Illumination Night

It's impossible to describe how amazing this story is. It made me angry at times, filled me with joy, and brought me to tears.

f there was a way to give 3.5 stars, I do that, because this is a pretty good book. But it's not 4-star material. It's a strange mix of feeling very real and then jumping into this fantasy realm a few times, and I don't love the combination. Gabriel Garcia Marquez can get away with it, but Alice Hoffman can't.

The main plot line follows a wife and husband who are living on Martha's Vineyard with their 4-year-old son. They are struggling financially and emotionally, though things aren't a disaster when the book begins. They do spiral down in the approximately two years that the book's events occur. The spiraling down is sad, but it's well done and feels very realistic.

Next door lives an elderly woman. At the opening of the book, she falls out of an upstairs window (it turns out she jumped in a delusion she could fly), and her 16-year-old granddaughter is tasked with living with her during her convalescence in the summer. The girl decides to stay on, rather than go back to mainland Connecticut, in part because she's an unhappy teen, in part because her home life sucks, and in part because she's fallen for the dad next door. The fact that the dad shows no interest in her and even rebuffed her sets her off on a series of boyfriends at her high school; you'd have to say that she becomes the school slut, though it's portrayed from her point of view, which is that she's just having sex as a way to pass the time.

Anyway, the two families live side-by-side and don't interact much for a while. Eventually, the mom gets the idea that the girl has a crush on her husband and warns her off. Rather than become enemies, the girl starts babysitting for the family, in part because the mom is trying to make sure her husband doesn't develop a wandering eye. It's an interesting twist that I think is done well, and it brings to life the good side of the girl -- she's good with the young boy, just like she's good with her grandmother.

However, a series of crises emerge. The biggest one is financial, as the husband's business of restoring antique motorcycles dries up, and one or two people stiff him on payment. The son needs medical tests because he's so short that the parents think about hormone treatments. The mom is a potter, and she does well at it, but that's not exactly lucrative. Furthermore, she develops a crushing fear of leaving her house -- the same symptom her mom developed when her husband left her for a younger woman. Tensions rise, lots of shouting...but strangely enough, still a lot of sex between the husband and wife. And without giving anything away, let's just say that the husband and wife have to confront whether or not to stay together.

Meanwhile, the girl stays on through her senior year of high school, alternating between being a slut and having just one friend (a girl) with whom she's not even comfortable confiding. She's lonely, but as her parents' breakup occurs, she knows she'll never live with either of them again.

And then, the fantastical part that doesn't work for me. There's a Giant living on the island. Yes, a Giant. (I'm using the capital letter as does the book.) He's a legend, but he's also real -- a very tall young man who is afraid to speak with anyone or even to be seen by them. Kids and even teens are frightened of the legend who they've never seen. He makes a living by having a farm stand which he fills when nobody is around, and at which he sells eggs and vegetables on the honor system -- put your money in a coffee can.

Well, the girl (Jody) runs up to his house on dare, and she falls in love at first sight, and vice versa. So they begin a torrid affair that both rids her of her lust for the dad and also gives her something to look forward to after high school. For the Giant, Jody is the only person who's ever cared for him, and he even makes one public appearance to congratulate her on her graduation day. Of course, Jody's dad hates this hulk, and something goes wrong that's neither of their faults, and things blow up for them. And the story ends with most lives shattered and two people dead.

So, you've got this really solid story of typical parent fears and money challenges, but multiplied severely. You have an interesting view of Martha's Vineyard from year-round residents of modest means, rather than the ultra-rich. You have perspectives of an observant little boy and also a dreamy grandmother. And you have the sullen teen with a little more than meets the eye. All well and good. Then you have this Giant, which makes no sense -- wish it wasn't there.

A lovely novel.

4 Stars

This was so freaking good. The integration of the mundanity of human life along with the magic of human life was so wonderfully done. The entire story felt real, but Hoffman also managed to maintain the mystical quality of existence.

So, yes, Bert. You were right. I did really enjoy this book.

This is a rather peculiar novel. The complex relationships between neighbors in Martha's Vineyard are explored. Jody, a rebellious teen, has moved to be with her grandmother while her grandmother recovers from an accident. Jody, somewhat of a loner, seems to seek out trouble, adopting boyfriends who she sleeps with immediately and then discards when she grows bored with them. She is barely scraping by in school. She befriends the neighbors and babysits their young son, but she has her eye on the dad and intends to have an affair with him; no reason was given for her obsession with him. The mother of the young boy has her own set of problems, and struggles to deal with her agoraphobia.

Jody eventually befriends the town freak, a young man called the Giant who lives on his own on a small farm and makes his living selling eggs from his chickens and a bit of produce from his garden.

I was constantly struggling to understand Jody's motivations, and trying to predict her next move. The ending of the novel left the mystery of Jody unresolved, though some of the other plot points and relationships were dealt with more definitively. It just seemed that the novel ended too soon. I prefer plot points to be tied up in a more tidy and conclusive fashion.

Reading this book was like dreaming a dream… one where you wake up and feel deep down that the strange, seemingly disconnected events all have a deeper meaning. Each character seems to pulse with a human emotion — fear, desire, wonder, regret, hope — and several characters cycle through them all. Alice Hoffman is a master at tapping into the mystical elements of living a life, both the joy and the pain. She captures the human experience in simple yet profound ways, putting words to feelings and experiences I didn’t even realize I have had.

So this was not my favorite of Hoffman's books, but the story grew on me and became more hopeful by the end. Once the Giant was introduced, I was more attached to the story. For some reason it was hard for me to believe at the beginning and through the middle of the book that Andre, a father and husband, would fall in love with a stupid high-school girl. I enjoyed the characters themselves more then their drama at some points. Vonny's hereditary agoraphobia seems to be what ultimately saves her relationship with her husband. When the little girl gets hit by the car, it was interesting to see how much Hoffman focused on this. It made the affair seem less trivial, but it was hard for me to grasp who Simon was as he continued to grow. Overall, the story kept me interested. Good read!