Laura Whitcomb
Graphia, September 2005
Realistic fiction with fantastical elements
Creepy ghost love story -- sounds perfect, but A Certain Slant of Light just fell flat for me. I was really excited to read the book, but after only about 25 pages I was bored, bored, bored. I forced myself to finish hoping that something get would happen in the end that would redeem the book. But sadly, not.
In the class of the high school English teacher she has been haunting, Helen feels them: For the first time in 130 years, human eyes are looking at her. They belong to a boy, a boy who has not seemed remarkable until now. And Helen--terrified, but intrigued--is drawn to him. The fact that he is in a body and she is not presents this unlikely couple with their first challenge. But as the lovers struggle to find a way to be together, they begin to discover the secrets of their former lives and of the young people they come to possess. From Laura Whitcomb's website
I will start off with the good because there were several key good things about the book. First of all I loved the concept; the plot itself was interesting and I kept reading just to find out why the main characters were dead and how they ended up haunting instead of moving on to the "afterlife." The beginning was excellent I was totally into the story right at the beginning. The mystery of the book who can see Helen, who has been dead for many, many years, is completely appealing. But that's about where the good ends.
The characters are relatively interesting, but nothing really drew me to them after the first 10 pages or so. I was interested in Helen's life/death but not all that interested. But the real problem was that nothing made me excited about the book; put it down right in the middle and walked away for several days. Not a good sign. The writing was confusing in many places and I was constantly going back and rereading sections to make sure I hadn't missed something. Many of the major plot moments just didn't seem believable. I just couldn't believe Helen and James' relationship or their relationships with their "fake" families.
I really wanted to like this book, but it was severely lacking.
Move to the bottom of the to-read pile
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