WOW. What a pleasant surprise. It didn't take long to get sucked into the two stories, one based on real events in the Andirondack mountains. At times a little graphic but riveting reading. The use of Mattie's 'word of the day' is at times contrived, yet a thoroughly compelling read, that will have you experiencing a range of emotions as you empathise with Mattie's plight. ( )

From http://booknerds.net

This is by far one of my favourite books, for so many reasons!

My second favourite thing about A Northern Light is Mattie. I love Mattie, she is a very rare type of person (I’ve come to find out) which I have been blessed with of having plenty of in my family. The type of person that will do anything within their power for their family, even though it’s not exactly what they want to do with their life. Mattie puts her dreams aside to help her father and her family until she finally meets a tutor that lets her know that it is okay for her to follow her dreams, and pushes her to do exactly that! Donnelly also managed to tug on my heartstrings with Mattie’s struggle with how to deal with Grace, and the secret that only the two of them, and one other person the police can’t find, share. Throw in a cute boy who isn’t so smart, and doesn’t expect much of her, a black best-friend (remember: this was 1906), and a pack of friends whose mother deals with some extreme problems, and you have one little girl with a big weight on her shoulders. Yet, Mattie manages to handle it all in stride, grace, and with hope for the future. Mattie is honestly one of the strongest, most believable, honest, likable, and well written characters I have ever had the pleasure of reading.

My third favourite thing about the book is Mattie and Weaver’s word games. Often times when they’re throwing words back and forth, I found myself trying to play along – choosing words neither of them had said yet – and often times I also failed. I love reading, I love writing, but a large vocabulary of words has never been my strongest suit. Therefore it was awesome being able to read an amazing story as well as learn some new things (words) along the way, more-so than usual.

The number one thing that I absolutely love the most is actually a combination of two things: 1, the fact that Grace Brown was once a real person, and her story really happened; 2, the writing. Grace’s story is so utterly heartbreaking (maybe more so cause I’ve read anything I could find on it), and Jennifer Donnelly did such an amazing job of combining something she wasn’t even alive for into a world she never got to see so authentically. I never questioned what she described, any of the language, people, settings, etc. While reading the book for all I know, she HAD been alive and HAD witnessed the horrific incident on Big Moose Lake. ( )

I sometimes worry that I miss things by listening to the audio version of a book. In this case, I suspect that the audio version of A Northern Light created a different impression for me than if I had just read the book.

A Northern Light is about Mattie Gokey, a teenager in New York’s Adirondack Mountains in the early 1900s. She is a farm girl bearing many family responsibilities after her mother’s death, but who secretly desires to go to college in NYC. By chance, Mattie also comes to possess letters belonging to a young woman who suspiciously drowned at the local lake resort.

I didn’t love this book, which surprised me since it was recommended by a good friend who’s opinion I wholeheartedly trust. If I’m honest, I never gave the book a fair chance. The narrator’s voice was extremely annoying, and I often found myself cringing at both her voice attempts and her unusual inflection. It can be difficult to divorce narration from the book itself, but I’ll try.

Jennifer Donnelly created an intelligent and likable main character in Mattie. Unfortunately, her clear intelligence made it hard to believe her frequent obliviousness about people’s intentions and the events around her. I was able to figure out every major plot twist long before it was revealed, but Mattie remained completely unaware each time. Maybe this is a case of, as my sister says, a smart person having no common sense – but I was hoping for more out of Mattie.

Each thing I enjoyed about A Northern Light was like this – having a flip side that detracted from the book as well. Donnelly did a great job of incorporating some timely racial issues into the story, but Weaver, the only black boy in the book, was disappointingly two-dimensional and predictable. Mattie’s love of words allowed Donnelly to use interesting vocabulary, but it was done with a heavy hand and often felt forced. The based-on-true-events drowning is a captivating story, but it is never truly connected to Mattie’s own story and it ends up feeling like two different books have been rather awkwardly crammed into one volume.

Due to the two-sided nature of this book, I gave it a middle-of-the-road 3 out of 5 rating. More importantly, I still trust my friend’s opinion, because I can definitely see why she recommended A Northern Light.

http://decklededges.wordpress.com/200... ( )

At 16, Mattie Gokey is struggling to provide for her family after her mother's death. She also tries to indulge her love of words and stories. But Mattie is deeply conflicted between the needs of her family, her attraction to a local boy, and her desire to go away to college to study writing which no one at home seems to understand. To earn extra money, Mattie ends up working at the Glenmore hotel - and becomes the custodian of a set of secret letters that could reveal the identity of a murderer.

Although Grace Brown's murder is made much of on the back cover, at heart, this is Mattie's story - and Grace is more incidental, important for the effect that she has on Mattie. There's a lot of emotion hidden beneath the surface of this novel - and all of it is intense and raw coming-of-age. There was a lot about this book that I found very relatable and compelling - Mattie deep love of words, of sorting through them for just the right meaning; her worry that her friends are getting in over their heads (both Weaver and Minnie for different reasons), her conflict between doing what is best for her and doing what is best for her family. It's not always clear that Mattie will make the 'right' decision or even what the 'right' decision for Mattie is, and that adds immensely to the novel.

my blog. ( )

I'll be the first to tell you that Jennifer Donnelly is not the greatest writer ever, but there is something in her work that sparks emotion. She knows the right kind of stories to tell that makes people feel and want to continue reading.

A Northern Light is a story about a fictional character named Mattie, who's working at the Glenmore hotel when a real event happens. The real event happened on July 11, 1906. The murder of Grace Brown. I didn't know a thing about this event until I p...more I'll be the first to tell you that Jennifer Donnelly is not the greatest writer ever, but there is something in her work that sparks emotion. She knows the right kind of stories to tell that makes people feel and want to continue reading.

A Northern Light is a story about a fictional character named Mattie, who's working at the Glenmore hotel when a real event happens. The real event happened on July 11, 1906. The murder of Grace Brown. I didn't know a thing about this event until I picked up this book. I researched it a bit and now I can't get the event or Grace Brown out of my head. Donnelly says that after writing this book, Grace Brown's words haunt her. And after reading them myself, they haunt me as well. It's such a tragic story, what happened to Grace, that I can't help but think about it and wonder how her life would have been if the events on July 11th hadn't happened.

As for the fictional story surrounding this real event, Donnelly again creates a host of memorable characters and a strong heroine and events with just enough specifics that makes you feel as if you're there without the overabundance of details.

I just finished this book and am a bit overwhelmed, so my review isn't as detailed as it could be. Or perhaps I just can't type out what I'm feeling. Either way, Donnelly's got me feeling again. And she's also sparked my interest in researching the real crime from 1906. ( )