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A review by camilleisreading24
The Sunlit Night by Rebecca Dinerstein Knight
2.0
TL;DR
OVERALL TAKE: This story was fine, but simply not for me.
Detailed Review:
This story was just ok--a solid 3/5. I kept expecting it to get to a point where I would be more fully engaged but it couldn't quite make it over the mediocre hump.
The "meh" bits:
1) The story was split into two perspectives. While I enjoyed the chapters narrated by Frances, the ones concerning Yasha did not engage me. Everytime I turned the page and saw that it was a section about Yasha, I was tempted to skip to the next Frances chapter. The perspective changes were also awkward since the author made the decision to tell Frances' portions from a first person POV, and Yasha's from a third person POV that was usually (but not always) limited to Yasha's inner thoughts. This seems like something only a very experienced (or perhaps, simply a better) author ought to try.
2) The love story simply wasn't that convincing. This book was billed as an amazing love story in which two people find each other at the top of the world and heal together. However, after reading the whole book, it seems to me that they do a lot more healing on their own than they do together. Aside from a strong physical attraction to each other, I do not understand why these two gravitate toward one another.
3) The writing wandered into strange metaphors and sentimental phrasing. For instance:
"Yasha didn't answer. When we had passed the lake, he said, 'Sigbjorn says I know how to make a girl love me.' I looked at him. 'I don't know if I do. I mean, I don't know if you do. Sigbjorn doesn't know that I love you,' he said--he looked at me a moment too long, the car drifted, a car behind us honked, and he looked straight ahead again. His profile looked like Caraveggio's Boy with a Basket of Fruit. I wanted to be the basket he carried. He said, 'I have to stay here.' " p. 234
It happened so often that eventually I found myself just skipping the long blocks of descriptive text and reading the dialogue only.
The good parts:
1) Frances' chapters were really entertaining and I liked this character's voice and understood her motivations. I would enjoy reading a book told only by Frances.
2) The descriptions of Norway and the tiny bit of Norwegian culture were fascinating. I would love to visit the archipelago of Lofoten and to see the sun shining at midnight.
OVERALL TAKE: This story was fine, but simply not for me.
Detailed Review:
This story was just ok--a solid 3/5. I kept expecting it to get to a point where I would be more fully engaged but it couldn't quite make it over the mediocre hump.
The "meh" bits:
1) The story was split into two perspectives. While I enjoyed the chapters narrated by Frances, the ones concerning Yasha did not engage me. Everytime I turned the page and saw that it was a section about Yasha, I was tempted to skip to the next Frances chapter. The perspective changes were also awkward since the author made the decision to tell Frances' portions from a first person POV, and Yasha's from a third person POV that was usually (but not always) limited to Yasha's inner thoughts. This seems like something only a very experienced (or perhaps, simply a better) author ought to try.
2) The love story simply wasn't that convincing. This book was billed as an amazing love story in which two people find each other at the top of the world and heal together. However, after reading the whole book, it seems to me that they do a lot more healing on their own than they do together. Aside from a strong physical attraction to each other, I do not understand why these two gravitate toward one another.
3) The writing wandered into strange metaphors and sentimental phrasing. For instance:
"Yasha didn't answer. When we had passed the lake, he said, 'Sigbjorn says I know how to make a girl love me.' I looked at him. 'I don't know if I do. I mean, I don't know if you do. Sigbjorn doesn't know that I love you,' he said--he looked at me a moment too long, the car drifted, a car behind us honked, and he looked straight ahead again. His profile looked like Caraveggio's Boy with a Basket of Fruit. I wanted to be the basket he carried. He said, 'I have to stay here.' " p. 234
It happened so often that eventually I found myself just skipping the long blocks of descriptive text and reading the dialogue only.
The good parts:
1) Frances' chapters were really entertaining and I liked this character's voice and understood her motivations. I would enjoy reading a book told only by Frances.
2) The descriptions of Norway and the tiny bit of Norwegian culture were fascinating. I would love to visit the archipelago of Lofoten and to see the sun shining at midnight.