By Samuel Miller
Katherine Tegen Books, 2018, 465 pages, Young Adult Fiction
Arthur Louis Pullman the Third is losing his grip on reality. Stripped of his college scholarship, he has been sent away to live with his aunt and uncle. Then he discovers a journal written by his grandfather, a Salinger-esque author who went missing the last week of his life. Using the journal as a guide, Arthur embarks on a cross-country train ride to relive his grandfather's last week. His journey is complicated by a shaky alliance with a girl who has secrets of her own and by escalating run-ins with a dangerous fan base.
Although I appreciate the literary genius of the writers of the ‘50s and ‘60s such as Jack Kerouac, J.D. Salinger, and Hunter S. Thompson, I have to admit that I haven't really liked their books. However, one of the things that initially intrigued me about A Lite too Bright is that it is a sort of homage to those books. Add in the appeal of travelling cross-country by train, and I quickly found myself engrossed in the story. Arthur is a fully nuanced main character, and the mystery he follows, as well as his motivations for doing so, are intriguing. The thing I enjoyed most about this book, however, was just how well-written this book is. Although there was one plotline that I felt was weaker than the others, I loved this book to the very end.
MB
No comments:
Post a Comment