Customer Reviews

Borrowed Light

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

This is a truly excellent book. Anna Fienberg deals with the 'problem' of teenage pregnancy sensitively and her wonderful description of Callisto's life is great to relate to. Overall, a great read.

Overall, it was pretty good, but for it being over 200 pages, the author dragged on. I'm strongly against abortion but all through the book I was like "when is she going to realize that she can't go through with the abortion?" This book is nothing like "Detour for Emmy." All I got to say is "I am so happy I didn't buy it."

i read the whole book in just a couple hours. i found myself getting lost in the book and feeling her feelings. i'm strongly against abortion and i am a christian. but i think in her situtation she wasn't thinking of it as a baby. i know it wasn't right for her but i dont think she had an adult in her life to teach her right from wrong. her mom was always off with the "sad ladies" trying to comunicate with the dead and her dad was always off in africa and her grandma was at conventions. she didn't have an adult who could teach her about sex and becoming a woman and the value of a babies life.

Being a Christian and a human being with morals,I greatly disagree with the author's obvious choice to take abortion so lightly. In the book 'Borrowed Light' sixteen year old Callisto May finds herself pregnant with seemingly no one to turn to. She does not for one second consider letting her baby live and give it up for adoption. Her excuse: "Oh I'm just a timid little girl,I can barely take care of myself I can't possibly go through the trouble to have a baby, I just need a second chance! did her baby have a second chance? No, it didn't even have a first chance. This book was also VERY unrealistic. It appears that the author did very little research on the matter of abortion, or "termination" as she says. Even in this day and age it's difficult for a sixteen year old girl to just prance into an abortion clinic, without parental or guardian consent. In the end of the book, Callisto shows no remorse for the life she has terminated, she's just 'So happy to have another chance!'I thought this book was written in very childish manner I advise all who read this review not to read this book. Pass it on.