Scan barcode
A review by nicole_bookmarked
We Are Light by Gerda Blees
dark
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It's no wonder that this brilliant Dutch novel won the EU Literature Prize!
This is the story of four troubled people who live together and belong to the so-called 'Sound & Love Commune.'
The members: The leader and our protagonist, Melodie, her taciturn sister Elisabeth, angry and violent Petrus, and impressionable and sensitive Muriel.
The mystery: Elisabeth is found dead in the commune house and the cause is malnutrition. This is no big surprise as the group had been openly experimenting with not eating and instead getting their energy from air and light. They drink a little herbal tea and a little vegetable juice each day, but eating any more is highly discouraged by Melodie. The question is if Melodie, Muriel, and/or Petrus are responsible for Elisabeth's death.
Main themes: Social isolation, propaganda/disinformation, perceptions of life and death.
What I loved most about this book is that each chapter is told from a different point of view, but the point of view is rarely a character in our story. Instead, we hear from a bag of sliced bread, Melodie's cello, senile dementia, the world wide web, the neighbors, a pen at the police station, and many more. It was this narrative approach, even more than the plot, that kept my attention. By the half-way point, the plot is clear and the important questions have been answered, but the unexpected narrators had me hooked until I ran out of pages.
This was an easy 5-stars and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to anyone who's even a little interested.
Many thanks to #NetGalley and @WorldedBooks for an advanced reader copy in exchange for this honest review.
This is the story of four troubled people who live together and belong to the so-called 'Sound & Love Commune.'
The members: The leader and our protagonist, Melodie, her taciturn sister Elisabeth, angry and violent Petrus, and impressionable and sensitive Muriel.
The mystery: Elisabeth is found dead in the commune house and the cause is malnutrition. This is no big surprise as the group had been openly experimenting with not eating and instead getting their energy from air and light. They drink a little herbal tea and a little vegetable juice each day, but eating any more is highly discouraged by Melodie. The question is if Melodie, Muriel, and/or Petrus are responsible for Elisabeth's death.
Main themes: Social isolation, propaganda/disinformation, perceptions of life and death.
What I loved most about this book is that each chapter is told from a different point of view, but the point of view is rarely a character in our story. Instead, we hear from a bag of sliced bread, Melodie's cello, senile dementia, the world wide web, the neighbors, a pen at the police station, and many more. It was this narrative approach, even more than the plot, that kept my attention. By the half-way point, the plot is clear and the important questions have been answered, but the unexpected narrators had me hooked until I ran out of pages.
This was an easy 5-stars and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to anyone who's even a little interested.
Many thanks to #NetGalley and @WorldedBooks for an advanced reader copy in exchange for this honest review.