Customer Reviews

The Effects of Light

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

THE EFFECTS OF LIGHT is a disarming, provocative book. Gorgeous prose, compelling characters, and a forceful plot keep the pages turning fast. All these elements should make for a really "easy read." Just sweep through the pages, weep at the ending, then move on in your life with a sense of pleasure, as one can do with so many well-written books these days. Sure, the tale is tragic -- it concerns the terrible death of a young girl and its devastating consequences on her older sister's life -- but Americans love their tragedy, both cushioned, as in THE LOVELY BONES, and stark, as in Marya Hornbacher's recently published THE CENTER OF WINTER. So why does this book linger and disturb so effectively?

The answer is simple, the implications complex. More than just a good story, THE EFFECTS OF LIGHT not only aspires to be, but also deftly becomes that rarity: a highly readable novel of ideas. This does not mean that the book simply presents smart people caught in the act of thinking. No, it requires the reader to join in on the thinking with tools provided -- sometimes a little awkwardly, but mostly quite matter-of-factly -- along the way. Multiple points of view abound. This is helpful, because the topic we are given to contemplate is a difficult one for many Americans to stomach. Can photographs of nude girl children ever be considered art? If we answer "Yes" to this question, knowing what we presumably know about the world, how do we protect both the art and the girls in the art? And what happens if we fail to protect them? What is our moral responsibility to our children and their constitutional freedoms? Who owns their bodies? Who gets to say?

As well as an extended meditation on the moral force of art, THE EFFECTS OF LIGHT is equally an exploration of what it means to be a good parent. Who is a good parent? Is it possible to be one if you are a distracted and brilliant widowed father who imbues his daughters with such a sense of self-confidence and well-being that they don't know how to fear the world sufficiently? That is one possible description of David Wolfe, the girls' father. Another would be this: a man who wants his daughters to feel the power of their own minds and voices as they learn to grow up in a community held together by optimism and a belief in the life of thought. David may seem foolish in his hope, but Beverly-Whittemore allows us to puzzle over whether such foolishness could ever be the source of such terrible tragedy. David bears no small resemblance to Atticus Finch in his idealistic assumption that people ought to be good. We should ask no less of them.

This is a beautifully structured novel, composed of two intertwined narrative strands, broken occasionally by single-page "Proofs," verbal depictions of single black and white photographic images. One of the narratives, a first person account by Prudence, the younger sister, allows us to watch as the tragedy unfolds; the second allows us to witness Myla, the big sister, as she scrambles to make sense of her past. Embedded in both narratives is the powerful voice of the charismatic, intellectual David as he speaks about what he loves almost as much as he loves his daughters: art, its history and promise. The structure of the novel echoes the life of this particular family: always intertwined, racing headlong through time, periodically and beautifully caught on film. Just as there is no way to stop the impending tragedy from coming, there is no way to make the book last longer than it lasts. Its rhythms take hold.

In this way, the book presents a brilliant inquiry into the nature of time and memory and the fabulous power of art both to transcend time and to redeem memory. These weighty intellectual insights are set against the passionate dailiness of the girls' lives. Writing directly about ideas as ideas, writing directly about the burden and salvation of the highly intellectual life is a challenge to a writer of any age. Most recently Elliot Perlman, a much older, more experienced writer, attempted it in SEVEN TYPES OF AMBIGUITY, a book that has garnered much praise. Equally praiseworthy is this debut. Read it and think. Read it and weep. It is beautiful.

THE EFFECTS OF LIGHT is a luminous story --- part family drama, part mystery, and part rumination on the philosophy of art. Miranda Beverly-Whittemore combines these elements to create a poignant, thought-provoking, and well-crafted debut novel.

For more than a decade, Myla Rose Wolfe has been living under an assumed name. As Kate Scott, a medieval literature professor at a small, secluded East Coast college, she is free of the scandal associated with her family. But when she receives a package from a lawyer who's acting on behalf of an anonymous client, she realizes that no matter how far she runs, or how many details she fabricates about her life, she can't outrun her past. She heads home to Portland, Oregon, to relive the event that changed her family forever --- and to once again become Myla Wolfe.

In the first few pages of the book readers learn that Myla's father and 13-year-old sister, Pru, died within months of one another thirteen years ago, sending Myla into a tailspin of grief. The question of how they died is part of what fuels the narrative, and Beverly-Whittemore keeps the suspense heightened by parsing out details about what happened.

As children, Myla and Pru posed for family friend and photographer Ruth Handel. The photos --- taken over a period of ten years and some of which depict the young girls naked --- generated a national controversy about exploitation versus art. Myla and Pru's father, a brilliant, widowed college professor, was determined to instill in his daughters a sense of independence, and he allowed them to choose whether or not they wanted to be in Ruth's photographs. To the surprise of Myla and Pru, who enjoyed posing for the photographs and the sense of artistic accomplishment it gave them, the photos were viewed by some as child pornography.

Beverly-Whittemore makes interesting use of the photographs as a plot device, including sections called "proof" interspersed throughout the book. Each one describes a photograph of Myla and Pru, the circumstances of which are then revealed in the narrative. The story is propelled along through scenes set in the present as the reader follows Myla's quest to revisit her past, but the heart of the tale lies in the passages narrated by Pru. Reminiscent of THE LOVELY BONES, 13-year-old Pru tells her own story and is a vital presence in the novel. The events she recounts also shed light on Myla's character, their sisterly bond and the dynamics of the family.

If you pared THE EFFECTS OF LIGHT down to its basic elements, it still would be a compelling read with engaging characters and a suspenseful storyline. But Beverly-Whittemore doesn't stop there. Through contrasting images of light and dark, artist and audience, past and present, she has created a thinking-person's page-turner. The effect is truly remarkable...and dare I say enlightening?

--- Reviewed by Shannon McKenna

Dan Brown's best-selling novel was rooted in the basic belief that our attitudes towards art-- and how seriously we take images-- help reveal our deepest meanings. Now along comes a first-time novelist who ups the ante and asks us to consider even more closely and personally the moral and spiritual lives of those who make art and those who look at it.

In THE EFFECTS OF LIGHT photography is not simply a plot device. Beverly-Whittemore is asking us to think about the way images help us construct the world we actually see. She asks us to consider the way that we as a society learned how to see photographs in the first place, and more specifically, images of naked children. In the United States these, rightly, have become moral issues. But what about fine art?

This is not simply a beautifully written first novel; it dares to become a moral inquiry into the role we believe art and censorship should play both to advance our society and to protect its members. Profoundly provocative, brilliantly reasoned, the book defies classification.

It was passed to me by a female student-- I teach photography-- who found it utterly compelling and believed that the marketing of this book simply as a LOVELY BONES-type tragedy would keep thousands of potential readers away. I agree.

Maybe the art theory sections feel difficult for some readers, but just slow down, pay attention, and look at pictures while you read. The descriptions of perspective and the way it actually works in the world are simply wonderful and wonderfully clear. A few years ago Jostein Gaardner wrote a novel about philosophy: SOPHIE'S WORLD. THE EFFECTS OF LIGHT accomplishes something equally useful in an even more gorgeous manner.It reminds us that art is powerful not simply because it is inspirational but also because it is rational. It is MADE by minds that think. What we make of it, or refuse to make of it, may well be the tragedy.

While I'm usually shy about doing something like this, after reading this book, I just want to share it with everyone. It truly is unique and completely unlike the aforementioned "fad" books that one usually sees from young authors. It is one of those books that is an experience: There were so many ideas and feelings that jumped off the page and into my head while reading it, that I almost felt like I was engaged in a conversation with the author and wanted to get more involved. But most importantly, it's a great story with characters that I wanted to spend more time with, and thats my favorite kind of book.

A friend of mine in publishing gave me an advanced copy of this book, and after reading it in one marathon sitting last Sunday, all I have to say is...wow. This may be the author's first published work, but it is clear from her effortless prose and detailed plot that talent runs through her veins. I cannot recommend this book more strongly, and I already cannot wait for Beverly-Whittemore's next one.

Lately I've been thinking about first novelists in terms of the gender divide. Ambitious young women tend to write beautifully crafted, lyrically written books exploring passionate human relationships (often gone wrong), while ambitious young men tend to write somewhat atmospheric books that demonstrate some particular aspect of learning or expertise (often esoteric or obsessive.) In both cases what's best is usually the writing itself: one great sentence after another. The ability to develop a good old-fashioned plot, rich with characters who are actually doing things, seems to come with age if it comes at all.

So along comes THE EFFECTS OF LIGHT, intent on breaking these unwritten rules. It's a fearless performance, not afraid of trying, and often succeeding, at being brilliant and original, in order to make you think hard about the connection between morality and art. It's also not afraid of pulling, hard, at the heartstrings. And it's a great STORY, full of suspense and tension.

I suspect critics will be tempted to slap the author on the hand for being so smart, so earnest, and so talented at the art of story-telling. But I don't think such gate-keeping will work. There's nothing faddish about this first novel; I don't think there will be a way to keep Beverly-Whittemore out of the serious literary running. I read books for a living, and here's one I couldn't put down.

Started it in the morning, didn't go to sleep until I finsihed it. A wonderful premise (the backstory of sisters featured in controversial photographs. I was at times moved almost to tears, anger and laughter. Trite perhaps, on my part! It was just a lovely book and I highly recommend it.

The Effects of Light is a personal story that invites the reader to explore the main characters past life through various passages and descriptions of photographs. The main character, Myla Wolfe, has reinvented herself for personal reasons and has been renamed Kate Scott. She receives a letter from her hometown in Portland, Oregon. She returns and all of the past events that she has struggled to push to the back of her psyche' reemerge.

Through additional dialogue provided by Myla's deceased sister Prudence Wolfe, we are privy to important details about the past that Myla/Kate has tried to forget. These details provide a firm foundation upon which Myla will act and react to as she re-discovers distant memories and tragic events.

There are many similarities shared between Myla and the Author Miranda Beverly-Whittemore. She is from an artistic background and some of her writing has a poetic edge that can be seen within her colorful descriptions. The Author has also worked as a model and that gives her a unique insight into the main character's descriptions of various photo shoot terminology. The aforementioned items add credibility to the story and provide a unique and believable viewpoint that we will share with Myla as she searches for the truth.

The Effects of Light is the debut work from an author with the ability to stimulate the senses through her artistic/poetic words and vivid imagery. It is both a mystery and a personal journey towards memories that have been pushed aside but in need of closure.

Reviewed by Tyrone Vincent Banks of Betsie's Literary Page.

This is an excellent book club book- or even a novel to be read and discussed in artistic circles. Many reviewers have noted that this book falls closer to non-fiction that to fiction and, to a good extent, I agree. Part of the joy of this novel lies in the artistic analysis and the discussions it provokes. What is the nature of art in relationship to society? What is the role of the artist within society? To what extent is the artist responsible for the reaction of his/her works? What is the role of the subject within the artistic process? These are all questions evoked by the story of Myla, Pru and their family. Despite the fact that it can be a bit thematically overwhelming at times, THE EFFECTS OF LIGHT is a novel in which the story itself takes center stage. Beverly-Whittemore is a writer of lovely and lyric prose, but her tone simply serves to advance her themes. And although you grow to enjoy the characters, it is far from a character study. The characters themselves are reasonably well-crafted and likeable - I particularly enjoyed the voice of the dead Pru, although I rather disliked the character of Samuel - but there is none who are so compelling/hateful that they interfere with the discussions of art. In short, this novel serves as a gigantic, well-written object lesson (or illustration) to provoke discussion and consideration.

The reviews by Amazon and Publisher's Weekly make issue over the academic predilections of the author - but they neglect to point out the truly refreshing and unique aspects of what makes the novel work, beyond the simple mechanics of what-happens-next to engaging characters (and they are, they are).

Earnest? Yes, very. To quote Harvey Fierstein, "Is that so wrong?" Many young people (admittedly, usually, college students and popular professors) talk that way, and their infatuation with the world of ideas and academic relativism can be refreshing to those of us who have become a little less engaged and a lot more cynical.

But what, then, makes it work? A careful reader will be rewarded with believable, well-drawn characters, and Structure. A fine and self-consistent structure, so often missing in popular novels and the work of people who take the term "post-modern" seriously. Structure that serves the end of the novel so well the single word "are" (in the first sentence of the last bit) precipitates an apotheosis to all the emotional sturm und drang that comes before. For that single "are" alone I wait with great anticipation for Beverly-Whittemore's next book.

Yes, the academic aspects can get heavy but they serve the plot--as they will serve the careful reader who will also delight in that single change of conjugation and tense. [Rumsfeld-speak version: "Are the academic parts necessary in the book? Yes. Could they have been lightened up? Probably. But we go to the couch with the book that we bought, not the one that we would have written if we were an author."] The whole discussion the linearity/non-linearity of time and memory/experience pays off in the end. They are the Big Themes, but that's what makes novels: memory, perception, time, love--these things don't invite a Gordian Knot solution, rather, the fun and delectation is in the teasing out.

For comparison, a recent book, The Rule of Four, had gnarlier academics, equally earnest in their way, and clearly in service of the plot, but only that--it was a device. I enjoyed The Effects of Light much more for the interdependence of ideas, characters, and emotions.

Occasionally I became aware of the hand of the author during reading, most often it was a simile or adjective, usually describing human action or motion that seemed "placed" instead of simply observed. However, her incidental descriptions of nature--just small parts of sentences, sometimes--have an almost Japanese quality about them, as if they were direct translations out of that language.

Read the book for the lively characters, for the book's clear structure and for the guilty pleasure of just speeding through to find out what happens next. 4/5 stars: while excellent in the truest sense, I need to leave open the possibility, the expectation of an additional star for the next book.