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A review by meghan111
A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb
4.0
A spellbinding tale of the imagined afterlife, this lyrical, literary novel immediately propels the reader into a world where a nameless young female narrator exists as a ghost amid the daily existence of a high school. The constraints of this afterlife are perfectly described: while our narrator can see and hear, she is unable to affect or touch anything around her or remember details of her own past. The limited nature and horror of this existence come into stark relief when the narrator finds that at last, someone else is able to enter into her isolation and communicate with her. The subsequent quest to resolve her own identity and come to terms with her past and death will keep readers turning the pages as they empathize with her pursuit to express herself and find the meaning of her own existence in this afterlife.
Strongly developed characters and a gripping conclusion will help keep young adults entranced with the world of this novel, which could also easily be enjoyed by adult readers. Appealing mainly to girls, this ghost story also features a central romantic relationship and some non-graphic sexual scenes. Sensory details of daily existence which normally might be taken for granted are reconsidered in the contemplation of what it would mean to never experience them again, and the issues of mortality and the afterlife Whitcomb raises come to a satisfying conclusion.
Strongly developed characters and a gripping conclusion will help keep young adults entranced with the world of this novel, which could also easily be enjoyed by adult readers. Appealing mainly to girls, this ghost story also features a central romantic relationship and some non-graphic sexual scenes. Sensory details of daily existence which normally might be taken for granted are reconsidered in the contemplation of what it would mean to never experience them again, and the issues of mortality and the afterlife Whitcomb raises come to a satisfying conclusion.