Sarah Combs

I wouldn't say it was perfect, but it was so thought-provoking. I love books that ask the tough questions!

This is going to be a tough one to review. It's like trying to describe the way something delicious tastes-- there are only so many words to do it and none of them are as good as the actual eating of the food. I had the best time reading this book. It's so smart and emotional that I basically never wanted it to end.

This book was one of those "not a lot happens" books, but it makes up for show more it in FEELING. I'll always love a book that makes me think about the whys in life. And this one made me do a lot of thinking.

I loved so many of these characters. Good and bad. Not everyone is a good guy in this book, but mostly, even the ones who were the bad ones made me feel compassion towards them in some way.

April is in Delaware and she has that weird condition where she can remember details about every day of her life, and she's always felt like she was tied to the bad things that seem to happen in April every year. After all, she was born on the day of the Oklahoma City bombing. Lincoln's dad was killed on September 11th, and now he's seeing a girl way out of his league.... except nobody knows the secrets she carries. The Mastermind has been waiting for this day for a long, long time. Nothing is going to stop him from carrying out his ultimate plan. Gavin is crammed in a janitorial closet with an entire classroom of kids scared he'll never be able to run again. And a bunch of other kids hate themselves more than anyone else could ever hate them.

It's a really hard book to explain because it's not what happens in the book that is impactful, it's what the book makes you think about.

Sometimes the philosophizing got old, but it was so insightful and meaningful that I didn't mind. This book made me think about all the crazy things that happen in the world we live in and it made me feel like I did when I read [b:Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock|13477676|Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock|Matthew Quick|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1370282544s/13477676.jpg|19008613]. Like how there are so many people in pain & how many of those people are people that I know?? How many people are hiding their pain and how many do I interact with, and am I too self-involved to ever notice it? How many people do I miss out on helping? It also made me realize that I'll never understand certain things (like why people are so intent on hurting other people) and that people are really hard to understand in general.

So it ended rather abruptly, but I think I am okay with not knowing what happens to every last character. I kind of like imagining it on my own.

Quote: "I think about it all the time, how many people there are, how there can't possibly be room on this earth for all that love and confusion and longing and fury. Where are you supposed to put it all? Where's it going to fit?"

OVERALL: Another one of those books that hit me right in the gut. I love books like this that make me think outside of myself and look around at life that's going on that has nothing to do with me. I'd recommend this to so many people, so I'm just going to say-- if you like books that make you feel, read this!

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I wasn't sure what I was expecting when I requested this book; it certainly wasn't what I got. This book was not linear; it jumps from POV to POV, sometimes even in time. The story follows nine individuals in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon Bombings, and leading up to premeditated coordinated mass school shootings across the country.

The stories are all linked, sometimes directly, sometimes with only the mention of a shared thought or experience. Because of the shifting viewpoints, I show more never got to spend enough time with each character. Each chapter was told from the first person POV and depending on the narrator, these chapters could veer close to stream-of-consciousness. It was a little difficult at first to keep track and make the connections, but after a while, I got into the groove and the pieces started falling together. I still really wanted a more cohesive whole rather than these snapshots we were given.

But I realized that the stylistic choice Combs made by having short chapters that were extremely first-person POV, that jumped around and at times seemingly unconnected -- this accentuates the point that the small moments matter. That it can take a very small thing to stop somebody from making a horrific mistake, and we have to be aware of our own connections with others. It can be a teacher sitting a student down and talking to them, or a stranger making conversation on a street, or your sister forcing you out of the house for a run. it's also about being aware that the choices we make in life impact the lives of others, for better or worse.

School shootings are never an easy topic to read about in fiction; the topic always seems to hit too close to reality. But I think this book tries to address some of the root causes of at least some of these shootings, which is that the isolationism that many of the perpetrators of these events feel is actually a false isolation.

Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley. show less

Where to begin? There's a lot to say about The Light Fantastic, not the least of which is the fact that Sarah Combs has fairly perfectly captured the voice of a generation in this book. It's important that there are books like this out there. It's tragic that school shootings, and mass bombings, are becoming a more normalized part of our society. What's even more tragic though, are the kids who are caught up in that. The ones who are absorbing it throughout their formative years. We're show more taught to believe that these tragedies are caused by the "bad people" out there. What happens when they're not though? What happens when the person you least expect, is the one that has the biggest secrets?

First off, much love to Sarah Combs for so excellently outlining many different teenage personalities. One of my biggest issues with stories told from multiple points of view, is that it's normally hard to tell who is speaking at any given time. This isn't a problem at all in The Light Fantastic. Each character has their own brilliant personality. Combs even goes so far as to have one character who, to the dismay of many readers I'm sure, speaks using hashtags. I admit, I found it completely amusing. Since I know people in my life who do the same thing, I couldn't fault him for it. The bright side was that you always knew when it was a Gavin chapter!

What's even more impressive though, is how quickly Combs builds up these characters into whole, and realistic human beings. April's consistent inner tension, Phoebe's need for something to cling to, even Gavin's coping mechanism of making light of things, were all given their own chance to shine. Which meant, of course, that I was entirely too invested in these characters. I knew that this book was going somewhere dark, and that I probably shouldn't get too attached, but it was difficult not to care. These are teens. They are living, breathing people with secrets that they are afraid to share. It's both beautiful, and absolutely tragic to see so deeply into their lives. It makes this book all the more poignant.

Truth be told, this book was actually much less violent than I expected it to be. When you're dealing with school violence on a mass level, it's hard not to anticipate cringing a bit. What Sarah Combs chooses to focus on though, isn't the violence. It's the people behind it. The faces of the lost, blending into the background but are secretly begging for someone to notice them. The faces of those who actually notice the lost ones, and try to reach out them. Even when they don't understand exactly why. By the time this story reached its climax, I was breathless. The tension here isn't built by the violence, but by the events leading up to it and the people who wish to create it. It's such an effective way to tackle this subject.

At the end of the day, this was a near perfect book. Despite any small issues that I had, I was so amazed at how deftly this story was woven together. I'd highly recommend this to all the teenagers out there, but also to their parents. The Light Fantastic is the type of book that merits sharing, to discussion, and hopefully learning as well. show less

When I first started this book I was nervous about how I would feel when the plot really began. With school shootings being so prominent these days, this could be a very touchy subject. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that this book treated the matter very delicately while still telling a very gripping and entertaining tale. Combs found a way to keep the reader interested by telling the the story from the point of view of seven different people from across the United States and how show more bullying affected them, and in turn how they dealt with it. I praise Combs for such a wonderful rendition, it allows us an opportunity to peer in to the lives of those that are troubled so that we can understand them more. I recommend this book to others. show less