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A review by eatingwords
A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb
2.0
I had this e-book for quite some time now and I finally came around to reading it.
I heard this book had received high ratings, although I didn't know what it was even about. Just that there was something about a ghost as a main character.
This book unfortunately wasn't for me. It was okay. The story of Jenny and her life was definitely interesting, I couldn't relate in any way to James'/Billy's story. It just did nothing for me. James and Helen as such seemed also very shallow and their behaviour just didn't fit with them being hundreds of years old while haunting people/places and dying when they were almost thirty. They acted like small children sometimes.
Things that bothered me:
The instalove.
This whole relationship between Helen and James was rushed and their "love" just didn't seem authentic at all.
The religious part.
Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against religion, but if it is practiced and lived the way it is by Jenny's parents; it is something to get concerned about. I didn't understand how Jenny aka Helen just didn't do anything to set herself against her parents; to stop them from being ridiculous.
The ghost part.
I think there should have been more depth to the actual ghost part. Why they were ghosts in the first place and did not go to "heaven" or wherever. This mystery was solved in the end and fell pretty flat for me. It was disappointing to say the least.
I just was underwhelmed by this book. It had a [b:The Lovely Bones|12232938|The Lovely Bones|Alice Sebold|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1312524577s/12232938.jpg|1145090]-esque feel to it, where taking over another human being to violate their bodies just ruined the book for me.
The writing was nice and easy to follow, but it didn't save the story unfortunately.
Also the ending left almost everything out in the open: what happens to Billy and Jenny after they have regained their bodies? What about Jenny's mother? What about Helen and James? Did they now happily go to heaven like they wanted for years?
But I've seen that there is a companion novel to this book, but whether I'll read it or not, I don't know. Definitely not in the near future.
I heard this book had received high ratings, although I didn't know what it was even about. Just that there was something about a ghost as a main character.
This book unfortunately wasn't for me. It was okay. The story of Jenny and her life was definitely interesting, I couldn't relate in any way to James'/Billy's story. It just did nothing for me. James and Helen as such seemed also very shallow and their behaviour just didn't fit with them being hundreds of years old while haunting people/places and dying when they were almost thirty. They acted like small children sometimes.
Things that bothered me:
The instalove.
This whole relationship between Helen and James was rushed and their "love" just didn't seem authentic at all.
The religious part.
Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against religion, but if it is practiced and lived the way it is by Jenny's parents; it is something to get concerned about. I didn't understand how Jenny aka Helen just didn't do anything to set herself against her parents; to stop them from being ridiculous.
The ghost part.
I think there should have been more depth to the actual ghost part. Why they were ghosts in the first place and did not go to "heaven" or wherever. This mystery was solved in the end and fell pretty flat for me. It was disappointing to say the least.
I just was underwhelmed by this book. It had a [b:The Lovely Bones|12232938|The Lovely Bones|Alice Sebold|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1312524577s/12232938.jpg|1145090]-esque feel to it, where taking over another human being to violate their bodies just ruined the book for me.
The writing was nice and easy to follow, but it didn't save the story unfortunately.
Also the ending left almost everything out in the open: what happens to Billy and Jenny after they have regained their bodies? What about Jenny's mother? What about Helen and James? Did they now happily go to heaven like they wanted for years?
But I've seen that there is a companion novel to this book, but whether I'll read it or not, I don't know. Definitely not in the near future.