How the Light Gets in

Intelligent novel of a high school exchange student living with a host family in america. As with most teenagers she is learning about love, alchohol, drugs and making descisions that prove she is her own worse enemy. I think the story would appeal to most young girls trying to make their first decisions as an adult. Easy read with a good wit and flow.

This novel is DEFINITELY worth reading,rereading and treasuring. M.J. Hyland's conjured up an intelligently sharp-tongued character. The character,16 year old Lou,is an even pissier and more cynical Holden Caulfield,turned into a girl, morphed with a more edgy,Australian Esther Greenwood. Her characters are potrayed with no sentiment. Rather than sugar coating them,she's given them skeptisism and painfully dead-on emotions,a humanity that's actually convincing. I bought it from only looking at the cover(it has a great cover). After reading it,though,it couldn't matter less what it looked like. It,as far as I'm concerned,has to be read cover-to-cover in one sitting(atleast the first time). The ending of the book is one of those incredible endings that leave you breathless and linger with you a long time after. I highly recommend 'How the Light Gets in' to anyone who can read.

I was extremely impressed with Hyland's first novel, How The Light Gets In. It explores perceptions and society's expectations of behavior and gives an honest look at intelligence. I'm extremely disappointed, however, in some of the reviews I've read of the book, claiming that Lou is a whiny, idiotic, flaky brat. On the contrary, she is an amazingly intelligent character who is only trying to figure herself out. Some say that Hyland paralelled Caulfield too greatly, but I personally don't see any paralells. What I see is a girl who's intelligence makes her rise above society's expectations and ask why we go by a prescribed script of dialouge instead of being honest about our feelings and experiences. I especially enjoyed Lou's search for love and normalcy apart from her dreary, poverty-filled life in Sydney, and her failure to realise that money doesn't buy happiness. For a great deal of my life, I thought that if I only had a lot of money, all of my problems would be solved. Now that I'm older and wiser, I realise that unhappiness comes in all classes, races, and religions. Lou's almost childlike look on the world, counteracted by her incredible intelligence, makes this book a true gem. I'd reccommend it to anyone.

In M.J. Hyland's debut novel, "How The Light Gets In," sixteen year old Lou Connor comes to America as an exchange student hoping to trade in her shame-invoking family and poverty for the American Dream. She's placed in the home of the Hardings, a seemingly nice family on the surface, but who harbor dysfunctions of their own. Lou is precocious, intelligent, socially awkward and need of alcohol to loosen her up. The harder she tries to fit in with the Hardings, the more she messes up. What she craves more than anything, to live in an ordinary home, where the sheets are clean and she is loved, eludes her. I loved the book. Full of over-the-top images, humor, and wisdom it engaged me throughout. I'm not sure how I feel about the ending. I could argue for it and I could argue against it. But I wouldn't argue about reading this novel a second time.

Fabulous and fulfilling. I was sad when i finished because i felt like i had lost a friend. I've never felt closer to a character in a novel before this. I miss having Lou's voice in my head. I would definately recommend this book.

This is a book that comes from the gut. It directly hits the confusion and beauty of being young. It's the feeling of knowing that there are reasons for living, that there is incredible beauty in the world, but all you can see in others is what you dislike about yourself. The feeling of growing up, knowing that you are a square peg and all you can find right now are the round holes. The plot is the plot. It is not particularly important, other than providing the protagonist situations to bounce off of. And that it does very well.