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A review by anaclaracp
In Perfect Light by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
3.0
2.5
I've come to realize, during my reading life, why I don't cry when I'm reading. It's very rare that a book will even make my eyes watery, and that's because I like happy things. It sounds obvious, but it took me a while to get there.
I don't watch movies about wars because I know they'll be sad. I don't watch sport movies because I know they'll be sad. I try not to watch movies based on real events because, again, they'll be sad. Of sad and tragic I have real life. Non-fiction books, documentaries. My fiction, I'll have it happy, please.
And because of that, because reading is escaping, and because I like my books to be mostly happy, when something sad happens, I'm just angry. "Why is the author doing this?", "was this even necessary?" and "this is just the author fishing for a way to make the reader cry". Those are my reactions. It takes me out of the narrative. Anger, not sadness. I have to really be in the mood to read something sad, and I rarely ever am. Sure, it happens sometimes, but even then I want something happy to happen.
When I picked this up I had no idea what it was about. I wanted it to be a surprise, like Ari and Dante was, and what a beautiful surprise, it became one of my favorite books. But with this one I felt kinda cheated. Of course that's my own fault for not doing my research, but I wasn't looking for a story like this, I didn't want to read it. For the entire last half I was considering giving it two stars. The only reason I didn't is because it's not a bad story, not at all. I just didn't want to read it. I kept hoping it would get happier and that was what kept me reading. That and the writing, of course, which is beautiful.
A lot of people will love this, it has tons of high ratings, so of course I would recommend it. But it wasn't for me, not in the mindset I'm currently in.
I've come to realize, during my reading life, why I don't cry when I'm reading. It's very rare that a book will even make my eyes watery, and that's because I like happy things. It sounds obvious, but it took me a while to get there.
I don't watch movies about wars because I know they'll be sad. I don't watch sport movies because I know they'll be sad. I try not to watch movies based on real events because, again, they'll be sad. Of sad and tragic I have real life. Non-fiction books, documentaries. My fiction, I'll have it happy, please.
And because of that, because reading is escaping, and because I like my books to be mostly happy, when something sad happens, I'm just angry. "Why is the author doing this?", "was this even necessary?" and "this is just the author fishing for a way to make the reader cry". Those are my reactions. It takes me out of the narrative. Anger, not sadness. I have to really be in the mood to read something sad, and I rarely ever am. Sure, it happens sometimes, but even then I want something happy to happen.
When I picked this up I had no idea what it was about. I wanted it to be a surprise, like Ari and Dante was, and what a beautiful surprise, it became one of my favorite books. But with this one I felt kinda cheated. Of course that's my own fault for not doing my research, but I wasn't looking for a story like this, I didn't want to read it. For the entire last half I was considering giving it two stars. The only reason I didn't is because it's not a bad story, not at all. I just didn't want to read it. I kept hoping it would get happier and that was what kept me reading. That and the writing, of course, which is beautiful.
A lot of people will love this, it has tons of high ratings, so of course I would recommend it. But it wasn't for me, not in the mindset I'm currently in.