Night Train [Paperback]

Judith Clarke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2007

Luke can't sleep. And even when he's awake, everything is a haze; he can't engage. He shouldn't have walked into the gazebo - Alex's family had moved out of that house years ago, so it was trespassing - but that isn't enough of a reason for Stringer to expel him, is it? This is Luke's third school; it would be Luke's third time.

The senior exams are approaching, and Luke Leman hasn't finished the writing folder for Ms. Brennan. Worse yet, Luke's mother doesn't understand what's wrong and his sister Molly has begun to hate him. And Luke's dad, well, he hasn't spoken to Luke in months. Mrs. Lewis is right: Luke is in the top intelligence bracket of the population - he should be sailing through school.

This novel begins at teenager Luke Leman's funeral and jumps back in time to the days before his death. Told in the third person, the narrative sympathetically follows the people in Luke's life as they try to understand Luke's apathy: Luke's mother is confused, his teenage sister Molly is embarrassed and upset, and his father cannot understand why a boy given every opportunity decides to squander it all. As Luke slowly and unwillingly disengages from everyone he loves, he has one consolation: if he can prove to himself that the train that he alone hears at night is real - that the night train exists - then maybe his problems are not all in his head.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"The problem was how whenever he turned to any kind of schoolwork, he couldn't seem to think. His brain seized up, it seemed to shut, click! like a great stupid padlock snapping into place."

Luke Leman is about to fail twelfth grade--again. Harassed by the assistant principal, ignored by his father, and worried over by his mother, Luke has slipped into an inner world of his own making where concentration is impossible and sleep is elusive. He obsesses over missed assignments and longs for his younger days when the mantle of meeting all his father's high expectations didn't weigh so heavily on his shoulders. To his anxious mother and his girlfriend, Carolyn, he mentions the sound of the night train, the one that comes long past midnight when he should be asleep but never is. When they insist there is no train, Luke worries that he has finally lost his mind. When he goes out one night to find out if the train really exists, he discovers that the sanity he seeks may cost him his life.

Even though it is frustrating that Australian young-adult author Judith Clarke never pinpoints exactly what event precipitated Luke's spiral of failure, she still paints an effectively bleak, evocative picture of adolescent depression. Sympathetic teen readers will immediately understand what Luke is going through and wonder why all the clueless adults in Luke's life either dismiss or ignore his obvious signs of distress. Night Train is an excellent book for use in high school discussions of teen depression. (Ages 13 and older) --Jennifer Hubert --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Australian writer Clarke's (The Heroic Life of Al Capsella) uneven novel opens with Luke Lemans's youngest sister frantic to see him; her family dodges her questions regarding his whereabouts, prompting her to surreptitiously follow themAto a funeral parlor. The rest of the novel is told in flashback through the perspectives of various characters, as Luke finds himself in danger of flunking his senior year in high schoolAfor the second time. Luke signals for help and is repeatedly rebuffed. An underdeveloped theme that emerges late in the novel involves the appearance of the Night TrainAa train that runs long after train service has stopped and that seemingly only Luke can hear. Though the constantly shifting points of view detract from the tension of Luke's growing desperation, at the root of this tale is the compelling idea of one person's power to reach outAto make a difference in, or even potentially save, someone's life. Clarke shows how quickly those opportunities are lost (e.g. his English teacher thinking,"She should have told him not to worry, that it wasn't the end of the world if he failed. She should have. As Rosa turned into her gate she felt a chilling sense of something missed, slipped sadly from her hand. Let go"). Luke, painted as naturally bright, sensitive, compassionate and lost, is surrounded by a largely sympathetic group of charactersAeach hurt, concerned and frustrated by his behavior and their inability to help him. Ages 12-up. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 155 pages
• Publisher: Front Street Press (August 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932425926
• ISBN-13: 978-1932425925
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 6.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,571,483 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Far too dismal a story, June 8, 2000

By 

Xeneri - See all my reviews

This review is from: Night Train (American) (Hardcover)

Luke fears he is going crazy. He is the only one who can hear the sounds of the "night train" of the title...and no one believes him. With the exception of Luke's youngest sister and his girlfriend, there is no one in Luke's life that even wants to help him. Does Luke really hear it? Or is it only in his mind?

I wanted to like this book, but overall the plot was just too implausible for me. The book moves back and forth in time and since the story begins with Luke's death, we already know how the book ends. All in all, I found it difficult to get myself involved in Luke's world and it's mostly unsympathetic characters.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Night Train Derails..., February 8, 2001

By 

Bookworm3 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Night Train (American) (Hardcover)

Although I found great concepts within this Young Adult novel, I found myself getting more and more frustrated about the never ending circle of repeated plot an antagonizing conflicts that Luke, our main character, faces. Can he make something of himself, why is he such a failure when he has the potential to become a bright and successful man in the future? His Father no longer acknowledges his existence, his Mother wants to believe in Luke but she no longer trusts him, and his sister Molly dwells on a time when Luke was "normal" and conformed, while Naomi tries to protect him. Protect him from what? Himself? Or Fate? I do accept the fact that the repeated scenario we see in Night Train does give the reader that "frustrated" feeling that Luke probably was experiencing in his life at certain moments. If this was the author's intent, it works brilliantly. If not, I'm afraid readers will become bored and lose interest in the text. I found myself wondering where on Earth this novel could be going with this plot. And I knew from the very moment we were first introduce to the late night train whistle, that something tragic was involved with this "mystery" train (that only Luke could hear.) And why was that? Do we ever find out, or is it too left ambiguous to our imaginations. Perhaps our antagonists carry their job a little too far for readers to enjoy the novel and characters themselves, although this is a "hard" book of realities to begin with. Perhaps a softer side of Luke and his family or friends was needed so we could better connect and feel sorry for the events in which Luke goes through. All in all, I give this book a 2, in hopes of a better read next time from Judith Clarke.

3.0 out of 5 stars Thoughts in the night, April 13, 2008

By 

Raymond Mathiesen (Armidale, N.S.W., Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Luke is in his final year at high school and things are not going well. He is pressured by his parents, marked out as a 'problem student' by the teachers and paralyzed by anxiety about his final exams. Luke returns to his childhood home looking for some kind of assurance from past happier times, but even this visit lands him in deeper trouble. As his situation slowly declines Luke becomes fascinated with a train he hears at nighttime. What does it carry? Where does it go?

This book clearly describes the life of an adolescent who is floundering to find his way in life. It accurately documents how problem after problem can add up in a youths life, until something seems it must break. We are often told that adolescence is the prime of life, but for many this is a complete myth. The theme of mental health is sensitively explored and a deep sense of 'aloneness in the midst of company and life' is poignantly developed throughout the book.