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thewritebooks 's review for:
And Now The Light is Everywhere
by L.A. Macrae
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you to NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
"We are only allowed such a small piece of knowledge about who we are, and where we really come from. We march relentlessly into our unknown future, beginning anew with every second."
This was just the most exquisite novel, absolutely took my breath away. Right from the start, before I even knew who the wide range of characters were, I had already fallen in love with the beautiful Scottish landscape in which the story is located. For me, the descriptions of the hills and the water and the way of life felt like someone had taken thoughts straight from my head: a combination of childhood holiday memories and my own deep love of traditional folklore (and even how we see it in academia, and the accompanying emotions and ethics - it ticked so many boxes, and was so relevant to where I find myself in life at the moment)
And then I realised that as well as this, I was going to have to fall in love with the MacArthur family. Each character was written with so much detail I felt like they were performing on stage in front of me, or as if I were sat in the kitchen with them as they narrated their lives. The layers of relationships between each character grew and grew and with every twist and surprise I could only feel for them more deeply - for the pain that they all went through and felt they couldn't share with one another, as is the way of complex histories.
There were so many pieces to this story, some that by the end I was desperate for - wanting as badly as our characters to understand the whole arc of a family history, and others I didn't even realise were missing until they quietly opened up whole pieces of the puzzle that had previously been hidden. Ultimately, stories like this can have no perfect conclusion because we are an imperfect people who, out of love or hate or fear or bravery, make choices that ripple through history, but I felt MacRae offers us a beautiful hommage to these complicated feelings in the way we leave Anna, Jamie, Donnie, Bella, Fern, and Netta at the end of the novel. A masterpiece of historical fiction, and one I am glad to have experienced!
"We are only allowed such a small piece of knowledge about who we are, and where we really come from. We march relentlessly into our unknown future, beginning anew with every second."
This was just the most exquisite novel, absolutely took my breath away. Right from the start, before I even knew who the wide range of characters were, I had already fallen in love with the beautiful Scottish landscape in which the story is located. For me, the descriptions of the hills and the water and the way of life felt like someone had taken thoughts straight from my head: a combination of childhood holiday memories and my own deep love of traditional folklore (and even how we see it in academia, and the accompanying emotions and ethics - it ticked so many boxes, and was so relevant to where I find myself in life at the moment)
And then I realised that as well as this, I was going to have to fall in love with the MacArthur family. Each character was written with so much detail I felt like they were performing on stage in front of me, or as if I were sat in the kitchen with them as they narrated their lives. The layers of relationships between each character grew and grew and with every twist and surprise I could only feel for them more deeply - for the pain that they all went through and felt they couldn't share with one another, as is the way of complex histories.
There were so many pieces to this story, some that by the end I was desperate for - wanting as badly as our characters to understand the whole arc of a family history, and others I didn't even realise were missing until they quietly opened up whole pieces of the puzzle that had previously been hidden. Ultimately, stories like this can have no perfect conclusion because we are an imperfect people who, out of love or hate or fear or bravery, make choices that ripple through history, but I felt MacRae offers us a beautiful hommage to these complicated feelings in the way we leave Anna, Jamie, Donnie, Bella, Fern, and Netta at the end of the novel. A masterpiece of historical fiction, and one I am glad to have experienced!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Gun violence, Infertility, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail