Little Night

Warning! - Here be spoilers!

When Clare's sister, Anne, marries a mysterious man from Denmark, everything changes. The sister whom she was so close to suddenly cuts her family out of her life. Only gradually does Clare come to realize that her sister is being verbally and physically abused. Many years later, when Anne tries to escape her abuser with her children, her husband attacks her. Fighting to save her sister's life, Clare beats the man with a burning log from the fire. This fateful event ends with Clare in prison for assault and Anne still in the clutches of her fiendish husband.

Decades pass and Anne's daughter, Grit, finally wants to meet her aunt. She comes to stay with Clare in New York and over several weeks, the truth comes show more out. Can anything mend this broken family?

This book isn't poorly written, but the characters are so far-fetched and unsympathetic that I couldn't bring myself to care. Ms. Rice probably thinks she's asking an important question: At what point should one lose sympathy for a battered spouse? I think that's a thorny and complex issue, but Ms. Rice doesn't seem to agree. We the readers, as well as the characters in the book, are asked to extend infinite sympathy. I'm sorry, I can't. While I don't understand why a woman living in this century would choose to stay with a man who constantly beats and insults her, I do understand that there are often deep psychological scars that force her to remain. However, when she sits idly by and lets her sister go to jail for saving her life, I begin to lose patience. When she allows her children to be abused by her husband, I become disgusted. When one of her children kills himself rather than remain in this abusive situation, and she returns meekly to her place, I give her up as forever lost. When she joins her husband in abusing her remaining child, she has become sub-human herself. She should be in jail. She should never see her daughter again. Period.

And then, inexplicably, she "snaps out of it" and decides to leave her husband because her daughter is in the hospital for a flesh wound. I'm sorry... you didn't think you should leave your husband when YOUR SON KILLED HIMSELF BEFORE YOUR EYES but your daughter gets a scratch and suddenly you've come to your senses? It wasn't believable. It was stupid.

Oh and when her husband (surprise, surprise) won't let her leave, she kills him. And acts like it's no big deal. And so does everyone else in her life. Because murdering someone is fine as long as they're bad. Now she's a murder, but the reader is expected to remain sympathetic to her? Sorry, she lost all my sympathy when she beat her daughter with a red hot poker. I don't care if she said "sorry" later. She's a sociopath. show less

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I was glued to the pages, eagerly anticipating what would happen next. On the other hand, I wanted to reach inside this book and shake all of the characters! Grrr. What a frustrating group of people.

Anne, once a vibrant and strong woman, marries an abusive, controlling man and quickly becomes a shell of her former self. Even though her husband Frederick has cut her off from her family, her sister Clare cannot stay away. Clare comes for a visit which enrages Frederick, and he attacks Anne, in front of their two small children, no less. Trying to protect Anne, Clare attacks Frederick, but unfortunately does not kill him. Anne lies for her husband, and Clare goes to prison for two show more years for assault. Meanwhile, Frederick moves his family to his home in Denmark, and Clare has no contact with them until 18 years later when Anne's daughter Grit shows up unexpectedly at her door.

This book was about Clare and Grit's new bond, and also about forgiving Anne or at least understanding her behavior. The first part worked very well for me. Grit (short for Margarita) was my favorite character. She was brave and smart, and it's hard to believe how level-headed she was considering her childhood with a psychotic monster of a father. Grit and Clare found in each other what had been missing in their lives for nearly two decades.

I liked Clare, but I think her character could have been more developed. Her two-year prison term supposedly had a detrimental effect on her life even years later, but I never felt it. She's also had an on again, off again relationship with a man named Paul since they were teenagers, and, again, being in prison ruined that too, even though Paul supported her 100%. That didn't make sense to me. They still loved each other, so what's the problem?

The other part of the book - empathizing with Anne - was where I had great difficulty. I didn't like her. Did she even have a heart? We know Frederick didn't. Maybe the problem was that Frederick was simply too evil. He had no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and Anne had the opportunity to escape him early on. Why would she choose an abuser over her sister, over her children's welfare, over herself? We never learn why she fell under his spell so easily in the first place.

This was a sad and depressing story, and it certainly stirred up a lot of emotion in me, unfortunately it was mostly anger. I'm glad I read the book, even though I had trouble with a lot of the story. I do like it when books make me emotional, even if that emotion is negative. This is the first book by Luanne Rice I've read, so I don't know if this is her typical style or not. She has a short story called "Paul and Clare" which is about how they met, and I'd actually like to read it, so I guess all is not lost. show less

I had this book sitting on my TBR shelf for ever, I LOVE it when all of the sudden I decide to read one that got lost on the shelf and it turns of wonderful! Luanne Rice did a spectacular job with her Ornithology research and then threw in some wonderful food talk, I couldn't describe a book more for me! I never give away any plot, so you will have to read and find out all about the great birding to be done in the diverse city of NYC and feel yourself walking through the streets at night, in the cold, it was so exciting to read. A lot of maybe mysteries join in to make a book that only took me a few hours to read, I couldn't put it down.

Set in NY city, this story follows Clare, a quiet urban birder and nature blogger whose life is turned upside down when her niece arrives. Clare has not seen Grit for almost twenty years, not since Clare tried to save her own sister, Grit's mother, from domestic abuse and then was wrongfully sent to prison for assault. Can old wounds heal? Can Clare forgive her sister for the lies she told? An interesting story, especially the fallout abusive situations create and bird enthusiasts would especially enjoy this story. I found that I liked the characters more at the beginning of the book than the end, but still a good read with a good plot twist or two.

I thought this book was great! I have read several of hers and loved them all. I know from reading on her website that this was an incredibly personal story for her and it was told SO well. I am glad that the "ghost" of the story FINALLY does what should have been done from the start. I wish more women would stand up to their abusive husbands and protect themselves and their children no matter the cost.

Little Night by Luanne Rice
ISBN: 9780670023561
Book starts out with Clare attacking her sisters husband because of what he's done to them all. She ends up in prison and her sister Anne and the kids, gilly and grit are still left behind to endure his torture.
While in prison she's had a lot of time to herself and thinks about the past and ends things with her Central Park ranger boyfriend, Paul. She is depressed and comes to life once again after a visitor has left with the promise of a job, with conditions.
After Clare gets out she does seek out Paul again and they resume their bird watches and rescues in the hopes of seeing an extinct laughing owl.
Grit comes to live with Clare and the truth comes out as to why she is there.
The symbolism show more of the bog, the accident and how it brings them closer makes all that's happened come together as one.
Just when you think you've learned all you can about a topic: snowy owls, Central Park, variety of birds, rather than shoving it down your throats like other authors might do, Luanne knows exactly when to move onto other things. It's just a super blend, seamless.
Like that Grit knows how to cook elegantly from scratch and can do wonders with barely anything.
What happened at the bog landed Grit in the hospital. While there she knows her mother stood over her bed. She's seen other signs of her mother being in town, and so has Clare.
Love the mystery as to why Anne couldn't contact them in the city.
I like a book that takes me places and learn new things. I am really into this book: the ferry to the statue of liberty-never knew about the rooms at the bottom; the glassblowing; all the birds and facts; the scenery, different named areas, and atmosphere of ny central park, very detailed architecture and the cooking.
Countries overseas have an appeal all their own.
Like how when the book has stated a Danish remark the translation is the next line-won't leave you guessing or have to look it up on the pc.
Love the idea of the special picnic and how the book got its title from it and opened the web page.
Learned so much in this book, as I do follow our local snowy owl and have seen one in Oregon at a refuge for birds.
Clare compares her life with some of the extinct owls.
Love the ending and how things have gone full circle. show less

I received this book as a first reads winner. This was a really enjoyable book. It sucked me in from the very beginning. I cared about the characters right away and wanted to know what was happening to them. The heartache and sorrow the characters felt. I know there are men out there who are very controlling of their girlfriend and spouse and this book shows a little bit of how one can be manipulated and cut off from their family. It is a pretty quick read because you will not want to put it down. I recommend this book and really enjoyed reading it. When it was done I wanted to know more about the characters. All the women in the book are strong women but they don't see it, the reader does.