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A review by johannalm
The Sunlit Night by Rebecca Dinerstein Knight
5.0
The Sunlit Night, Rebecca Dinerstein
A different kind of falling in love story, exquisitely written and deeply tender and touching.
Two young people meet at the top of the world while visiting an archipelago of islands in northern Norway above the Arctic circle.
Frances is in Norway to work at an artists colony after graduating college and being dumped by her boyfriend. Yasha, who just finished high school, is there to fulfill his father's last wish by burying him at the top of the world. Both are lost and lonely yet discover an immediate connection to each other that cannot be ignored.
Yasha is a Russian immigrant to the US who was raised in Brooklyn by his bread baking dad, and the sudden loss of this man has broken his heart. In a scene that demonstrates his devastation Yasha climbs on top of his father's coffin and just lies there. The act is so devastatingly beautiful to read because it is so indicative of the shock that comes with the sudden death of a beloved father and the deep sadness and denial of that loss. The book is full of tender moments like this.
Francis is from Manhattan and her close nit family is falling apart. The description of how her family of four fit into their tiny apartment like mice is again so wonderfully descriptive and memorable. Dinerstein's power lies in her ability to marshal spare language with insight and unusual vision.
Her writing at times was so breathtaking I was compelled to reread passages in amazement and gratitude. Sally Wofford-Girand
A different kind of falling in love story, exquisitely written and deeply tender and touching.
Two young people meet at the top of the world while visiting an archipelago of islands in northern Norway above the Arctic circle.
Frances is in Norway to work at an artists colony after graduating college and being dumped by her boyfriend. Yasha, who just finished high school, is there to fulfill his father's last wish by burying him at the top of the world. Both are lost and lonely yet discover an immediate connection to each other that cannot be ignored.
Yasha is a Russian immigrant to the US who was raised in Brooklyn by his bread baking dad, and the sudden loss of this man has broken his heart. In a scene that demonstrates his devastation Yasha climbs on top of his father's coffin and just lies there. The act is so devastatingly beautiful to read because it is so indicative of the shock that comes with the sudden death of a beloved father and the deep sadness and denial of that loss. The book is full of tender moments like this.
Francis is from Manhattan and her close nit family is falling apart. The description of how her family of four fit into their tiny apartment like mice is again so wonderfully descriptive and memorable. Dinerstein's power lies in her ability to marshal spare language with insight and unusual vision.
Her writing at times was so breathtaking I was compelled to reread passages in amazement and gratitude. Sally Wofford-Girand