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The Night of the Comet
A KIRKUS REVIEWS "BEST BOOKS OF 2013"
From the acclaimed author of Letter to My Daughter comes an engrossing coming-of-age tale that deftly conveys the hopes and heartaches of adolescence and the unfulfilled dreams that divide a family, played out against the backdrop of a small southern town in 1973.
For his fourteenth birthday, Alan Broussard, Jr., receives a telescope from his father, a science teacher at the local high school who’s eagerly awaiting what he promises will be the astronomical event of the century: the coming of Comet Kohoutek. For Alan Broussard, Sr.—frustrated in his job, remote from his family—the comet is a connection to his past and a bridge to his son, with whom he’s eager to share his love for the stars.
But the only heavenly body Junior has any interest in is his captivating new neighbor and classmate, Gabriella Martello, whose bedroom sits within eyeshot of his telescope’s lens. Meanwhile, his mother, Lydia, sees the comet—and her husband’s obsession with it—as one more thing that keeps her from the bigger, brighter life she once imagined for herself far from the swampy environs of Terrebonne, Louisiana. With Kohoutek drawing ever closer, the family begins to crumble under the weight of expectations, until a startling turn of events will leave both father and son much less certain about the laws that govern their universe.
Illuminating and unforgettable, The Night of the Comet is a novel about the perils of growing up, the longing for connection, and the idea that love and redemption can be found among the stars.
Advance praise for The Night of the Comet
“A quiet, occasionally bittersweet novel about the differences between desire and disappointment, expectations and reality.”—Booklist
“Hilarious and heart-wrenching, ethereal and earthy, The Night of the Comet points us to the fragile universe of dreams and disappointments, joy and tragedy, saying here it is, all of it: feast your eyes on the magic. It’s a heavenly book. Nobody writes about the gravitational pull of parent-child relationships—all that we yearn for and all that we can’t have—like George Bishop.”—Minrose Gwin, author of The Queen of Palmyra
“Equally sweet and sad, this is a fine novel of love and forgiveness.”—Stewart O'Nan, author of Snow Angels
“Bishop’s one of our best, and this book’s a quiet marvel.”—Josh Russell, author of Yellow Jack
“A deft, clear-eyed, and sensitive examination of the mysterious bonds of family, the allure of the unattainable, and love and desire—and their consequences—in all their many forms.”—Ellen Baker, author of I Gave My Heart to Know This
From the acclaimed author of Letter to My Daughter comes an engrossing coming-of-age tale that deftly conveys the hopes and heartaches of adolescence and the unfulfilled dreams that divide a family, played out against the backdrop of a small southern town in 1973.
For his fourteenth birthday, Alan Broussard, Jr., receives a telescope from his father, a science teacher at the local high school who’s eagerly awaiting what he promises will be the astronomical event of the century: the coming of Comet Kohoutek. For Alan Broussard, Sr.—frustrated in his job, remote from his family—the comet is a connection to his past and a bridge to his son, with whom he’s eager to share his love for the stars.
But the only heavenly body Junior has any interest in is his captivating new neighbor and classmate, Gabriella Martello, whose bedroom sits within eyeshot of his telescope’s lens. Meanwhile, his mother, Lydia, sees the comet—and her husband’s obsession with it—as one more thing that keeps her from the bigger, brighter life she once imagined for herself far from the swampy environs of Terrebonne, Louisiana. With Kohoutek drawing ever closer, the family begins to crumble under the weight of expectations, until a startling turn of events will leave both father and son much less certain about the laws that govern their universe.
Illuminating and unforgettable, The Night of the Comet is a novel about the perils of growing up, the longing for connection, and the idea that love and redemption can be found among the stars.
Advance praise for The Night of the Comet
“A quiet, occasionally bittersweet novel about the differences between desire and disappointment, expectations and reality.”—Booklist
“Hilarious and heart-wrenching, ethereal and earthy, The Night of the Comet points us to the fragile universe of dreams and disappointments, joy and tragedy, saying here it is, all of it: feast your eyes on the magic. It’s a heavenly book. Nobody writes about the gravitational pull of parent-child relationships—all that we yearn for and all that we can’t have—like George Bishop.”—Minrose Gwin, author of The Queen of Palmyra
“Equally sweet and sad, this is a fine novel of love and forgiveness.”—Stewart O'Nan, author of Snow Angels
“Bishop’s one of our best, and this book’s a quiet marvel.”—Josh Russell, author of Yellow Jack
“A deft, clear-eyed, and sensitive examination of the mysterious bonds of family, the allure of the unattainable, and love and desire—and their consequences—in all their many forms.”—Ellen Baker, author of I Gave My Heart to Know This
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
12 people are currently reading
1160 people want to read
About the author
George Bishop
65 books17 followersGeorge Bishop, Jr., worked as an actor for eight years in Los Angeles before traveling overseas as a volunteer English teacher to Czechoslovakia in 1992. He enjoyed the ex-pat life so much that he stayed on, living and teaching in Turkey, Indonesia, Azerbaijan, India, and most recently, Japan. He holds a BA from Loyola University in New Orleans, an MFA from the University of North Carolina in Wilmington, and an MA from the School for International Training in Vermont.
His stories and essays have appeared in publications such as The Oxford American, The Third Coast, Press, American Writing, and Vorm (in Dutch). His first novel, Letter to My Daughter was published by Ballantine Books in 2010; his second, The Night of the Comet, came out the summer 2013, also with Ballantine.
His stories and essays have appeared in publications such as The Oxford American, The Third Coast, Press, American Writing, and Vorm (in Dutch). His first novel, Letter to My Daughter was published by Ballantine Books in 2010; his second, The Night of the Comet, came out the summer 2013, also with Ballantine.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews
October 30, 2013
Full disclosure: I received this book as a giveaway directly from the publisher, Random House, thanks to Ashley. This, however, is my honest review.
A wonderful coming-of-age novel that features the Broussard family, chiefly Alan Broussard, Junior (Junior to everyone) as well as his father Alan, his mother Lydia, and his older sister Megan. Junior recalls the night of Comet Kohoutek's supposedly spectacular arrival passing earth, twenty-six years earlier, and all the events that leads up to this momentous occasion. Junior receives a telescope from his father on his fourteenth birthday about the same time that gorgeous Gabriella Martello moves in across the bayou. His father's head is in the stars, planets, and other celestial bodies (Comet Kohoutek), but Alan, Jr. is more into looking through the telescope at Gabriella's celestial body. These events (and others) come to a head as the Alan's family crumbles under the expectations being raised. Will the family survive? Will love win out? Will the comet bring glory or just fizzle out? Highly recommended read with characters that seem real.
A wonderful coming-of-age novel that features the Broussard family, chiefly Alan Broussard, Junior (Junior to everyone) as well as his father Alan, his mother Lydia, and his older sister Megan. Junior recalls the night of Comet Kohoutek's supposedly spectacular arrival passing earth, twenty-six years earlier, and all the events that leads up to this momentous occasion. Junior receives a telescope from his father on his fourteenth birthday about the same time that gorgeous Gabriella Martello moves in across the bayou. His father's head is in the stars, planets, and other celestial bodies (Comet Kohoutek), but Alan, Jr. is more into looking through the telescope at Gabriella's celestial body. These events (and others) come to a head as the Alan's family crumbles under the expectations being raised. Will the family survive? Will love win out? Will the comet bring glory or just fizzle out? Highly recommended read with characters that seem real.
July 30, 2013
“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.” -- Henry David Thoreau, "Walden & Civil Disobedience"
I don't know why George Bishop's books -- including his latest novel "The Night of the Comet" (Ballantine Books, 336 pages, $25.00) -- don't seem to make any bestseller lists I'm familiar with. His debut short novel, "Letter to My Daughter" (see my review below) was outstanding and "Comet" combines the best writing I've seen in a long time of coming of age, midlife crises and the "quiet" -- or not so quiet -- desperation that Thoreau wrote of. Bishop's prose is good writing, serious but liberally seasoned with a sense of humor. He's a Louisiana native and they know seasoning in the state!
Maybe it's because Bishop's books are often classified as "literary" -- the bookstore kiss of death. Both of Bishop's novels could be called literary, but they're very accessible, too -- the best of both worlds.
I think most people can identify with Alan Broussard Sr.; his 14-year-old son Alan Jr., AKA Junior; his 17-year-old daughter Megan; his wife, Lydia; the Martellos: Frank, Barbara and Gabriella; Junior's best friend Pete and his dad, owner of the Conoco station -- the whole galaxy of characters in this wonderful book. If you're not like these people, chances are you know someone like Alan Sr., the bespectacled uber-geek high school teacher who rides his bike to school, or the wannabe hippie rebellious daughter Megan.
The novel is narrated by the almost-40-year-old Alan Jr., now living in Baton Rouge, LA in the year 2000. It's a look back at a year when Comet Kohoutek --- a comet, perhaps infected with Thoreau's "quiet desperation" -- ended up disappointing almost everybody. The comet was discovered in March 1973 by Dr. Lobos Kohoutek, a Czech astronomer working at the Hamburg, Germany Observatory (comets are named after their discoverers), and was expected to be at its greatest viewing around Christmastime or in early January 1974 in Terrebonne, Louisiana, the setting of the novel.
(You won't find it on the road map: There's a Terrebonne parish, but no town of that name; other towns mentioned in the novel, Napoleonville and Thibodaux, are real places, as, of course are Baton Rouge and New Orleans, where the young Lydia spoke briefly to actress Ava Gardner, in town to film a movie. The film is not identified in the novel, but it's a 1951 release, "My Forbidden Past," starring Gardner, Robert Mitchum and Melvyn Douglas.
Alan Sr. is a science teacher in Terrebonne, Louisiana in 1973. He personifies Thoreau's famous saying: a scientist manqué, teaching science to kids who would rather be doing something else, anything else. In 1973, he's using the coming of Comet Kohoutek to try to ignite an interest in science to his students.
Lydia Broussard, who met Alan when he arrived in Terrebonne to teach science and she was a teen-age clerk in the drugstore, is just as frustrated as her husband. She's attracted to the Martellos and is envious of their lifestyle, with her basic Rambler sedan a pale shadow of their Cadillac. The culmination of this fascination is a Comet Party in the Martello home, organized by Lydia and Barbara, to raise money for the cash-starved science laboratories at the high school.
For his fourteenth birthday, Alan Broussard, Jr., receives an expensive Celestron telescope from his father, a gift Alan Sr. hopes will inspire his son to love the stars as much as he does. Instead, Junior, as everybody calls him, uses the high-powered scope to spy on his pretty new neighbor, Gabriella Martello, a high school classmate who's just moved into a big house in the exclusive subdivision across the bayou. She's the daughter of Frank, an oil company executive and his social-climbing wife Barbara, who resents being stuck in plain-as-dirt Terrebonne.
At the beginning of the novel there's a teaser, explained at the end. Everything is not what it seems in the novel -- like life itself. "The Night of the Comet" is about disappointment, but it's at heart an optimistic book that readers looking for something meatier than the latest formulaic best-seller will embrace. I hope so.
A personal note: I was kind of a geek myself in high school in the mid 1950s, playing trombone (all trombone players are geeks at heart!) and tuba in the concert and marching bands and orchestra, setting up audio-visual equipment for ham-handed teachers as a member of the Projectionist Club, being a socially inept bookworm like Junior. There was no problem injecting myself into the life of Terrebonne ("Good Earth" in French) set two decades after I began high school and feeling right at home.
January 4, 2014
If you’ve ever felt as though you’re living a life you weren’t supposed to live; if you’ve ever felt ashamed of your family; if you’ve ever felt that love is something reserved for fairy tales; if you’ve ever felt uncertain of the laws that govern your universe; heck, even if you’re just fascinated with astronomy; you are going to love George Bishop’s The Night of the Comet.
I haven’t read a book yet that’s more relatable and real than The Night of the Comet. From the first sentence, heartbreak, loss, love, family, and redemption dominate. At the start of the story, the narrator, Alan Broussard, Jr., a fourteen-year-old bookworm, receives a telescope from his father for his birthday. His father is giddy with excitement to share this “Mercedes-Benz of telescopes” with his son, who understands that the gift is his father’s way of trying to bond with him, but also questions if his father even knows him at all. Junior’s reaction? “As a parent, he was practically useless. Like the telescope – good for nothing.”
My heart sank as I read Junior’s reaction. Bishop paints the picture of Alan Broussard, Sr. so well, and he is just so happy to share this with his son, that it was disappointing and upsetting that Junior would have such a reaction. Junior, however, quickly finds a good use for the telescope when he has the revelation that he can use it to spy on his hot new neighbor, Gabriella Martello. He asks his parents over and over to tell the story of how they met and fell in love, thinking that he can glean from it what love is and what he’s supposed to do to get Gabriella to fall in love with him. Anyone who has been a lovelorn teenager with hopes of impressing a member of the opposite sex will feel right along with him as he undergoes the journey of adolescence, learning lessons about love, loss, rejection, and that teenage euphoria of a first kiss.
Junior is a bookworm, and Bishop presents one of the best bookworm descriptions I’ve read: “The only thing I had any affinity for – and I hardly considered this a talent – was reading. I was a reader, a bookworm […] I would read almost anything I could lay my hands on. Slumped in my bed or a corner of the couch with a good book, I’d look up and feel nothing but disappointment at my own world, so dull and colorless in comparison. If I could have, I would’ve gladly spent the rest of my life in books. Stories were my escape, my refuge, my consolation, my love.” This so completely describes how I feel about books, and I immediately identified with this character. The theme of being disappointed with the “real” world carries throughout the novel and reveals itself more fully in Junior’s parents.
Although Junior narrates the story, I was much more interested in his parents. My heart went out to Alan Broussard, Sr. from the first chapter. I felt so sorry for this aloof astronomer who gets so caught up in his science that he forgets the meaning of family. He is a teacher at the local high school who eagerly awaits the comet Kohoutek, and soon his entire existence revolves around the comet, which burns everything out of this poor man’s life. Lydia Broussard, the mother, dreams of a bigger, more luxurious life that she’s imagined for herself since she was a teenager, and their new neighbors across the canal, the Martellos, represent this life as they move into a house “so marvelous, so grand that it looked almost absurdly out of place there at the edge of our muddy bayou.” All the while, Alan, Sr. and Lydia grow farther apart as Alan turns his eyes to the sky and keeps his head in the clouds.
Every member of the Broussard family wishes for something they don’t have: Megan, Junior’s sister, wants to run away to New York; Junior wants Gabriella to be his girlfriend; Lydia wants a big Hollywood life; and Alan, Sr. wants to be a famous scientist. They go about their routines every day wishing they had something more. How many times have I felt the same way?
The characters reminded me of my own family growing up. I was a bookworm, just like Junior. My sister loved to sing, just like Megan. My mother always dreamed of a bigger, better life. And my father was just as oblivious to all this as Alan, Sr. I felt as though I was reading my own story as I read about Junior’s struggle with discovering that people run in different circles in life, and once you’re born into a circle, you must orbit in that circle forever, and about this family’s crumble under the weight of expectations. In the end, I felt like a part of the Broussard family. They are my family, actually.
Equally charming and heart wrenching, no one tells a story of all that we covet and all we can’t have, of the celestial bonds of family and love, of disgrace and redemption, quite like George Bishop.
I haven’t read a book yet that’s more relatable and real than The Night of the Comet. From the first sentence, heartbreak, loss, love, family, and redemption dominate. At the start of the story, the narrator, Alan Broussard, Jr., a fourteen-year-old bookworm, receives a telescope from his father for his birthday. His father is giddy with excitement to share this “Mercedes-Benz of telescopes” with his son, who understands that the gift is his father’s way of trying to bond with him, but also questions if his father even knows him at all. Junior’s reaction? “As a parent, he was practically useless. Like the telescope – good for nothing.”
My heart sank as I read Junior’s reaction. Bishop paints the picture of Alan Broussard, Sr. so well, and he is just so happy to share this with his son, that it was disappointing and upsetting that Junior would have such a reaction. Junior, however, quickly finds a good use for the telescope when he has the revelation that he can use it to spy on his hot new neighbor, Gabriella Martello. He asks his parents over and over to tell the story of how they met and fell in love, thinking that he can glean from it what love is and what he’s supposed to do to get Gabriella to fall in love with him. Anyone who has been a lovelorn teenager with hopes of impressing a member of the opposite sex will feel right along with him as he undergoes the journey of adolescence, learning lessons about love, loss, rejection, and that teenage euphoria of a first kiss.
Junior is a bookworm, and Bishop presents one of the best bookworm descriptions I’ve read: “The only thing I had any affinity for – and I hardly considered this a talent – was reading. I was a reader, a bookworm […] I would read almost anything I could lay my hands on. Slumped in my bed or a corner of the couch with a good book, I’d look up and feel nothing but disappointment at my own world, so dull and colorless in comparison. If I could have, I would’ve gladly spent the rest of my life in books. Stories were my escape, my refuge, my consolation, my love.” This so completely describes how I feel about books, and I immediately identified with this character. The theme of being disappointed with the “real” world carries throughout the novel and reveals itself more fully in Junior’s parents.
Although Junior narrates the story, I was much more interested in his parents. My heart went out to Alan Broussard, Sr. from the first chapter. I felt so sorry for this aloof astronomer who gets so caught up in his science that he forgets the meaning of family. He is a teacher at the local high school who eagerly awaits the comet Kohoutek, and soon his entire existence revolves around the comet, which burns everything out of this poor man’s life. Lydia Broussard, the mother, dreams of a bigger, more luxurious life that she’s imagined for herself since she was a teenager, and their new neighbors across the canal, the Martellos, represent this life as they move into a house “so marvelous, so grand that it looked almost absurdly out of place there at the edge of our muddy bayou.” All the while, Alan, Sr. and Lydia grow farther apart as Alan turns his eyes to the sky and keeps his head in the clouds.
Every member of the Broussard family wishes for something they don’t have: Megan, Junior’s sister, wants to run away to New York; Junior wants Gabriella to be his girlfriend; Lydia wants a big Hollywood life; and Alan, Sr. wants to be a famous scientist. They go about their routines every day wishing they had something more. How many times have I felt the same way?
The characters reminded me of my own family growing up. I was a bookworm, just like Junior. My sister loved to sing, just like Megan. My mother always dreamed of a bigger, better life. And my father was just as oblivious to all this as Alan, Sr. I felt as though I was reading my own story as I read about Junior’s struggle with discovering that people run in different circles in life, and once you’re born into a circle, you must orbit in that circle forever, and about this family’s crumble under the weight of expectations. In the end, I felt like a part of the Broussard family. They are my family, actually.
Equally charming and heart wrenching, no one tells a story of all that we covet and all we can’t have, of the celestial bonds of family and love, of disgrace and redemption, quite like George Bishop.
March 1, 2015
Won a copy through goodreads, but just couldn't get past the constant steretypes, esp. of a science teacher. The writer tried to hard to make him look 'goofy' and as for the many science teachers I knew personally, none would have fit this mold. The kids were stereotypes, too, and I just could not get into the story. In fact, there wasn't much story until midway, so...
There was just nothing here to interest me, and I tried, but every time I looked at the book and said, okay I won it, I have to read this. I have to try...
I'd find an excuse to do the wash or clean the kitchen floor. Just not the book for me.
Three stars.
There was just nothing here to interest me, and I tried, but every time I looked at the book and said, okay I won it, I have to read this. I have to try...
I'd find an excuse to do the wash or clean the kitchen floor. Just not the book for me.
Three stars.
August 13, 2013
Choosing a single idea or image to rest a story on is difficult to do well. Often, the overuse of symbolic significance will begin to weigh down the story. Thankfully, this is intelligently avoided by Bishop. The comet is a thematic touchstone throughout, though doesn’t overwhelm the personal story. Told from the perspective of an awkward teenager, rather too like his eccentric father, the plot weaves the emotional relationships of the son and his parents with a good level of realism. The father’s growing preoccupation with the approaching comet gives pace which builds to a natural climax. The novel begins as Alan senior buys a telescope for his son, and Junior forgoes stargazing to nurture his Gatsby-like obsession with the girl who lives across the water at the end of his garden. Their friendship is very sweet and is written with real veracity and tenderness.
The person I felt most empathy for in the novel was his mother, who exemplifies Friedan’s ‘problem-with-no-name’; the novel is largely set in the 1970s. The ending has the tone of a happy one, yet I really wasn’t happy with her conclusion; (minor spoiler alert) I don’t believe that she is better off in an unhappy relationship than in no relationship.
There were a couple of other small things that I didn’t enjoy. Read more here eveproofreads.com
The person I felt most empathy for in the novel was his mother, who exemplifies Friedan’s ‘problem-with-no-name’; the novel is largely set in the 1970s. The ending has the tone of a happy one, yet I really wasn’t happy with her conclusion; (minor spoiler alert) I don’t believe that she is better off in an unhappy relationship than in no relationship.
There were a couple of other small things that I didn’t enjoy. Read more here eveproofreads.com
August 5, 2013
I wasn’t looking forward to a book that has “coming-of-age story” slapped on the cover. I’ve done coming-of-age stories. To death, I think. But this little book surprised me. Don’t let that hackneyed phrase prejudice you against reading this book. Yes, it is a “coming-of-age story.” But the characters are completely fresh and the story is compelling. I loved this book.
Night of the Comet is a story about a man, a family, a town waiting for Comet Kohoutek. Alan Broussard, Jr. tells the story of Alan, Sr., a science teacher in a small town in Louisiana, a man who has always felt like he was meant for greater things. As the comet approaches Earth, Alan, Sr. is thrust into the limelight he’s always longed for. It isn’t long before everyone in town is waiting for the comet to arrive.
That’s the plot, but there is so much more in this little book; I don’t think I can possibly tell you how good a read it was for me. Just thinking about it now, a month after I finished it, and I can still feel my insides twist, with all the feelings that little book stirred up...it’s that good.
Night of the Comet is a story about a man, a family, a town waiting for Comet Kohoutek. Alan Broussard, Jr. tells the story of Alan, Sr., a science teacher in a small town in Louisiana, a man who has always felt like he was meant for greater things. As the comet approaches Earth, Alan, Sr. is thrust into the limelight he’s always longed for. It isn’t long before everyone in town is waiting for the comet to arrive.
That’s the plot, but there is so much more in this little book; I don’t think I can possibly tell you how good a read it was for me. Just thinking about it now, a month after I finished it, and I can still feel my insides twist, with all the feelings that little book stirred up...it’s that good.
June 4, 2015
This book was a pretty good read. I enjoyed reading this story about family and getting ready to see the comet Kohoutek during the 1960's and 70's in Louisiana. Definitely check this one out.
January 24, 2019
I enjoy coming-of-age tales, especially, I suspected, one set in 1973, when I was a child myself. So I dug into "The Night of the Comet" by George Bishop.
The story is told by Alan Broussard, Jr., who is now an adult, but who is looking back on the summer when he was 14. His dad teaches high school science, but had greater ambitions before becoming a teacher. Dad is currently infatuated with Comet Kohoutek, which is soon due to be visible from earth. He writes a weekly column about the comet for the paper, makes appearances speaking about it, and organizes a town viewing party to see the comet. “No doubt he meant well, but my father moved in a universe of his own — ‘His head in the stars,’ as my mother put it. I wondered if he could even see me at all, blinking behind the thick lenses of his glasses. As a parent, he was practically useless. Like the telescope — good for nothing.”
Mom, meanwhile, is frustrated in her life and finds some hope of excitement from the rich and glamorous Martello family who move in nearby.
Alan is written well as a 14-year-old. He alternates between loving his family and being embarrassed by them, and is besotted by the lovely Gabriella Martello. As the story progresses, Alan begins to see his parents in a more mature way: “Someone should’ve told them that married life would not be filled with years of honeymooned bliss, but with an endless parade of chores and clutter and routine annoyances that over time would begin to make them feel older, slower, less buoyant. No doubt a part of them did know this; they were sensible people, after all … but another part of them … clung to the belief that their lives would be different, that theirs would be better than average — because, really, who didn’t believe that?”
The drama in the book coincides with the comet’s approach. What happens at that point? You’ll have to read the book to find out, and I recommend that you do. It was well-written (the last page or two are really beautiful; I considered typing them out but it’s just too long) and a real pleasure to read. It’s a nice look at a simpler time and at characters that are realistic and nuanced.
The story is told by Alan Broussard, Jr., who is now an adult, but who is looking back on the summer when he was 14. His dad teaches high school science, but had greater ambitions before becoming a teacher. Dad is currently infatuated with Comet Kohoutek, which is soon due to be visible from earth. He writes a weekly column about the comet for the paper, makes appearances speaking about it, and organizes a town viewing party to see the comet. “No doubt he meant well, but my father moved in a universe of his own — ‘His head in the stars,’ as my mother put it. I wondered if he could even see me at all, blinking behind the thick lenses of his glasses. As a parent, he was practically useless. Like the telescope — good for nothing.”
Mom, meanwhile, is frustrated in her life and finds some hope of excitement from the rich and glamorous Martello family who move in nearby.
Alan is written well as a 14-year-old. He alternates between loving his family and being embarrassed by them, and is besotted by the lovely Gabriella Martello. As the story progresses, Alan begins to see his parents in a more mature way: “Someone should’ve told them that married life would not be filled with years of honeymooned bliss, but with an endless parade of chores and clutter and routine annoyances that over time would begin to make them feel older, slower, less buoyant. No doubt a part of them did know this; they were sensible people, after all … but another part of them … clung to the belief that their lives would be different, that theirs would be better than average — because, really, who didn’t believe that?”
The drama in the book coincides with the comet’s approach. What happens at that point? You’ll have to read the book to find out, and I recommend that you do. It was well-written (the last page or two are really beautiful; I considered typing them out but it’s just too long) and a real pleasure to read. It’s a nice look at a simpler time and at characters that are realistic and nuanced.
January 15, 2018
Well told coming of age story for a character growing up in a somewhat strange situation.
April 14, 2013
I got the ARC version of this one. Actually what made me request this book from NetGalley is just because the title and the cover. Somehow it’s attracted me. I didn't even know about the author or his previous work at that time. This is my first read of his work. And…apparently, this is my first read of ARC books. So, I’m kind of nervous to read this one. Maybe pessimist is an exact word of it. I thought this book will be boring and just so-so book. Just because I never heard of the author and the author isn’t so famous either. I know now, that I’m so wrong.
This book is narrated by Allan Jr. When I knew this book is narrated by a teenage boy who’s starting his high school, I was excited. It’s just because, the cover doesn't look like this book narrated by teenage character. Takes place in the Louisiana small town, Allan Jr spent his childhood and teenage years. Precisely in 1973 when Alan Jr. turn 14 years old, there is a comet named Kouhoutek which, reported will be seen in the sky at the Christmas Eve.This is the biggest event of the century at that time. Alan Jr’s father, Alan Broussard who’s his science teacher too, waiting eagerly for this event and started to became obsessed with the comet. He started to talk and talk about comet in class, suggested new curriculum about comet in school and persuade other teachers to join it, he started to write comet column in newspaper. He started to become the specialist of comet in the town. Alan Jr. didn't care about the comet, he only cared about the new girl in the neighborhood over the bayou, Gabriella. Although, the comet’s still around him and soon became the center of his father, his family, and his town. Alan Jr. was witnessing this and became the main character of this tale.
Well, you could see from the synopsis above, this book consists of comets and science things. They’re scattered all over it. That makes me interested and excited after read the premises. You can find many interested things related to comets, astronomy, and another science. The facts in this book like how comets move, what comets look like, the histories of comets and other things… I found that interesting (especially about the history of comet appearance and its myth) and I appreciate the author’s work of researching all this. I started to think, this book is geeky enough for me to like it. Me ? You know, I’m not the science girl, I’m bad at it. But I found myself enjoying some of this knowledge, it’s fun to know all this stuff.
The writing itself isn’t bad. I like it, especially because it’s easy to understand eventhough English isn’t my mother’s language. It’s clear and simple. And also there is a poem in this book that I really like so much and it’s pretty much made my mind to like this one.
But unfortunately, there are minor parts of this book that I found the science explanation is a little bit hard to digest for a quick reads. Well, but most of it is interesting enough so I tried hard to understand it.
But don’t think this book as a science book trapped in a fiction. No, this one isn’t entirely about comet though you can still read and found the comet all over it. The book actually told about the problem which existed around our narrator. His teenage life problem -you know, like teenage dreams, teenage loves- are there. And also his parents’ problems, the separation, the dream in the past that cannot be fulfilled, and all grown up regrets are in this book. This book told about Alan Jr’s grown up realization time. And believe me, I found it heartbreaking and motivating at the same time. I nearly cried at the ending. It’s kind of related to my life, oh hell, I think it’s everyone’s life.
Oh well, so in the end, I like this piece of Mr. Bishop. Maybe there is one or two things annoyed me in this book like that explanation of science or parts that Alan Jr. repeated the same story he mentioned before, but… okay, this book is good, the writing’s good, educative in interesting way, the story’s real. I like it. Recommend it for teens, adults, and astronomy lovers.
This book is narrated by Allan Jr. When I knew this book is narrated by a teenage boy who’s starting his high school, I was excited. It’s just because, the cover doesn't look like this book narrated by teenage character. Takes place in the Louisiana small town, Allan Jr spent his childhood and teenage years. Precisely in 1973 when Alan Jr. turn 14 years old, there is a comet named Kouhoutek which, reported will be seen in the sky at the Christmas Eve.This is the biggest event of the century at that time. Alan Jr’s father, Alan Broussard who’s his science teacher too, waiting eagerly for this event and started to became obsessed with the comet. He started to talk and talk about comet in class, suggested new curriculum about comet in school and persuade other teachers to join it, he started to write comet column in newspaper. He started to become the specialist of comet in the town. Alan Jr. didn't care about the comet, he only cared about the new girl in the neighborhood over the bayou, Gabriella. Although, the comet’s still around him and soon became the center of his father, his family, and his town. Alan Jr. was witnessing this and became the main character of this tale.
Well, you could see from the synopsis above, this book consists of comets and science things. They’re scattered all over it. That makes me interested and excited after read the premises. You can find many interested things related to comets, astronomy, and another science. The facts in this book like how comets move, what comets look like, the histories of comets and other things… I found that interesting (especially about the history of comet appearance and its myth) and I appreciate the author’s work of researching all this. I started to think, this book is geeky enough for me to like it. Me ? You know, I’m not the science girl, I’m bad at it. But I found myself enjoying some of this knowledge, it’s fun to know all this stuff.
The writing itself isn’t bad. I like it, especially because it’s easy to understand eventhough English isn’t my mother’s language. It’s clear and simple. And also there is a poem in this book that I really like so much and it’s pretty much made my mind to like this one.
Far, far away
Sailing pale and quiet past the stars.
I am the comet
You are the Sun
Beautiful sun
Unfreeze my heart and see me shine
But unfortunately, there are minor parts of this book that I found the science explanation is a little bit hard to digest for a quick reads. Well, but most of it is interesting enough so I tried hard to understand it.
But don’t think this book as a science book trapped in a fiction. No, this one isn’t entirely about comet though you can still read and found the comet all over it. The book actually told about the problem which existed around our narrator. His teenage life problem -you know, like teenage dreams, teenage loves- are there. And also his parents’ problems, the separation, the dream in the past that cannot be fulfilled, and all grown up regrets are in this book. This book told about Alan Jr’s grown up realization time. And believe me, I found it heartbreaking and motivating at the same time. I nearly cried at the ending. It’s kind of related to my life, oh hell, I think it’s everyone’s life.
Oh well, so in the end, I like this piece of Mr. Bishop. Maybe there is one or two things annoyed me in this book like that explanation of science or parts that Alan Jr. repeated the same story he mentioned before, but… okay, this book is good, the writing’s good, educative in interesting way, the story’s real. I like it. Recommend it for teens, adults, and astronomy lovers.
December 10, 2013
It's 1973 in the small town of Terrebonne, Louisiana. Alan Broussard, Jr. (aka "Junior") has just turned 14, and his mind is on many of the same things other 14-year-olds think about—trying to fit in at school, trying not to let his parents embarrass him, and, more importantly, girls—especially his new neighbor, the beautiful Gabriella Martello.
When Junior's father, an awkward high school science teacher and frustrated scientist, buys Junior a top-of-the-line telescope for his birthday, he does so in the hopes that he and Junior can watch the impending progress of Comet Kohoutek, which he promises will be the astronomical event of the century. Of course, Junior would rather use his telescope to watch Gabriella and her family, who live across the bayou in a much nicer housing development than the Broussards.
Much to the surprise of Junior, their father's enthusiasm about Comet Kohoutek's impending arrival starts to rub off on the people in Terrebonne, and excitement begins to build, even among those who have never had any interest in science. But the anticipation around the comet also highlights the problems in Junior's world—his mother's desire for a better and more exciting life than she has, one where money and love aren't as hard to come by; his father's frustration with the course his life has taken; even his sister's need to leave their small town. And all Junior wants is for Gabriella to feel the same way about him that he does about her.
"All of my father's talk about the 'objective observation' and 'trusting the evidence of your senses' was of little use when it came to trying to understand other people. People, I was beginning to believe, didn't so easily conform to the rules of science. With people, it was all just guesswork."
As tensions in the Broussard family grow at the same time excitement about the comet ramps up in town, Junior tries to make sense of his parents' relationship and the truth about love. But the problems of life, like scientific phenomena, can't always easily be pinned down, no matter how hard we hope they will.
The Night of the Comet is a well-researched book that tells an interesting if familiar story of the travails of growing up and not understanding your parents' relationship, but needing its stability. It's a story of the drama of first love, particularly unrequited, and how children and adults alike pin their hopes on things that don't always come true the way they want. It's also the story of relationships—between husband and wife, parent and child, those who seem to have it all and those who want it all.
I liked many elements of this book but found it got a little bogged down with the "coming of age" drama in Junior's life. The story about the excitement generated by the comet, and the way it brings to light problems in the Broussard family, resonated more for me. But it's still a good story that doesn't quite end the way you think it will.
When Junior's father, an awkward high school science teacher and frustrated scientist, buys Junior a top-of-the-line telescope for his birthday, he does so in the hopes that he and Junior can watch the impending progress of Comet Kohoutek, which he promises will be the astronomical event of the century. Of course, Junior would rather use his telescope to watch Gabriella and her family, who live across the bayou in a much nicer housing development than the Broussards.
Much to the surprise of Junior, their father's enthusiasm about Comet Kohoutek's impending arrival starts to rub off on the people in Terrebonne, and excitement begins to build, even among those who have never had any interest in science. But the anticipation around the comet also highlights the problems in Junior's world—his mother's desire for a better and more exciting life than she has, one where money and love aren't as hard to come by; his father's frustration with the course his life has taken; even his sister's need to leave their small town. And all Junior wants is for Gabriella to feel the same way about him that he does about her.
"All of my father's talk about the 'objective observation' and 'trusting the evidence of your senses' was of little use when it came to trying to understand other people. People, I was beginning to believe, didn't so easily conform to the rules of science. With people, it was all just guesswork."
As tensions in the Broussard family grow at the same time excitement about the comet ramps up in town, Junior tries to make sense of his parents' relationship and the truth about love. But the problems of life, like scientific phenomena, can't always easily be pinned down, no matter how hard we hope they will.
The Night of the Comet is a well-researched book that tells an interesting if familiar story of the travails of growing up and not understanding your parents' relationship, but needing its stability. It's a story of the drama of first love, particularly unrequited, and how children and adults alike pin their hopes on things that don't always come true the way they want. It's also the story of relationships—between husband and wife, parent and child, those who seem to have it all and those who want it all.
I liked many elements of this book but found it got a little bogged down with the "coming of age" drama in Junior's life. The story about the excitement generated by the comet, and the way it brings to light problems in the Broussard family, resonated more for me. But it's still a good story that doesn't quite end the way you think it will.
July 5, 2013
Night of the Comet is a great coming of age book by George Bishop. It is set in the 1970's in southern Louisiana. I did enjoy the book and I think most people can relate to the story. Alan Broussard, Jr is just starting high school and this is his story. It is full of ups and downs and the disappointments that go along with growing up.
From the acclaimed author of Letter to My Daughter comes an engrossing coming-of-age tale that deftly conveys the hopes and heartaches of adolescence, and the unfulfilled dreams that divide a family, played out against the backdrop of a small southern town in 1973.
For his fourteenth birthday, Alan Broussard, Jr., receives a telescope from his father, a science teacher at the local high school who's anxiously awaiting what he promises will be the astronomical event of the century: the coming of Comet Kohoutek. For Alan Broussard, Sr.--frustrated in his job, remote from his family--the comet is a connection to his past and a bridge to his son, with whom he's eager to share his love for the stars.
But the only celestial body Junior has any interest in is his captivating new neighbor and classmate, Gabriella Martello, whose bedroom sits within eyeshot of his telescope's lens. Meanwhile, his mother Lydia sees the comet--and her husband's obsession with it--as one more thing that keeps her from the bigger, brighter life she once imagined for herself far from the swampy environs of Terrebonne, Louisiana. With Kohoutek drawing ever closer, the family begins to crumble under the weight of expectations, and a startling turn of events will leave both father and son much less certain about the laws that govern their universe.
Illuminating and unforgettable, The Night of the Comet is a novel about the perils of growing up, the longing for connection, and the idea that love and redemption can be found among the stars.
From the acclaimed author of Letter to My Daughter comes an engrossing coming-of-age tale that deftly conveys the hopes and heartaches of adolescence, and the unfulfilled dreams that divide a family, played out against the backdrop of a small southern town in 1973.
For his fourteenth birthday, Alan Broussard, Jr., receives a telescope from his father, a science teacher at the local high school who's anxiously awaiting what he promises will be the astronomical event of the century: the coming of Comet Kohoutek. For Alan Broussard, Sr.--frustrated in his job, remote from his family--the comet is a connection to his past and a bridge to his son, with whom he's eager to share his love for the stars.
But the only celestial body Junior has any interest in is his captivating new neighbor and classmate, Gabriella Martello, whose bedroom sits within eyeshot of his telescope's lens. Meanwhile, his mother Lydia sees the comet--and her husband's obsession with it--as one more thing that keeps her from the bigger, brighter life she once imagined for herself far from the swampy environs of Terrebonne, Louisiana. With Kohoutek drawing ever closer, the family begins to crumble under the weight of expectations, and a startling turn of events will leave both father and son much less certain about the laws that govern their universe.
Illuminating and unforgettable, The Night of the Comet is a novel about the perils of growing up, the longing for connection, and the idea that love and redemption can be found among the stars.
June 19, 2013
The Night of the Comet is a beautiful story about a family whose life is about to unravel when an exciting family moves in across the way. A coming of age story about a young boy whose quirky father's obsession with a comet is going to test the family in ways they never imagined. It is 1973 and for his 14th birthday Alan Broussard "Junior" is gifted with a telescope by his father, but he is more interested in observing the new girl than any stars or comet. He is not the only family member enthralled by the new neighbors.
While his father is away with the comet, his focus skyward mother Lydia is slowly losing the dreams she once had for a brighter life. Sure she was meant for bigger things, the longing she has felt only intensifies when the vibrant Martello's come into her life.
More than anything, this is a story of how our ideal can drastically differ from the reality fate has in store for us. It's how we lose ourselves in the day to day give and take of family life. Many families have their own Martello family, who seem to have all the money, fun, ease that we lack, but do they?
It's the painful expectations we put on each other and ourselves in making a family, all the things we lose and what we gain. I absolutely loved the Broussard family. My heart went out to the hopeless father, and the mother, hungry for more. It's a sweet tale even in it's sadness. This story isn't action packed, and it's not meant to be, it moves in the same rhythm most families do, especially average ordinary ones, if such a thing exists. I was surprised how much I liked it. I found myself relating to the longing each family member felt. Lovely story...
While his father is away with the comet, his focus skyward mother Lydia is slowly losing the dreams she once had for a brighter life. Sure she was meant for bigger things, the longing she has felt only intensifies when the vibrant Martello's come into her life.
More than anything, this is a story of how our ideal can drastically differ from the reality fate has in store for us. It's how we lose ourselves in the day to day give and take of family life. Many families have their own Martello family, who seem to have all the money, fun, ease that we lack, but do they?
It's the painful expectations we put on each other and ourselves in making a family, all the things we lose and what we gain. I absolutely loved the Broussard family. My heart went out to the hopeless father, and the mother, hungry for more. It's a sweet tale even in it's sadness. This story isn't action packed, and it's not meant to be, it moves in the same rhythm most families do, especially average ordinary ones, if such a thing exists. I was surprised how much I liked it. I found myself relating to the longing each family member felt. Lovely story...
August 2, 2013
The Night of the Comet conveys the hopes and heartaches of adolescence and the unresolved issues that endanger a marriage. The setting is 1973 Baton Rouge and Alan Broussard Jr.'s fourteenth birthday. His family wear hats and have cake while the father brings out the gift, a Celestron D8 telescope. Alan realizes it is what his father has wanted, since he teaches science at the high school, but he soon learns to enjoy it because it lets him get a close-up view of the girl in his class he has a crush on.
The reader is given the back story on Alan's parents marriage, from first meeting each other to the present day. The two seem an unlikely pair since Alan is a science freak and Lydia loves reading her horoscope and window shopping in New Orleans.
The inciting force is a comet, named Kohoutek, that obsesses Alan. He gets other curriculum teachers involved, writes a column in the local paper, and talks incessantly about it. Lydia, feeling left out, cultivates a friendship with new neighbors who have moved into an enormous house across the lagoon. She invites them to come over for snacks, drinks, and a view of the comet through the telescope.
Unfortunately, Frank Martellos is more interested in Lydia than the comet and begins an affair that threatens to destroy the family.
The reader is given the back story on Alan's parents marriage, from first meeting each other to the present day. The two seem an unlikely pair since Alan is a science freak and Lydia loves reading her horoscope and window shopping in New Orleans.
The inciting force is a comet, named Kohoutek, that obsesses Alan. He gets other curriculum teachers involved, writes a column in the local paper, and talks incessantly about it. Lydia, feeling left out, cultivates a friendship with new neighbors who have moved into an enormous house across the lagoon. She invites them to come over for snacks, drinks, and a view of the comet through the telescope.
Unfortunately, Frank Martellos is more interested in Lydia than the comet and begins an affair that threatens to destroy the family.
August 29, 2013
A well-crafted and realistic novel encompassing a family’s dreams, obsessions and resilience. The story is told from the perspective of a 14 year old boy named Alan who lives in a Louisiana small town, a bookworm who is on the cusp of meeting his first love. Enter his father, a geeky science teacher who gives Alan a telescope for his birthday. The gift turns out to be one Alan’s dad uses more and who becomes pre-occupied with the approaching Kohoutek comet. So obsessively so, that his familial relationships begin to crumble. Alan could care less about the comet - he is using the telescope to look into the windows of the new neighbors’ house in order to catch glimpses of beautiful Gabriella, a new student at his school. He is obsessed with her every move. Astronomy is interspersed throughout the story. Facts such as those about comets are fascinating to learn but they take a large bite out of the story, a bit too much and too distracting for my taste..
September 6, 2013
In the prologue to this story, adult Alan shares his teenage memory of his father's raincoat flying behind him like the tail of a comet as he leaps from the town water tower. What follows is the compelling story of a middle class, 1970s suburban/small town Louisiana family's downward spiral that leads to the remembered night.
Reading this book is like watching a car crash - you want to look away because you think you know what is going to happen, but you can't stop. High school teacher Alan Sr. thinks that the incoming passing comet will be his ticket to nerdy science fame, his wife sees the comet as a chance to move into the social circles that have previously been denied to her. Their children Alan Jr. and Megan have their own regular teenage issues to deal with, along with watching their family slowly disintegrate. Told from the perspective of Alan Jr., who comes to understand that things in the universe don't always act as expected.
A good family drama.
Reading this book is like watching a car crash - you want to look away because you think you know what is going to happen, but you can't stop. High school teacher Alan Sr. thinks that the incoming passing comet will be his ticket to nerdy science fame, his wife sees the comet as a chance to move into the social circles that have previously been denied to her. Their children Alan Jr. and Megan have their own regular teenage issues to deal with, along with watching their family slowly disintegrate. Told from the perspective of Alan Jr., who comes to understand that things in the universe don't always act as expected.
A good family drama.
July 9, 2013
On the surface, The Night of the Comet appears to be a sweet tale of a high school science teacher fascinated by Comet Kohoutek during the year 1973. However, as with many things in life, there is much more to this book than meets the eye. George Bishop is a supreme storyteller and has actually written a hard-hitting commentary on the consequences of the many different choices we make in our lives, especially those involving love and family. This is an emotional roller coaster and a beautiful reflection on the human condition that will keep you turning the pages right up until the very end. A most enjoyable read.
August 17, 2013
Very enjoyable read! There was something so gentle and old-fashioned about the way this story unfolded that I couldn't help but be carried along. The voice of the young protagonist is so clear and true. The comet details are fascinating, of course, but it is the day-to-day trials of fear and hope, loss and love, that make this tale a poignant glimpse of real life and real people. Thanks, George Bishop.
August 19, 2013
Heartwarming. Coming of age. Raw. It was a hugger.
April 21, 2014
EXCELLENT!!!! One of the best novels I've read in years.
May 11, 2025
I started this book quite awhile ago, because although I thought I would enjoy it, it was a little hard to get into as it is a coming-of-age in the daily grind of life story, that starts very close to the climax of the story before going back to set the stage and tell us how events came to pass.
It was the connection to the time and place along with the poetry of the prose that drew me in. You almost feel like you’re in the room with the characters, and even the most sordid or depressing ones somehow come off as human.
I still have one of the songs mentioned looping in my head — I had to go find it and listen to it—which gives a soundtrack effect. It’s so interesting to read about characters who have been living lives they thought would be much greater while their children are looking out, waiting for their life to begin. Meanwhile, I am significantly older than the father and mother in the story and my kids are already starting to calcify into their 20s.
I spoiled the book a bit for myself since I decided to read about Comet Kohoutek the day before I finished the novel. I thought I might have remembered it had it been a big deal since I would’ve been about six at the time, but I just don’t. My husband did, however. in any event, there was one point where I was reading, and I realized I was having some of the same feelings that I had while reading the City of Trembling Leaves, where it was strange, almost surreal and yet I felt drawn into the warmth and realness of it. And that’s why I liked it
It was the connection to the time and place along with the poetry of the prose that drew me in. You almost feel like you’re in the room with the characters, and even the most sordid or depressing ones somehow come off as human.
I still have one of the songs mentioned looping in my head — I had to go find it and listen to it—which gives a soundtrack effect. It’s so interesting to read about characters who have been living lives they thought would be much greater while their children are looking out, waiting for their life to begin. Meanwhile, I am significantly older than the father and mother in the story and my kids are already starting to calcify into their 20s.
I spoiled the book a bit for myself since I decided to read about Comet Kohoutek the day before I finished the novel. I thought I might have remembered it had it been a big deal since I would’ve been about six at the time, but I just don’t. My husband did, however. in any event, there was one point where I was reading, and I realized I was having some of the same feelings that I had while reading the City of Trembling Leaves, where it was strange, almost surreal and yet I felt drawn into the warmth and realness of it. And that’s why I liked it
July 9, 2019
Once in a while you a read a book that you can relate to. Comet is a book that focuses on a comet and how it affects the lives of Junior and his family. It's a simple tale that is enhanced by its characters, and how relatable they are. You can almost see your self in Junior or his father, and maybe even his mother. We've all felt as if we didn't belong anywhere, or maybe we loved someone who would never love us back. The story isn't propelled by action, but by the characters themselves. For some, this may be a dull read because nothing really happens. The story moves but sometimes it seems to drag a bit in the middle.
When I got this from the library I wasn't sure if I'd like it, but once I started it reading it, I felt as if I wasn't merely reading about these people, I was right there with them. Bishop's novel allows us to connect with his characters and you begin to see just how much one event can change someone's life. Not everyone is perfect, and sometimes, it's the characters who are flawed who have the most impact on us.
When I got this from the library I wasn't sure if I'd like it, but once I started it reading it, I felt as if I wasn't merely reading about these people, I was right there with them. Bishop's novel allows us to connect with his characters and you begin to see just how much one event can change someone's life. Not everyone is perfect, and sometimes, it's the characters who are flawed who have the most impact on us.
May 28, 2023
4.5 stars
A coming of age story that also deals with family dynamics and what the unsatisfactory life can lead to.
Also the plot is build slowly, but you can feel in every page the emotional weight of each individual life in the Broussard family and the tragedy that will lead to.
A coming of age story that also deals with family dynamics and what the unsatisfactory life can lead to.
Also the plot is build slowly, but you can feel in every page the emotional weight of each individual life in the Broussard family and the tragedy that will lead to.
March 24, 2018
not that interesting of a read. left me disappointed in the end
May 29, 2018
There are a lot interesting facts about comets and viewing in this book! The story itself was not that interesting to me.
April 14, 2023
A very good coming of age book set in 1973 when the Comet Kohoutek was in the news. A satisfying read, and you learn some comet facts too!
January 2, 2015
I received The Night of the Comet as a giveaway from Random House, in exchange for an honest review.
I finished the book some time ago, but have been mulling it over in my mind before writing this review. I really wanted to give this more stars, but I could not.
This is a family's story, taking place in 1973, but narrated by the son from the distance of 23 years. Themes abound: the narrator's coming to grips with adolescence, his first, electric physical encounter with that crush he thought was unobtainable, (and which he finds out thereafter, still is), embarrassment at one parent, disillusion with the other, especially when he comes to realize that the adult is just as vulnerable as he is, in a way that he doesn't think they should be.
The father comes out the heroic parent, despite the narrator's dismay at his geekiness, and having to bear his name. Alan Broussard, Sr. rides his bicycle to school, wears white short sleeved shirts with black ties, and if he were an engineer instead of a physical science teacher, would undoubtedly have had a slide rule in his shirt pocket. "junior," the narrator, born Alan Broussard, Jr., is mortified when his father becomes a cheerleader for the Comet Kohoutek's appearance in 1973. Even the other teachers poke fun at him, calling him "Professor," while they snicker at him behind his back. But Alan Sr. gradually wins his son's respect, as well as that of the other teachers and citizens of the little town of Terrebonne, LA, as he gets a weekly newspaper column in which he educates his fellow citizens about how comets are formed, what they are made of, historical comets and the stupendous properties the coming Kohoutek will have, culminating in a disastrous Comet Party at a wealthy neighbor's home across the Bayou from the hovel that the Broussards live in.
That party is a revelation in many ways. Junior finally is able to physically connect with Gabriella, the daughter of the oil company executive, who is financing the Comet Party. I think his description of the emotional and physiological reaction to this encounter is one of the most realistic I have ever read. And this makes it all the more heart breaking when Junior encounters an adult at the party, that he can tell has just undergone a similar experience with an inappropriate partner.
It seemed to me unrealistic that the Broussards managed to be a united and functional family at the end, despite the disillusions and betrayals in the book.It was hard to believe the reconciliation of a frankly, unlikeable, traitorous parent with one who, while not expecting or asking much of a spouse, deserved so much more.
I finished the book some time ago, but have been mulling it over in my mind before writing this review. I really wanted to give this more stars, but I could not.
This is a family's story, taking place in 1973, but narrated by the son from the distance of 23 years. Themes abound: the narrator's coming to grips with adolescence, his first, electric physical encounter with that crush he thought was unobtainable, (and which he finds out thereafter, still is), embarrassment at one parent, disillusion with the other, especially when he comes to realize that the adult is just as vulnerable as he is, in a way that he doesn't think they should be.
The father comes out the heroic parent, despite the narrator's dismay at his geekiness, and having to bear his name. Alan Broussard, Sr. rides his bicycle to school, wears white short sleeved shirts with black ties, and if he were an engineer instead of a physical science teacher, would undoubtedly have had a slide rule in his shirt pocket. "junior," the narrator, born Alan Broussard, Jr., is mortified when his father becomes a cheerleader for the Comet Kohoutek's appearance in 1973. Even the other teachers poke fun at him, calling him "Professor," while they snicker at him behind his back. But Alan Sr. gradually wins his son's respect, as well as that of the other teachers and citizens of the little town of Terrebonne, LA, as he gets a weekly newspaper column in which he educates his fellow citizens about how comets are formed, what they are made of, historical comets and the stupendous properties the coming Kohoutek will have, culminating in a disastrous Comet Party at a wealthy neighbor's home across the Bayou from the hovel that the Broussards live in.
That party is a revelation in many ways. Junior finally is able to physically connect with Gabriella, the daughter of the oil company executive, who is financing the Comet Party. I think his description of the emotional and physiological reaction to this encounter is one of the most realistic I have ever read. And this makes it all the more heart breaking when Junior encounters an adult at the party, that he can tell has just undergone a similar experience with an inappropriate partner.
It seemed to me unrealistic that the Broussards managed to be a united and functional family at the end, despite the disillusions and betrayals in the book.It was hard to believe the reconciliation of a frankly, unlikeable, traitorous parent with one who, while not expecting or asking much of a spouse, deserved so much more.
February 5, 2017
In The Night of the Comet, by George Bishop, a family faces one of the most difficult challenges it can, its own passions. Told from the point of view of Alan, the teenage son, it focuses on his relationship with his dad, a high school science teacher who has become obsessed with a comet. Alan’s dad spreads word of the comet throughout town, filling people with expectations for a spectacular viewing.
The comet is not the only object of desire. A new family moves into the area, rich and glamorous. Their lifestyle fills Alan’s family with envy, and Alan becomes infatuated with their daughter, Gabriella, who, like the comet, is tragically out of reach.
One theme is parental failure, and the immaturity of adults. Alan calls his dad and himself his mom’s “two boys.” That’s the same mother that encourages him to peep on Gabriella with a telescope.
In some parts, The Night of the Comet reads like a YA novel, with lots of teenage angst, agonizing over a high school crush, and worrying about the narrator’s relationship with his father. Without the few pages where Alan looks back on the story from adulthood, and the adult Alan’s musings over his parents’ younger years, it would be entirely about the world of a teenage boy. Alan has a litany of complaints over things “they failed to teach you at school,” like the true nature of puberty, how to talk to a pretty girl, and how to deal with people’s unpredictable behavior. His views on Gabriella go through a healthy maturation when he begins
“to see her as less of a goddess and more of a person. She was funny, thoughtful, at times awkward. She was, in fact, someone not so different from me: a human being trapped inside a teenager’s body, waiting for the world to begin.”
These are the kinds of ideas English teachers would like to teach in their classrooms, in order to bring up nice, sensitive boys.
Overall, this is the story of a family’s survival, and of a young teen’s instrumental role in that. Alan shows true heroism, taking on dangerous risks to keep his family together. Anyone who values family is going to root for him, and to cheer his victories and mourn for his failures.
The comet is not the only object of desire. A new family moves into the area, rich and glamorous. Their lifestyle fills Alan’s family with envy, and Alan becomes infatuated with their daughter, Gabriella, who, like the comet, is tragically out of reach.
One theme is parental failure, and the immaturity of adults. Alan calls his dad and himself his mom’s “two boys.” That’s the same mother that encourages him to peep on Gabriella with a telescope.
In some parts, The Night of the Comet reads like a YA novel, with lots of teenage angst, agonizing over a high school crush, and worrying about the narrator’s relationship with his father. Without the few pages where Alan looks back on the story from adulthood, and the adult Alan’s musings over his parents’ younger years, it would be entirely about the world of a teenage boy. Alan has a litany of complaints over things “they failed to teach you at school,” like the true nature of puberty, how to talk to a pretty girl, and how to deal with people’s unpredictable behavior. His views on Gabriella go through a healthy maturation when he begins
“to see her as less of a goddess and more of a person. She was funny, thoughtful, at times awkward. She was, in fact, someone not so different from me: a human being trapped inside a teenager’s body, waiting for the world to begin.”
These are the kinds of ideas English teachers would like to teach in their classrooms, in order to bring up nice, sensitive boys.
Overall, this is the story of a family’s survival, and of a young teen’s instrumental role in that. Alan shows true heroism, taking on dangerous risks to keep his family together. Anyone who values family is going to root for him, and to cheer his victories and mourn for his failures.
September 29, 2014
This story is about a boy and a family who find themselves. Set in the 1970's, it has a wonderfully authentic feel. 14 year old Alan Brossaurd, Jr., begins the narration embarrassed by his father and ends with a newfound understanding and respect for the man. But this novel also investigates marriage and family dynamics, how we both love and disappoint one another deeply, and what we make if life when it doesn't turn out the way we had planned.
Here's a favorite passage: “That very same morning, by the way, the morning after the terrible night of the comet, my father did something that still never fails to humble and amaze me.
He got up, shaved at the sink, slicked his hair, and knotted his tie. He lined up the pens in his shirt pocket, three colors, red, blue, and black. He repacked his worn-out brown leather briefcase, finished his coffee, kissed his wife on the cheek, and, wearing a ten-year-old pair of spare eyeglasses, headed out the door to his bike. He wobbled on the gravel drive, maybe a bit more than usual that morning, but then caught his balance as he turned down the road to school. Before the first bell rang, he was walking down the hallway to his classroom, swinging his briefcase stiffly at his side. He welcomed us back for the new semester, sniffed, pushed up his glasses, picked up the chalk, and, dependable as the Sun, turned to the board to begin his next lesson.
If I had to put a word to that, I’d call it heroic.”
I am a new fan of the author George Bishop.
Here's a favorite passage: “That very same morning, by the way, the morning after the terrible night of the comet, my father did something that still never fails to humble and amaze me.
He got up, shaved at the sink, slicked his hair, and knotted his tie. He lined up the pens in his shirt pocket, three colors, red, blue, and black. He repacked his worn-out brown leather briefcase, finished his coffee, kissed his wife on the cheek, and, wearing a ten-year-old pair of spare eyeglasses, headed out the door to his bike. He wobbled on the gravel drive, maybe a bit more than usual that morning, but then caught his balance as he turned down the road to school. Before the first bell rang, he was walking down the hallway to his classroom, swinging his briefcase stiffly at his side. He welcomed us back for the new semester, sniffed, pushed up his glasses, picked up the chalk, and, dependable as the Sun, turned to the board to begin his next lesson.
If I had to put a word to that, I’d call it heroic.”
I am a new fan of the author George Bishop.
December 23, 2014
A blazing star whizzing through the literary heavens! The Night of the Comet is a wonderful coming-of-age book about the dramas of a '70's-era family in Louisiana.
Fourteen-year-old Alan Broussard "Junior" receives a telescope as a gift from his father. It is not a gift he particularly wants. His father, a high school science and astronomy teacher, is happy he can share his love of the stars with his son. Unknowingly at the time, the telescope will be one of the things that drives his family apart. Through the lens his father will see his beloved Solar System and his own failings. Junior will see a different star. In his youthful yearnings, he peeps across the bayou into the teenage bedroom of Gabriella. Junior's mother will look into the telescope and see all the things she's missing and embark on a stargazing affair of her own. Meanwhile overhead, the Comet Kohoutek streaks across the sky, racing ever nearer to Earth, creating a page-turning sprint.
A well-written and thoroughly enjoyable book ~ George Bishop has skillfully crafted a masterpiece of sparkling characters as brightly shining as the night sky.
**I received this book in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.
Fourteen-year-old Alan Broussard "Junior" receives a telescope as a gift from his father. It is not a gift he particularly wants. His father, a high school science and astronomy teacher, is happy he can share his love of the stars with his son. Unknowingly at the time, the telescope will be one of the things that drives his family apart. Through the lens his father will see his beloved Solar System and his own failings. Junior will see a different star. In his youthful yearnings, he peeps across the bayou into the teenage bedroom of Gabriella. Junior's mother will look into the telescope and see all the things she's missing and embark on a stargazing affair of her own. Meanwhile overhead, the Comet Kohoutek streaks across the sky, racing ever nearer to Earth, creating a page-turning sprint.
A well-written and thoroughly enjoyable book ~ George Bishop has skillfully crafted a masterpiece of sparkling characters as brightly shining as the night sky.
**I received this book in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.
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