Illumination Night

This book starts off slow and I thought I wouldn't like it, but it becomes a thrilling book that you won't be able to put down! There are many different stories to follow and they develop over time. I would recommend this book to anyone! Alice Hoffman is great and another book by her Here on Earth is another great read!

I picked up this book on a summer vacation in Martha's Vineyard and was both charmed and entertained by it. The tradition of Illumination Night and the summer gatherings of Methodist families on the island make a kind of magical, firefly-lit ambiance for this tale of people, young and old, whose lives intersect in unexpected ways. The most fascinating character for me was the agoraphobic young wife, trapped in her house by fears she can barely articulate. Hoffman's treatment of this characters is so realistic and convincing that after reading the novel I felt for the first time that I not only understood this condition; I had lived it. While the gentle-giant young man is a bit of a surprise for someone reading Hoffman for the first time, she also makes this character perfectly plausible and sympathetic. You can accept the young girl's falling in love with him because we come to care about him ourselves, while realizing that she has the power to break his heart.As a writer, Hoffman leaves you with the impression that she feels deeply for her characters, regardless of their weaknesses and shortcomings. And putting down this novel, you can feel in yourself a tender-heartedness for others that most books either don't try to evoke, or try and fail.

This was the first book I ever read of Alice Hoffman, and I was completely amazed by her talent of writing such vivid and enchanting tales of ordinary people. Illumination night is a somewhat sad tale about destructive and longing love, that is destined to fail from the beginning. I could feel the pain that the young girl felt, knowing that the man she loved could never be hers. This is a story of passage, a young girl grows up and faces reality and her grandmother grows older and faces the fact that death cannot be avoided. After reading this book I got hooked on Hoffman's books. This is still my favorite book, alongside HERE ON EARTH. I really recommend this book if you aren't afraid of getting touched. Tears will fall, but in the end you will feel very whole.

I loved this book. Alice Hoffman has a wonderful talent, especially for a writer who can keep this type of POV throughout the entire novel without flaw. The characters were flexible and the little touches of "magic" here and there make it a very cozy, interesting book. Haunting, however? I don't think so...

Illumination Night is a sadly sweet story of a slightly disfunctional young family coming to terms with their disappointments as well as their mortality. Simon, the slight four year old who only yearns to grow, is juxtaposed with his elderly neighbor who seems to be getting smaller and younger. His mom is becoming unnaturally fearful as the dangers of the world seem to increasingly threaten her family. Meanwhile the rebellious teenager of the elderly neighbor has found meaning in caring for her grandmother, and the giant down the road only wants to be loved. What a cast of characters! Ms Hoffman lets you see into the heart of each. Her slightly askew but likable people remind me of the type of characters Anne Tyler invents. This was my first Alice Hoffman story and I thoroughly enjoyed it.