Borrowed Light [Hardcover]

Anna Fienberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 13, 2000

A 16-year-old girl faces the toughest decision in her life in this breakthrough young adult novel.

Sixteen-year-old Callisto May feels a deep connection to astronomy. She can name all the moons of Jupiter and even tell you the dimensions of the Big Red Spot. But she feels completely alone on planet Earth. And now that she's pregnant, her loneliness is acute.

She can't turn to her mother, who's always been too consumed with unspoken grief to care for her children; she can't turn to her father, who buries himself in work and pretends that life at home is normal; and her surfer boyfriend wants freedom to catch the perfect wave more than he wants to hang around Callisto. Only Callisto's little brother loves her unfailingly, but she can't be there for him right now. She's got to make a huge decision--and, for a change, that means thinking of herself first.

Somehow, though, as her world orbits out of control, Callisto finds the courage to fight through the secrecy and silence that are suffocating her family, along with the strength to decide what's best for her future.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Callisto, influenced by her astrophysicist grandmother, views humanity in terms of celestial bodies. She considers herself to be a moon, living off the "borrowed light" of more charismatic individuals, the stars. Now facing an unwanted pregnancy, 16-year-old Callisto has to stop hiding in the shadows and rely on her own judgment. Relayed in the first person, Australian author Feinberg's first YA novel is poetic in both its language and its pacing. The phase between Callisto's pregnancy test and her appointment at an abortion clinic seems to move in slow motion, allowing readers time to grasp and ponder her predicament, her emotions and her complex relationships with her inattentive parents, her science-minded grandmother, her beloved little brother and her callow ex-boyfriend. The ephemeral quality of Fienberg's writing camouflages flaws in the plottingAincluding the just-in-time introduction of a supportive young man, and Callisto's only occasional and obtuse readings of her mother's revelatory old diaries. The pro-choice message doesn't preclude respect or consideration for other options, and even if audience members disagree with Callisto's decision, they will respect her ability to take charge of her destiny. Ages 14-up. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up-Callisto May, named after Jupiter's largest moon, feels lost in her dysfunctional family. Her "spiritualist" mother seeks answers through s?ances but is physically and emotionally unavailable to her children. Her father deals in African art and barely acknowledges his family, even when he is at home. Even her grandmother, a world-renowned astronomer and Callisto's intellectual mentor, is unavailable. Only 5-year-old Jeremy shows unconditional love for his 16-year-old sister/surrogate mother. When Callisto discovers she's pregnant, her surfer boyfriend wants no part of fatherhood, and she is torn as to whether she should try to break her mother's shell or reach out to her absent father. Her fateful decision about her future and Jeremy's disappearance shatters her parents' insular worlds. The adults reveal secret grief that has darkened their family life, opening a floodgate of emotions and talk in what Callisto calls their "own Truth and Reconciliation Commission." The teen's isolation and her search for acceptance, friends, and self-affirmation have a universal, realistic, yet contemporary feel. Callisto only considers one option: abortion or not. The clinic scene avoids didacticism, even with the appearance of pro-life demonstrators. Some readers will be put off by long introspective passages and quotes from the mother's diary, but overall, Fienberg weaves a readable, richly realized tale.
Gail Richmond, San Diego Unified Schools, CA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (June 13, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385327587
• ISBN-13: 978-0385327589
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,573,977 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow! You should read it., December 9, 2000

By 

Thea (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Borrowed Light (Hardcover)

This book was one of those books that you just can't put down. It's clever, interesting and amazing. I really loved it. It has to be one of my favourite books I have read. Me and my friends talk about what would happen if we got pregnant, well this book is about a girl who has to face this reality, and what she is going to do about it, have an abortion or have the baby. Its sometimes sad, scary and frightening but true to life. The feelings and emotions that the characters feel are so real. The writing is wonderful and sometimes confronting. I could even feel them myself. I recommend this to everyone, teenagers, adults, young and old, women and men. I love this book and you should definately read it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shine Your "Light", August 22, 2005

By 

Little Willow (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Borrowed Light (Mass Market Paperback)

I read a great deal of books, with teen fiction being one of my specialities. Believe me when I say Borrowed Light is a must-read.

The protagonist is a teenager named Calliope who finds herself more or less caring for her little brother. She is a smart girl who is growing up more quickly than she should. Unbeknownest to her family, Calliope is pregnant and plans on having an abortion.

The title is so fitting for this book, coming from a great passage in which Calliope relates family members to celestial bodies. She is named after a moon, and, like that moon, feels that she borrows light from others, from family members who are suns and stars, who far outshine her.

Borrowed Light will inspire thoughtful discussions in book groups or classrooms. What some may consider a "touchy subject" is handled with feeling and deliacy, with no judgment passed. Shine on, Calliope.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a VERY interesting book, June 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Borrowed Light (Hardcover)

When Castillo's mother becomes seclusive and meditates with stange people, her father pretends nothing is wrong and goes off to South Africa on some pretense to buy art. Castillo ends up taking care of her 5 year-old brother Jeremy. Castillo eventually gains popularity when she starts going out with Tim. But when she becomes pregnant he all but vanishes. Castillo is faced with a very difficult descion in her life, and she decides to get an abortion. Because of her mother's neglect of Jeremy, Castillo has to take Jeremy with her to the clinic, where he dissapears when she is being operated on. After the onslaught of the argument that follows, Castillo learns an important lesson about her life, and can accept loving her new boyfriend.

I found this book to be very intriguing about issues that teenage girls are facing today, but he plot was very weak. It does make you think, though.