The Dark Light (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Faith Ingwersen (Translator) "Girl, are you sleeping?..." (more)
Key Phrases: Niels Klim, Mistress Dybendal, Don Quixote (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 UpASet in a leper hospital in early 19th-century Bergen, Norway, this serious, challenging novel follows the last few years in the life of a 13 year old immured in the facility by those who fear and hate lepers. The diffusely organized text, interrupted by flashbacks to Tora's conflict-ridden childhood, sketchily introduces her beloved mother, who concealed her own disease and took her own life; her weak father; the young neighbor who is her soulmate for life; the stalwart Marthe, who helps Tora survive in the leprosarium; and the difficult and enigmatic Sunniva, who relents toward Tora and teaches her to read. Reading enlarges the girl's mental world as her physical world contracts. Newth gives an unsparing account of the progress of the disease, the desperate treatments (amputation), and the painful death (sometimes by suffocation). Tora's escape from the leprosarium is via her death, where she will rejoin most of the novel's other characters. The story is somber, but not depressing. Despite the miserable poverty and the sadness of the lepers' fate, Tora's determination makes her admirable. Readers may be unsatisfied by the disappearance of Tora's beloved from the narrative, by the half-realized figure of the administrator of the hospital, and by the shadows in Sunniva's story. There are a few sensational touchesATora is nearly raped, there are hints of incest and infanticideAbut no shred of sentimentality. If they stay the course, those who pick up the book out of morbid curiosity may get more psychology and philosophy than they bargained for.APatricia Lothrop-Green, St. George's School, Newport, RI
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

From Newth (The Abduction, 1989), a dense, unusual novel about Tora, 13, who is dying of leprosy in a hospital in 19th- century Bergen, Norway. When Tora contracts the horrible disease, she is yanked from her family's farm and sent to spend the remainder of her life at a leper hospital in Bergen. It's a wretched place, where the ill wail in agony from sores and lost limbs, and cry out at night in desperation and hunger. Tora, one of the more able patients, helps tend to others, and in the process, bonds with the most cruel and miserable patient, Mistress Dybendal, who teaches Tora how to read; reading becomes Tora's sole comfort, giving her the courage to accept her condition. The subject matter is uncommonly intriguing, and the writing evocative, although some of the relationships are troubling: A childhood friend and soul mate, Endre, is presented as a major character and then fades away, while Tora's father, hardly a presence at all, plays a vital role at the end. More authentically depicted are Tora's revelations, forgiveness, and innate goodness; many passages are emotionally harrowing, such as the scene when her feet are amputated. Newth's work is compelling, often heartbreaking, and more than once, triumphant. (Fiction. 12-15) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (April 24, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374317011
• ISBN-13: 978-0374317010
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,517,316 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A touching insight to the life of a young girl with leprosy., August 17, 1999

By A Customer

Mette Newth's words are rich and powerful. He readily indulges the senses. His rich words will make you smile and then cry and then both at the same time! The aura about this book is dark and secretive, but there is also something so light and wieghtless about it. The characters are well developed. Some caring, some devious, some in pain. When this book is read, the pain and suffering in the story is so real, it feels as though you are inside the story along with the characters. There is nothing so satisfying as feeling as though you are able to touch the characters in the story. Just reach out and feel their pain and their sorrows and know what they're thinking. Newth makes you step inside the story and walk among the characters. If you can't comprehend what the life of a leper is like, after you read this book, you might feel like you've been through it all!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars dark light, August 10, 2006

By	S. lewandowski "Sherlann" (Buffalo, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Dark Light (Sunburst Books) (Paperback)

i found out about this book from a singer who read it(ville valo from h.i.m)and he was inspired by this book to right a whole new album(dark light)he even wrote a song called dark light. i wanted to see what was so great about this book to make a whole album from it so i read it. i was truely amazed at what i read. i even cried in some parts. i had no idea what would happen if you had leporsey. tora the girl in the book who is only 13 was inspiring to me. the whole time through the book she knew she was going to die, but she wanted to live life and make it special. she made other people's lives a bit brighter even though they knew the next day they might not make it. through out the whole book tora would question about god and what would happen after death. the things she would think are some things i have thought about myself. neither of us would get a answer though, but i loved to read something that had the same questions as mine and to see how a girl back in the 1800s would react to that.i loved this book and i recomed this book very much.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great, November 30, 2002

A Kid's Review

I thought this book was awesome. You never wanted to put it down. Although it was a bit depressing, it turns out okay. Here is my summary of it:
She saw nothing but death. Death: a thick black fog over all her other thoughts. When 13 year old Tora found out she had leprosy, her life shattered before her. She was forced to leave her freinds, family, and home, to travel to St. Jorgen's hospital in Bergen, Norway. The leprosy hostpital: place of the livng dead. To outsiders, lepers were horrible, unclean people, so the lepers got little from the public. As Tora's body begins to fail her, however, she finds a new life within books.

This girl is just my age and i couldnt imagine being in her position. This book made me appreciate life and every day i get to live with great health. I hope more people will read this and feel the same.