Light from Other Stars
Ratings4
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings4
Average rating3.8
A Long Island Reads 2020 Selection * A Real Simple Best Book of 2019 From the bestselling author of The Book of Speculation, a “tender and ambitious” (Vulture) novel about time, loss, and the wonders of the universe. Eleven-year-old Nedda Papas is obsessed with becoming an astronaut. In 1986 in Easter, a small Florida Space Coast town, her dreams seem almost within reach--if she can just grow up fast enough. Theo, the scientist father she idolizes, is consumed by his own obsessions. Laid off from his job at NASA and still reeling from the loss of Nedda's newborn brother several years before, Theo turns to the dangerous dream of extending his daughter's childhood just a little longer. The result is an invention that alters the fabric of time. Decades later, Nedda has achieved her long-held dream and is traveling aboard the space ship Chawla, part of a small group hoping to colonize a distant planet. But as she floats in zero gravity, far from earth, she and her crewmates face a serious crisis. Nedda may hold the key to the solution, if she can come to terms with her past and the future that awaits her. For fans of The Age of Miracles and The Immortalists, Erika Swyler's Light from Other Stars is a masterful and ambitious novel about fathers and daughters, women and the forces that hold them back, and the true meaning of progress.
Reviews with the most likes.
👍🏼Pick It: if you're looking for the softer, genre cousin to science fiction.
👎🏼Skip It: If you want the zip! and zing! of space and time travel.
I came for the sci-fi, I stayed for the writing. Swyler has the ability to scale a desaturated wisp to a blinding stadium of color.
The problem is, ALFOS is a mosh pit of the realistic (Challenger crash) and the fantastical.
Trying to guide readers through the “fi” of sci-fi, while maintaining the standard of prose was too daunting.
Swyler took 300 pages for the character narrative, slogging a 100-page plot through like a consequence.
I really hope Swyler's next work is grounded (literally) in what she does best: a feelings-forward, character-focused story.
I really liked the science parts of this book. Swyler always does such a lovely job creating an atmospheric feel with her writing, and this book is no exception. My only critique would be that this book, up until the last 20 or so pages, is just SAD. Nothing but bad things happen and it was hard to read sometimes, although the story was ultimately a rewarding one.
This is science fiction, with much emphasis on the science, so be prepared to engage your brain muscles as you read. It's also a story of loss, and loneliness, and the lies we tell in hopes of saving others, so don't be surprised when it tugs on your heart muscles as well. Thoughtful, sometimes painful. One I could read again.
Erika Swyler is a talented writer and has a poetic take in “Light From Other Stars” on loss and grief, searching for a sense of belonging, friendship, and exploration. And it's partially set in 1986, which is a year I remember well and fondly. Yet, I found the book difficult to get through (and I've been on a reading kick the past 2 months). Not because the aforementioned topics are weighty and tough, but because the action seemed to move through sand, although much of it mixed a lot faster.
Nice shout out to Peaches ‘n Cream Barbie, one of my favorites in 1986.
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