Customer Reviews

Heat Lightning

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

 

 

I think what is heartbreaking about Heat Lightning is that Cohen shows so accurately how life eludes our attempts to make sense of it. Her characters are so true; their thoughts and dialogue perfectly rendered. That we are denied an easy solution to the young girls' puzzle seems a definite, skillful choice on Cohen's part. This is not a "potboiler" or a mass market novel, it's a sensitive story full of the tension of ordinary life. The right person picking this book up on the subway will feel blessed.

Rarely have I read a book that captured my interest and sympathies so fully.

The author evokes childhood evocatively through the thousand sensual details of summer, and the perplexities of navigating the world of adults without the guidance of parents.

I must have read it decades ago, yet I can feel the pleasure from the experience as if it were yesterday. I highly recommend it.

Heat Lightening was one of those books I just happened to pick up, merely because the cover interested me (judging a book by it's cover!!). I didn't expect anything from it, however I came away after reading it, constantly thinking about it - though perhaps not in the way the author intended her readers to.
Hager Cohen certainly has a way with words, and manages to capture quite accurately the thoughts and feeling of a child. However, whilst she so eloquently managed to set the scene (the time and place allow the reader to almost believe they are there, so well are they described), the reader is left pondering at the end of each of those scenes. Hager Cohen leaves things somewhat 'open-ended'; that is, the reader is often left to it's own devices in regard to the 'what happens next' element - she quite often, throughout the text, hints at things, only to brush over them without further detail (a good example of this occurs during one particular scene in the book concerning the two main characters and their neighbour). I found this very frustrating, although it did keep me page turning!!
In all, the book is one which will keep the reader turning the pages if only to find out what happens next... There is a great build up of tension throughout, leaving the reader awaiting a dramatic climax, but be prepared to find out that, quite literally, there isn't!
Depending on what genre of book interests you, this book reeks of autobiography only to flip into fiction halfway through. Brilliantly written - but the storyline may disapoint those who like a substantial amount of 'grit'.

There is such a thing as being too subtle and too dependant on symbolism. Ms Cohen uses foreshadowing that doesn't go anywhere. The reader is led to believe that the sisters will gain some insight into the mystery that has always puzzled them and it never happens. scenes that should pack an emotional punch just kind of lie there. Ms Cohen is a very talented wordsmith but it doesn't fell like she's emotionally invested in her material so how can she expect the reader to be? I left this book on the subway, I hope the person who picked it up enjoyed it more then I did.

We read this book for my book group and out of ten people - not one of us liked this book.

The plot seemed so overdone and the characters seemed very hollow. If you want a good book written from a child's perspective read Midwives - it was much better.

This book shows, from the point of view of a young girl that does not know much about anything really, what's like living in a small town, and having no parents. The inner struggle of the main character is unbelievibe, considering she is VERY young.