Like many teenagers, I read The Catcher In The Rye repeatedly while growing up. Holden Caulfield's paranoia, cynicism and self-reproach speak clearly to you at that age. I've read many books since that attempt to capture the same suffocating sense of teenage alienation, some more successful than others, but MJ Hyland's How The Light Gets In comes closer than most. Loneliness, self-delusion (and destruction), and doomed inevitability play a large part in the story of Louise, a foreign exchange student from a poor Australian background who goes to stay with a wealthy American family for a year. Hyland achieves a fine balance in making us both sympathise with Louise and want to give her a good slap. Still, she has a way of looking at the world which proves entrancing at times, making you see things from a perspective you might never have considered - or offering observations (as in the extract above) that had me nodding in agreement.

Read the full review at my blog. ( )

Kind of like a female, modern Catcher in the Rye, but without the cleverness. It was just alright. ( )

Very run of the mill book. ( )

Australian teen, Lou, comes to America as an exchange student to escape her lower class family. Living with an upper middle class family in a Chicago suburb seems perfect at first, but Lou just can't seem to be the good girl she & everyone else wants her to be. ( )

australian teen comes to america as an exchange student to escape her lower class family. living with an upper middle class family in a chicago suburb seems perfect at first, but lou just can't seem to be the good girl she and everyone else wants her to be. ( )