3.5

I usually love Alice Hoffman's books but this was not one in that category. This is a very depressing story. I'm not quite sure why she named it Illumination Night because that was barely mentioned. There wasn't much illumination otherwise.

Vonny and Andre live on Martha's Vineyard with their undersized son, Simon. Next door is an elderly lady who's going blind. She "falls" from an upstairs window at the first of the story so her 16 year old granddaughter, Jody, comes to live with her while she recuperates. The granddaughter sets her eye on Andre.

Spoiler alert. The story moves along at a snail's pace over a 2 or 3 year period. During this time, Jody tries to have sex with virtually every guy in her high school to make Andre notice her. Halfway through the story, Hoffman veers off into left field and inexplicably gives Vonny a raging case of agoraphobia, supposedly set off by her visit to her nasty rich father who refused her request for money they needed to pay Simon's hospital bills when they took him for a bunch of tests to see if he had a problem because he wasn't growing fast enough. If that isn't bad enough, she kills off Simon's six year old best friend by having her hit with a car because he's talked her into going where they weren't supposed to go to see a giant who lives there.

I finished the book but I can't say I enjoyed it. Depressing and sad with an entire group of dysfunctional family members. I'm not sure what mental state Hoffman was in when she wrote this book but I hope she recovered quickly and didn't write any other books while she felt that bad.

Another terrific book by Alice Hoffman - her writing always surprises me by immediately drawing me in and making me not want to put the book down. This is one of her older books and I am so glad I found it. The story takes place in Martha's Vineyard and focuses on a micro-chasm of society with the handful of families / characters involved: a couple with a young boy, an elderly neighbor, a teenage granddaughter, a giant (yes a giant), and various neighbors and acquaintances along with away; it's a spiderweb of real life issues, joys, sadnesses, and reality. I read it in a little over a day - loved it.

This is the first novel by Alice Hoffman that I have read. I enjoyed the magical realism aspect to her writing. Is is real, or a fairy tale? There are many allegorical aspects. As a previous reviewer wrote, there are images from the book that stay with you long after you finish reading.
Overall I was reminded of the work of John Irving, especially "Prayer for Owen Meany" and "The World According to Garp". Themes of being different (extremely, bizarrely so) and of tragedy, grief, and love are woven throughout.
I liked the shifting point of view and, although many of the characters were not deeply developed (hence the seemingly allegorical nature of their function in the story) the imagery is strong enough to make the experience of reading in shifting POV compelling.

The lives of the ordinary year round resident's of Martha's Vineyard are the focus of this story. An elderly woman struggling to cope with the true twilight of her life. A rebellious teenage girl unwillingly designated to be her grandmother's helper. And a young couple and their young son, all with their own inner struggles.Their lives are entangled in the most ordinary yet extraordinary ways.
Alice Hoffman is known for the magical element in her stories. This one had it as well, although it didn't figure as prominently. And while initially I struggled to engage, the prose so beautifully done kept me reading until the characters took hold of me.

Alice Hoffman’s books are not the kind you read and soon forget. Instead, they haunt you for years after you finish them, reminding you to search for light in darkness. They don’t impose their presence, though. They seem to come to us as a memory exactly when we need them to, almost as if they were summoned. They are indeed enchanting, their simplicity absolutely astounding.

Illumination Night reminded me of The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier, the very first book I read in English. I feel like I should revisit it soon for it has been quite a while since I last read it. It was while going through the process of accepting that people must die, with Simon, that I found myself thinking back on Brockmeier’s novel.

Death is, in my point of view, the main theme of Illumination Night. When I say death I don’t mean just the physical one, but also the feeling of death that comes with every breath we take. The constant mutation, the endless goodbyes whispered to the pieces of ourselves that seem to be taken from us by the ones who pass by. I think it’s about accepting that these goodbyes are not as permanent as they sound, as they feel, but mostly see-you-later’s. And rather literal ones, for all these people, all these pieces, they will reside within ourselves forever, even if we can’t quite see them.

There’s absolutely no doubt that Alice Hoffman creates wonderful contexts, brilliant backgrounds, but what I love the most about her books are her characters. They are never secondary, even if they only show up for a chapter. Her words are delicate, even when drawing the portrait of a human being that has taken more than enough wrong turns. She is kind to every soul, no matter what they have done. She gives them a chance, she listens to them… it’s so beautiful. It’s impossible not to be awed by her benevolence, by her humanity.

Her books always convey quite a strong and heavy message, and yet it doesn’t feel like that at all. It’s like she introduces these matters, layer by layer, so you can slowly blend with them. When you reach the end, you feel like you have been a witness to something huge, an event so immense you don’t have enough words or stars in the universe to describe it.

I have said this before, but I believe Alice Hoffman’s novels to be a lesson on how to be human. The only thing you have to do is be willing to listen. Once you are comfortable and about ready, she will start whispering these bittersweet little nothings that suddenly become your everything. It’s quite a breathtaking experience.

I found the book to be a little odd. It was an okay read, though.

I surprise myself when I say that I am a fan of Alice Hoffman. The magic, or fantasy, attached to her novels is something that I wouldn't think that I would enjoy. But, alas, I do. This book, like the other books by Ms. Hoffman that I have read, is full of fantasy, love, and tragedy. From Vonny, Andre, and their undersized son, Simon, to their elderly neighbor, Elizabeth Renny, her granddaughter, Jody, and the Giant (probably my favorite), the characters were definitely flawed, but I really liked them!

The title of this book could as easily be Into The Woods, for within its pages can be found an old crone, who wonders if the neighborhood children think she's a witch; a terrifying (if warm and fuzzy and chicken- loving) giant; a wicked step-mother; a wolf, who may be more attacked by Little Red than vice versa; a precocious and gnomish little fellow... No wonder the main character,through whose perspective we meet this motley bunch, has wicked panic attacks!
The novel offers a timeless fairy tale aura perhaps, but nevertheless is set in present day Martha's Vineyard and peopled with characters we care about and root for to make it safely out of the darkest danger and into the light of saving love.

Alice Hoffman's writing is truly enchanting, taking average people on everyday journeys with magic and mystical touches! I first read this 32 years ago, and thus began my infatuation with Alice Hoffman's books. Illumination Night refers to an annual event on Martha's Vineyard, where the story is set. On this night, residents set free illuminated lanterns, creating a beautiful, magical scene. The book follows the theme of feeling trapped, physically, emotionally and mentally, and being released, like the lanterns on Illumination Night .We meet a young married couple and their son who they suspect may have a serious medical condition, the wife filled with anxiety and the husband questioning his fidelity. Their next door neighbor, an elderly woman, feeling trapped by her aging body, being cared for by her teen aged grand daughter, feeling trapped by society's and her families expectations of her...and how they both help each other escape the emotional barriers. Later in the book, we meet a character introduced as the Giant, and how his life intertwines with the other characters, to escape his own boundaries. An enchanting wonderful read to escape into!

Magical!

Alice Hoffman's beautiful writing makes all her stories come to life, and Illumination Night is no exception. Its difficult to describe the plot of this story. On the one hand, it is the story of neighbors moving through a year together. The reader gets to know Vonny, Andre and their son, Simon, as well as their neighbor, Elizabeth and her granddaughter, Jody, and all the intricacies that make up their lives. We watch Vonny and Andre lose and find each other, Simon find a real friend, only to lose her, Elizabeth deal with growing old, and Jody find true love in the most unexpected place. Beyond these individual stories, Illumination Night is about facing our fears, learning to let go, and accepting death as part of our lives. It is about relationships and making sure we never take our loved ones for granted. Its a beautiful, magical story about life, as only A!ice Hoffman can tell it.

Much about this book is unusual. Alice Hoffman is great with magical realism elements, and making each of her many books stand apart with them- in this one's case, there is someone afflicted with agoraphobia, a giant, a boy who seems incapable of growing, and a teenage girl who seems hellbound on making messes of things wherever she goes. Jody, the teen, is taking care of her grandmother, Elizabeth Rennie after she had an accident. Elizabeth's neighbors, Andre and Vonnie have a son, Simon who doesn't seem to grow any bigger, causing them to have friction in their marriage. As per usual, more characters are drawn into the plot as the story progresses, but none of them truly stuck out to me as particularly likable, except perhaps Simon.

Nonetheless, this was a hard book for me to put down. Something about it calls you back to it even after you read through some difficult scenes and kind of want to put it down. It's an addictive sort of ambivalence, but I wasn't surprised I finished it given my love of Alice Hoffman's works. Others might find themselves a bit out of their depth with the sudden turns of events, regardless of the gratuitous foreshadowing that is the author's characterizations.

Although I didn't particularly like Vonnie, I could relate to her. She faces many difficult things throughout the course of the book, but remains true to herself. Andre, her husband had me gagging for a multitude of reasons. Sometimes people who have everything get so out of touch that they're willing to ruin everything they have for just a little more. As for Simon, other than the giant (who comes in later in the book), he was my most liked character... and he acted his age.

Jody is pissed that her parents would leave her with her grandmother, who she doesn't really know all that well. She reacts in teenage fashion and rebels in ways that had me alternately rolling my eyes and gritting my teeth. Of course, as a teen, she is bound to be somewhat impulsive, but some of the turns of events in this book left me feeling sad more than anything else.

A favorite snippet:
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Andre lets go of Jody, and as she follows him across the street, Jody knows that on the ride home she will sit in the back of the truck, and by then the stars will be as white and sharp as dragon's teeth.

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~Illumination Night by Alice Hoffman, page 28 of my edition.

Illumination Night is an emotional, and sometimes temperamental magical realism novel that makes you wish you could play God a bit with the characters to tweak the eventual outcome. I think it'd be hard not to feel the ups and downs of the characters, and this I admit as someone who was not all that fond of them. For that reason, I don't feel like it's the best book for those unfamiliar with Hoffman's writing and plotting, but it does have enough of what I love about her writing to make me rate it 4 Stars. If you are suffering from a spell of book apathy, for better or for worse, this might be your cure.

Rating: 4 of 5 Stars for a magical realism fiction that stays with you emotionally.

As posted on my book blog, n  Victorian Soul Critiquesn.