Stella ever complete her transition? I will never know.
This book wasn't for me, but it may be for you.
I gave it about 80 pages. My usual is 100, but when I was reading Dylan's time on the mountain and realized the whole time I was thinking about how I didn't want to be reading this book. I was hoping for a more genre focused novel instead it seemed more literatury. Focused on the characters and their emotions.
I gave it about 80 pages. My usual is 100, but when I was reading Dylan's time on the mountain and realized the whole time I was thinking about how I didn't want to be reading this book. I was hoping for a more genre focused novel instead it seemed more literatury. Focused on the characters and their emotions.
See my review here:
https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2022/03/04/review-1812-the-sunlight-pilgrims/
https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2022/03/04/review-1812-the-sunlight-pilgrims/
It's 2020 and the world is entering another ice age. In Scotland there is a small caravan park in the mountains preparing itself for the coldest winter anyone has ever seen in their lifetimes. Dylan lost his mother, his grandmother, and the family movie theater in London. The only place he has to go is a small caravan he had no idea even existed, thankfully his mother had the foresight to buy it in cash before her death. Armed only with a suitcase Dylan arrives in the cold, godforsaken, but oddly beautiful park. He is immediately smitten with the young mother next door and her ridiculously cool daughter. Constance and her daughter Stella, are immediately smitten with their new neighbor Dylan, enjoying his tall stature, beard, tattoos, and London stories. They slowly start to invite him into their lives where he discovers that Stella is in the process from transitioning from a boy to a girl and Constance is looked down upon because for years she's always had two lovers. Can this odd trio band together and survive the coming subzero temperatures? Cute, quirky, and honest, this book had me hooked from the beginning. Personally I had a crush on Dylan and would love to have shared his caravan with him. Stella was a breath of fresh air and is wonderfully developed as is her mom who is imperfectly perfect. A fantastic read!
I received this book for free from Blogging for Books in return for my honest, unbiased review.
I received this book for free from Blogging for Books in return for my honest, unbiased review.
I was completely charmed by this book. Such interesting yet realistic characters.
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Poetically written novel for the end of the world. Focus on the slow paced everyday lives of the characters. Strong, descriptive world building with focus on the growing progression of the character.
I wasn't expecting it to be so much of coming of age story, something I don't tend to read but Stella was a strong, interesting character.
I wasn't expecting it to be so much of coming of age story, something I don't tend to read but Stella was a strong, interesting character.
When I originally read the synopsis of this book, I was under the impression that it was set much further in the future. This was not the author's fault; it clearly says 2020. My brain just happens to believe that I still live in 2007. Maybe I'm secretly hoping they bring back low-rise jeans and velour tracksuits.
Books that take place in a specific year that aren't in the past, the distant future, or part of a weird alternate reality, irritate me. At some point, the actual year of the reader is going to surpass the fictional year of the story. I call this the Back to the Future effect. It's difficult to suspend disbelief when you're too busy pouting that you don't have a hoverboard yet. People in 2020 are going to read this book and (hopefully) say, "Gee, it's pretty warm for an ice age."
Let's talk about that ice age, anyway. Fagan's tale takes place in BFE, Scotland. Clachan Fells, to be exact. Temperatures are dropping at an alarming rate and there's an iceberg coming. At least, that's what Fagan wants you to believe this story is about. It's what is advertised on the back of the book, after all. The real story is about 12-year-old Stella, though, a transgender girl. And THAT narrative is amazing. I wish Fagan hadn't felt the need to wrap Stella's story in something more palatable for conventional audiences.
Fagan does a wonderful job of narrating the familiar anxiety of a 12-year-old kid and marrying it with the more unfamiliar anxiety of being a transgender teen. You feel every moment of Stella's angst as she tries to navigate within an unyielding world. For me, someone who is not transgender and doesn't personally know someone who is transgender, this story was enlightening and thoughtfully written.
My only other issue with "The Sunlight Pilgrims" is that it's not a full story. It's a slice of a story. It's the valley between two big mountains - the big events that happened before you, the reader, were dropped in, and the big events you anticipate are about to happen. I loved some of the characters. But, in the end, I felt like I didn't get to know them very well.
Books that take place in a specific year that aren't in the past, the distant future, or part of a weird alternate reality, irritate me. At some point, the actual year of the reader is going to surpass the fictional year of the story. I call this the Back to the Future effect. It's difficult to suspend disbelief when you're too busy pouting that you don't have a hoverboard yet. People in 2020 are going to read this book and (hopefully) say, "Gee, it's pretty warm for an ice age."
Let's talk about that ice age, anyway. Fagan's tale takes place in BFE, Scotland. Clachan Fells, to be exact. Temperatures are dropping at an alarming rate and there's an iceberg coming. At least, that's what Fagan wants you to believe this story is about. It's what is advertised on the back of the book, after all. The real story is about 12-year-old Stella, though, a transgender girl. And THAT narrative is amazing. I wish Fagan hadn't felt the need to wrap Stella's story in something more palatable for conventional audiences.
Fagan does a wonderful job of narrating the familiar anxiety of a 12-year-old kid and marrying it with the more unfamiliar anxiety of being a transgender teen. You feel every moment of Stella's angst as she tries to navigate within an unyielding world. For me, someone who is not transgender and doesn't personally know someone who is transgender, this story was enlightening and thoughtfully written.
My only other issue with "The Sunlight Pilgrims" is that it's not a full story. It's a slice of a story. It's the valley between two big mountains - the big events that happened before you, the reader, were dropped in, and the big events you anticipate are about to happen. I loved some of the characters. But, in the end, I felt like I didn't get to know them very well.