In the Light of You Review

Going into reading this book, I anticipated hating the main character. I knew that Mikal fanon's ignorance would enrage me, his hate for something so insignificant, and his violent way of expressing it. I did not anticipate though, the respect he would earn from me, the way I would be encased in watching him grow, shed his ignorance, learn to accept. I took my time, once again,
to read it, wanting to let it sink in gradually. When i do this, i befriend the characters, and i think about them at other times of the day, watching a movie, I'll say "oh, that's what Richard said to Mikal." and then i realize, no one knows who I'm talking about. It's nice, it's as if i know i have something to rely on, a friend to turn to, when i feel lonely, or even claustrophobic.

My favorite character was absolutely Niani Shange. Though I do adore Mikal, his honest personality, and the fact that he spoke his mind. The growth and journey i watched him and all of the other characters make, opening their eyes, learning to love, accepting their lives. i loved the radiance Niani possessed. I love that she was this commanding presence to everyone on campus. I love that D'antre Philips, Daddy Molotov was in the book.

Writing this now, i feel like i have so much to say about the novel, but I'm struggling to word it all. I guess, "It's hard to know how to feel,". The fact that Mikal says this throughout the book reminds me of Holden saying "Lousy," it caught on, and i began discovering myself saying "it's hard to know how to feel," in everyday situations. This also occurred when reading A Prayer For Dawn, and coming across "Ya dig," so often.

As i have experienced, Singer's writing is so genuinely, and terrifyingly honest, it's like a murderer playing the xylophone on your vertebrae. Though in some parts, it was quite violent, with the racist activities a gang of neo-Nazi skinheads would typically be involved in. but it wasn't as brutal as A Prayer For Dawn, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, it could prove to be an excellent thing, for those of you with a weak stomach.

Nathan Singer did a great job allowing the reader to grasp the idea of Niani and Jack Curry's relationship, the completely platonic love they had for one another, is not something a teenage reader might be able to fully grasp, with the naivety of teenagers these days. Nathan Singer's familiar intense language was not absent, and i was mesmerized by the real-to-life dialect and promisingly accurate depictions of relationships. Friendships, loyalty, honestly, it's all
beautifully expressed in the novel. Looking at A Prayer For Dawn, In The Light Of You, and Chasing the Wolf, it is final, Nathan Singer is one of my favorite authors.

A Prayer For Dawn Review

A common technique among avid readers who adore a specific page or passage, is to fold the page, copy the page number, mark some indication, some note to self to check that page for genuinely good writing. While reading A prayer for Dawn, i was semi-suprised that every other page or more was folded over on my copy. Sincere, brutal emotion documented on paper, the book gets your attention right from the start, with a man drenching walls of his apartment in his blood, mumbling to himself deliriously about how the "pigs" killed him. Screaming "You built the monster, now face the monster! I'm a walking living BIOHAZARD!" The book's dedication says a lot about the author, and how he looks at his generation, our generation, and the following. "For everyone who is lost in the storm" scrawled in small, italics on the third page. I hate to be cliche and say it was helpful through the generic teenage-I-swear-i'm-unique-i'm-so-much-more-mature-than-everyone-it-makes-me-depressed thing, but quite honestly it was. I took my time reading it, engulfing the whole story and the individual entries individually. Though i do adore the book, there are some things that made me quizzical, such as the fact that HOW the writing was written was never explained. The entries seemed to be a blog, or internet entry of some form, often many of them ended with a single word 'Click'. Though the question How, DID come across my mind fairly often in reference to the means of entry, in a way i think that made me like the book more.
The dialogue was like no other, Dalton, my absolute favorite character, had a way with speaking, so carelessly, so unique, so respectable. His self confident, assured attitude, his whole character, his mien, his mannerisms, it's completely genius.

Though i was not suprised that i would enjoy the book, I'd recently read 'Chasing The Wolf' by Nathan Singer, i was suprised that i enjoyed it so much. I may even go as far as to say that this is my favorite book, at least until he writes something new.
READIT!READIT!