Rainlight [Hardcover]

Alison McGhee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1998

The moving story of a father who dies young and the family he leaves behind

Even in a small town people have secrets, including how much they really mean to each other. In Alison McGhee’s haunting debut, a tragic event sparks revelations from nine-year-old Mallie, her mother, her grandfather, a waitress, and Mallie’s father’s ex-lover. They discover long-hidden truths and forge new bonds in this unforgettable, heartbreaking novel about parents, children, and love.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Special-ed teacher Starr Williams, father of two young children, is killed snatching a retarded child, Johnny Zielinski, from under the wheels of a truck while Starr's father and Johnny's mother watch. The grief of Starr's children and the secrets of his family life are the subject of this vivid, poetically charged (and occasionally overwritten) first novel. The narrative zigzags between past and present, as Starr's nine-year-old daughter, Mallie, erects an elaborate set of rituals to keep her father alive, force-feeds her younger brother a belief in reincarnation and makes him repeat a litany of Starr's favorite foods and colors. Mallie's voice is so strong, so wrenching in its impact, that it overwhelms the other contributors to the narrative. The tragic coincidences that bind together Starr's extended family, who live in a small town in the foothills of the Adirondacks, are enough to make Charles Dickens blush, but McGhee is a wonderful observer of mourning. Her characters cling to the tangible remains of Starr's life with a credible, poignant urgency that redeems the novel from its frustrating contrivances. 10,000 first printing; author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

First-time novelist McGhee has penned a tender and sensitive testament to the seemingly unbearable pain of loss and the ultimately redemptive power of love. When Starr Williams unexpectedly dies on an ordinary spring day in the prime of his life, he leaves behind a handful of grieving loved ones. As his bereft father, heartbroken wife, inconsolable nine-year-old daughter, and unfulfilled ex-lover attempt to come to terms with his death, the profound impact Starr had and continues to have on each of their lives is reviewed in turn. Interweaving four disparate voices and four distinct perspectives into a single narrative, the author has created a compelling patchwork of interdependent emotions and relationships. McGhee's deliberately understated prose provides an exquisitely crafted framework for the truth that shimmers through every page. This heartrending yet ultimately affirmative eulogy is laden with both despair and hope. A stunning debut by a gifted writer. Margaret Flanagan

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 177 pages
• Publisher: Papier-Mache Press (March 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576010066
• ISBN-13: 978-1576010068
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,402,106 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alison McGhee is the New York Times bestselling author of SOMEDAY, LITTLE BOY, BYE-BYE CRIB, ALWAYS and A VERY BRAVE WITCH. Her other children's books include ALL RIVERS FLOW TO THE SEA, COUNTDOWN TO KINDERGARTEN, SNAP, and the JULIA GILLIAN series, about the adventures of a girl who lives in Minneapolis.

Alison is also an award-winning novelist of the adult novels WAS IT BEAUTIFUL? A NOVEL; FALLING BOY; RAINLIGHT; and the Today Show book club selection, SHADOW BABY.She lives in Minneapolis, MN.

You can find her at her website and also on Facebook under Alison McGhee, Author.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MORE SUPERB, TOUCHING WRITING FROM ALISON McGHEE, January 8, 2002

By 

Larry L. Looney (Austin, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rainlight (Paperback)

The first novel I read by Alison McGhee, SHADOW BABY, touched me more than most of the books I have read in the last few years. After reading RAINLIGHT, I'm certain that I've discovered a writer who ranks as one of my favorites.

This novel is set in the same small town as SHADOW BABY, in the Adirondacks, in upstate New York, and features some of the characters who appeared briefly in the other novel. One of the most appealing things -- at least to me -- about McGhee's writing is her ability to create such believable, LIKABLE characters. This is not to say that all of them are perfect, that they make no mistakes in their lives -- they are human, after all. The author builds her characters so completely -- and yet so gently -- that we come to know them at depths which allow us to understand WHY they act as they do, to see the good that exists in all of them, making it easier to overlook or forgive their foibles.

RAINLIGHT is a unique look at the way human beings deal with death and loss -- and that should not imply that this is a depressing, maudlin book, for there is much happiness and joy and love contained in these pages. It is rather a caring look at our humanity, at the things that are really important, about how we remember those who have touched our lives and are no longer with us in the flesh -- a story about remembering.

Even though the two novels are connected in setting and some characters, I don't think it's necessary to read one before the other -- but if you enjoy well-written, touching fiction, please read them. If you pass these by, you're missing an incredible experience.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my new favorite books, October 17, 2002

By 

Joe Sherry (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rainlight (Paperback)

I read an average of 10 to 20 books a month. While most of these books are good and a few of them may be very fine novels, very few of them make me excited about an author and about the novel. Rainlight is such a book. The writing is incredible, not just for a first novel, but for any novel. While the multi-narrator format has been in use since at least William Faulkner, Alison McGhee makes it feel fresh and insightful.

The story is fast paced and while the novel is emotionally charged by the many viewpoints of the characters, this is such a well told story. This book really is that good. This is a somewhat difficult review to write because it is hard not to gush about this book...and i don't gush very often. This is worth your time and money.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars poignant and delicate ... a sure winner, November 22, 2004

By 

amie "amie" (Indonesia) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Rainlight (Paperback)

A tragic accident brings out musings from 4 different characters and reveals secrets between each other that some goes a long way.

This book is beautifully written. It's poignant, delicate, touching ... reading it feels like having a soft velvety whisper of air on your skin. Each character grows on you that you feel like you know them very well. Each secret is revealed flawlessly. And after reading her 2nd novel -- Shadow Baby -- I think Ms. McGhee is very good in writing about child characters.