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A review by ida_ree
Heat and Light by Jennifer Haigh
4.0
Three and a half stars, but Goodreads still doesn't let you do that.
A fictional, but well-researched story about what happens when fracking comes to small town Pennsylvania. Which neighbors sign drilling leases, which refuse and how it affects all of them.
Parts of this book were breathtaking -- a nostalgic description of the beloved woods where children play, followed starkly by an ascetic description of the equipment that will be used to clear the area for drilling. Scenes like that had maximum impact.
In other parts, I found some writing tics a little wearing after a while. The writing is a little uneven. The cast of point of view characters is large, which I'm okay with. But not all of them had good character development. Still, the ones where the author went deep were able to carry the story. You couldn't help feeling sympathy for the area residents on all sides of the issue.
The book prompted me to learn more about fracking, which is something important fiction can do. Worth the read.
A fictional, but well-researched story about what happens when fracking comes to small town Pennsylvania. Which neighbors sign drilling leases, which refuse and how it affects all of them.
Parts of this book were breathtaking -- a nostalgic description of the beloved woods where children play, followed starkly by an ascetic description of the equipment that will be used to clear the area for drilling. Scenes like that had maximum impact.
In other parts, I found some writing tics a little wearing after a while. The writing is a little uneven. The cast of point of view characters is large, which I'm okay with. But not all of them had good character development. Still, the ones where the author went deep were able to carry the story. You couldn't help feeling sympathy for the area residents on all sides of the issue.
The book prompted me to learn more about fracking, which is something important fiction can do. Worth the read.