This exquisite, resonant novel is a brilliant portrait of marriage by a contemporary American master. Even as he lingers over the lustrous surface of Viri and Nedra's marriage, James Salter makes us see the cracks that are spreading through it, flaws that will in time mar it beyond repair. "An unexpectedly moving ode to beautiful lives frayed by time."
Light Years (Vintage International)
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'A sensitive author who is romantic, intelligent and superbly balanced' Joseph Heller
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This exquisite, resonant novel is a brilliant portrait of marriage by a contemporary American master. Even as he lingers over the lustrous surface of Viri and Nedra's marriage, James Salter makes us see the cracks that are spreading through it, flaws that will in time mar it beyond repair. "An unexpectedly moving ode to beautiful lives frayed by time."
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
James Salter takes you so deeply inside the marriage of Nedra and Viri that you know these people as well as your own family before the book is done. It is a heartbreaking portrayl of love that turns to mere companionship. The beautiful wife, Nedra, seeks soemthing she cannot attain from her husband, nor from her affairs, nor from fleeing to Europe. She stands as one of the most completely-drawn women in American ficiton, a modern Madame Bovary. As the husband and wife grow apart, their children become aloof, the house they create falls into disrepair. It is the most accurate portrayl of the joys and sadness of modern marriage that I have read
67 of 75 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The courage to live life as it changes, as the faults that went unseen in the initial rush of novelty emerge, to adapt, continue and be happy, content, this I believe is the heart of this work. The small imperfections that erode to fatal flaws as the years pass, the union of marriage that grows old, and regret and a desire for something new becomes an obsession. And if the freedom is regained can it ever be as it was anticipated. How can anything desired for years, embellished and romanticized for decades ever deliver contentment?
The marriage of Nedra and Viri act more like a parenthetical that contains the entire novel and its events, than they serve as the focal point. The dozens of friends on almost as many levels of intimacy all revolve around the married couple, the former couple, or the individuals they believe they become for a second time. Is contentment the equivalent of stagnation; is it predestined for most, or voluntary for the few?
Mr. Salter continues in, "Light Years", what he has done in all 3 of the novels I have read thus far. The people he creates transcend whatever story he presents them in. The personalities he creates are wonderful not because they entertain with their uniqueness or their contrived eccentricities, but because of how normal they are, or perhaps familiar. This is not to suggest they are cliché, they are everything but that, they are people you know, people you may meet, or a character that you find a part of you is within.
One of the beauties of what this man is capable of with his writing is reaching very deeply into the thoughts and fears that inhabit almost all of us. He does not presume, he does not judge or lecture, he just lets you look through your minds eye, and decide for yourself. There are the affairs, but even when the most intimate of acts takes place he handles it in a manner that is clear, pure, evocative, but never does he stoop to the profane. His treatment of the females he writes about is done with respect; he does not objectify the women he writes of even if they seem to offer themselves in a manner that would justify the word object. Males and females are flawed, they err, and they can seek answers and redemption, and again he lets you decide, he does not hand down Judgement.
This is an amazing writer that I either missed, or many have, as his is some of the best work I have ever read. Comparisons are really unnecessary, take what you like about your favorite writers, and you will find something to love in this man's work.
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The main characters are named Viri and Nedra, and Lord knows that signals "pretentious." Ignore all that. No one writes about what happens between men and women better than Salter; you can see your own relationships in the 308 pages it takes to track the glory and fall of this marriage between an architect and his thin, troubled wife. And the sense of place! Here he is on the lure the Hamptons held for Nedra: "She was a creature of blue, flawless days, the sun of their noons hot as the African coast, the chill of the nights immense and clear." I started the book in that place on a morning so grey the sky and ocean merged; I read through the rain; I finished at night. A day well spent.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Worthwhile Read
If you like to read a book for the beauty of the prose, this novel certainly is replete with descriptive passages that delight the eye. I found it wistful in tone. Read more
Published 3 days ago by NumbersBand15-60-75
3.0 out of 5 stars
Hard to Like, but Still Packed a Wallop
For this reader, beyond the basic plot, the narrative was often hard to follow. The author didn't seem to go in much for explaining motivation; things just happened. Read more
Published 4 days ago by Reader in Tokyo
5.0 out of 5 stars
So 70s
How can people life such lies? The woman has no conscience. The part where the husband is on his own in Europe is masterfully written. How terribly sad. Read more
Published 8 days ago by Lamppu
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Writer's Writer's Writer
The title is taken from a New Yorker article on James Salter.
I just wrote an extensive laudatory review that was most assuredly in good taste and absent of any of the listed... Read more
I just wrote an extensive laudatory review that was most assuredly in good taste and absent of any of the listed... Read more
Published 9 days ago by P. Gleszer
5.0 out of 5 stars
a wonder
beautifully written, deeply moving. It captures life the way a painting or a song does. Mysteriously and deeply. I loved it.
Published 11 days ago by Janet maughan
1.0 out of 5 stars
Have you ever taught high school english composition?
Bing, bang, bung sentences endlessly and seriously superficial. More metaphors than can possibly be tolerated -
at 3 to 5 per paragraph, over 1200 in this dull doldrum. Read more
at 3 to 5 per paragraph, over 1200 in this dull doldrum. Read more
Published 21 days ago by Camille
5.0 out of 5 stars
Light years
A wonderfully written story by one of this country's best authors. A family to be long remembered. I look forward to his next book
Published 22 days ago by JLG
1.0 out of 5 stars
Where have you gone Brooks Brothers?
I was never sure if Slater was admiring or condemning the life of the two main characters. This is most certainly about class and surely a class that many aspire to but in reality... Read more
Published 23 days ago by Jeff L. Seifert
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great writer
Though his plot is fragmented an discursive, his descriptions and insights are worth everything.
Observations you won't find anywhere else.
Observations you won't find anywhere else.
Published 26 days ago by judygarlandheartbreaker.com
5.0 out of 5 stars
An amazing writer
Salter's writing style is superb. What stands out for me is his ability to describe the female's experience. I can not wait to read his new book.
Published 1 month ago by Laurie K.
