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Lit by Lightning: An Occasionally True Account of One Girl's Dust-ups with Ghosts, Electricity, and Granny's Ashes
From North Carolina comes the electrifying new voice of Nicole Sarrocco, whose debut novel Lit by Lightning —first in the Occasionally True series—is an intensely personal and strangely universal tale of finding grace in chaos, creating meaning from nonsense, and for heaven’s sake not making too much of a spectacle of yourself. A witty, hilarious, transcendent and disturbing tale of ghosts, manners, and the family we choose and the ones who choose us. “I could sweep together the dust of our hearts. The ashes of my grandparents’ house that didn’t burn. The complete fire that is death. The charred wood and the pulverized concrete and the souls of a million barbecued pigs. The dust in the corners of basements. Everything that isn’t the fire itself, the movement through the wires. All of it rolled up together and shot into the sky, into a firework—that’s a song you could sing out over the radio. The ones on the other side can hear us, then. If we can roll all of it together and name it out loud, send it out into space on transmitters or something—then they could hear us. If they can hear us, then we’d be able to hear them, too. That makes sense, doesn’t it?”
254 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2015
3 people are currently reading
36 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 4, 2016
I have no idea what in the world I just read, but I'm pretty sure I've lost a little sanity.
September 4, 2017
This novel is a set of vignettes from the life of a woman who believes she is interacting with the supernatural, her family life and history and the impact on those around her. Though it is called a novel, a publisher's note at the end implies that most is really autobiographical.
The dominant part of this novel is not the content- characters or plot - but the style. The book is constantly rambling, with tangents, incomplete ideas, unexplained developments, and little development of either people or of a concrete plot and goals.
The overriding impression given by this style is of someone who might be very interesting to talk to for a while socially, but where 280 pages of reading left me frustrated and lacking comprehension. I don't really understand what points the author was trying to convey, or what mood or theme she was trying to set, or even what really is supposed to have happened.
Some of the raw stories touched on or hinted at here seem interesting - a mother and child both of whom experience supernatural visions, the challenges of facing loss and returning to your roots, and the place of the supernatural in the world. But none of these topics is interestingly, engagingly or consistently explored in this book.
Overall, this was an extremely unsatisfying read. I would have stopped early had this not been for our book club. As it was most of us didn't like the book much, but we did all have a very interesting discussion about some of the themes.
Not recommended.
The dominant part of this novel is not the content- characters or plot - but the style. The book is constantly rambling, with tangents, incomplete ideas, unexplained developments, and little development of either people or of a concrete plot and goals.
The overriding impression given by this style is of someone who might be very interesting to talk to for a while socially, but where 280 pages of reading left me frustrated and lacking comprehension. I don't really understand what points the author was trying to convey, or what mood or theme she was trying to set, or even what really is supposed to have happened.
Some of the raw stories touched on or hinted at here seem interesting - a mother and child both of whom experience supernatural visions, the challenges of facing loss and returning to your roots, and the place of the supernatural in the world. But none of these topics is interestingly, engagingly or consistently explored in this book.
Overall, this was an extremely unsatisfying read. I would have stopped early had this not been for our book club. As it was most of us didn't like the book much, but we did all have a very interesting discussion about some of the themes.
Not recommended.
February 9, 2016
This review is long because it's the only one listed for the book so far. I'm taking no half measures here, as I want others to read the work as well.
Nicole Sarrocco’s book is a beautiful, vivid account of how the past haunts each of us. Around every corner a ghost lies in wait for Sarrocco; some of them are tangible apparitions of long-dead people, while others are long-waiting memories that manifest as a near-real presence. Whether in a ‘real’ sense or as memory, Sarrocco’s life is tied to the dead. Her book is a shared catharsis, one that can teach each of us about our own struggles to find meaning in a sometimes senseless world.
In this review I want to do two things. First, I want to convince you to read the work. I think Sarrocco deserves to be read by more people, which is why I am taking the time to write a review for her book. If I’m the only one who has rated it on Goodreads, and since I enjoyed it as much as I did, I think it is my obligation to share that engagement with other potential readers so that they too will come to treasure the book. Second, I want to offer my understanding of the work. I don’t know that Sarrocco would agree with it were she to read my thoughts, but literary interpretation has a long history of reader reaction…so I would argue I’m in the clear.
Let’s start with the reasons why you, the potential reader on Goodreads, should pick this slender work up. In broad terms, it’s because the book is beautifully written. Sarrocco has a lilting, yet haunting poetic style that careens through its subject matter. There are many talented writers out there who use this to great effect—The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht is somewhat similar—but Sarrocco makes use of it to create a purely southern landscape for her characters to inhabit. Each chapter is a snippet of experience and tragedy, a flash of lightning that illuminates the overall plot. As a reader, this is an engaging structure since it kept pulling me back into Sarrocco’s story; put another way, the author is of the type that makes you work a bit at the underlying meaning. I’m a fan of that type of writing, so it worked for me.
Her characters—including what I can only assume is some version of her (given the subtitle)—bound through the aforementioned landscapes she has created. Whether it be a crazy adventure at a construction site or a quiet moment between two sisters, Sarrocco captures each moment with that little joie de vivre that is so rare in authors these days, yet that is all the more profound here due to its manifestation against a backdrop of unease. There is tragedy in each character and in Sarrocco herself—she fears seeing the ghosts mentioned at the start of the review—and this misfortune slowly spreads itself outward from each chapter into the world. A walk up a mountain is fraught with fear of the sisters who cannot leave; a drive through the desert becomes a manic wish to live beyond the banshee hiding just outside. Sarrocco’s life is full of joy, curiosity, and heartbreak, some of which belongs to others, but most of which she bears herself. She carries her reader into this place and lets the reader experience it with her. In short, this is a journey that is worth taking with her.
I hope that you, the potential reader, now have a sense of why you should read this book. I now want to offer a bit of my own thoughts on what the book means. I hope this helps, though I encourage you to keep in mind that this is just my opinion. I’m quite aware that this most likely flies in the face of the intended meaning…
As mentioned above, the book is in large part about ghosts. Some of them are personal ones, like her grandmother’s ashes. A good portion of Sarrocco’s plot revolves around these ashes, though they are not necessarily the central focus. Nonetheless, the burden of doing something (anything) with them haunts her for the better part of the book. This is one type of ghost. The other is a more literal version. Sarrocco repeatedly discusses seeing or sensing ghosts throughout her life; this ability ties her in some ways to her grandmother, but it also guides her life. She speaks to them without really seeing them, yet senses them well enough to proffer their stories throughout the book. The juxtaposition of her life and that of the dead brought me to my understanding of the book’s central motif: The lives of others shape our own in invisible, nearly intangible ways. Though she can directly sense others around her, others (including myself) cannot. This doesn’t make the influence of the incorporeal less meaningful, it just makes it harder to appreciate the continuity between the past and present.
Sarrocco’s book is a nice reminder of the past that sometimes isn’t even past. It’s a wild ride and it’s worth taking.
(For any reader that doesn’t understand the praise but the granting of only four stars, you should keep in mind that my system of review only awards five stars to books that have personally, deeply touched me somehow. Sarrocco’s book is special, but I don’t know that it quite achieves that goal for me.)
Nicole Sarrocco’s book is a beautiful, vivid account of how the past haunts each of us. Around every corner a ghost lies in wait for Sarrocco; some of them are tangible apparitions of long-dead people, while others are long-waiting memories that manifest as a near-real presence. Whether in a ‘real’ sense or as memory, Sarrocco’s life is tied to the dead. Her book is a shared catharsis, one that can teach each of us about our own struggles to find meaning in a sometimes senseless world.
In this review I want to do two things. First, I want to convince you to read the work. I think Sarrocco deserves to be read by more people, which is why I am taking the time to write a review for her book. If I’m the only one who has rated it on Goodreads, and since I enjoyed it as much as I did, I think it is my obligation to share that engagement with other potential readers so that they too will come to treasure the book. Second, I want to offer my understanding of the work. I don’t know that Sarrocco would agree with it were she to read my thoughts, but literary interpretation has a long history of reader reaction…so I would argue I’m in the clear.
Let’s start with the reasons why you, the potential reader on Goodreads, should pick this slender work up. In broad terms, it’s because the book is beautifully written. Sarrocco has a lilting, yet haunting poetic style that careens through its subject matter. There are many talented writers out there who use this to great effect—The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht is somewhat similar—but Sarrocco makes use of it to create a purely southern landscape for her characters to inhabit. Each chapter is a snippet of experience and tragedy, a flash of lightning that illuminates the overall plot. As a reader, this is an engaging structure since it kept pulling me back into Sarrocco’s story; put another way, the author is of the type that makes you work a bit at the underlying meaning. I’m a fan of that type of writing, so it worked for me.
Her characters—including what I can only assume is some version of her (given the subtitle)—bound through the aforementioned landscapes she has created. Whether it be a crazy adventure at a construction site or a quiet moment between two sisters, Sarrocco captures each moment with that little joie de vivre that is so rare in authors these days, yet that is all the more profound here due to its manifestation against a backdrop of unease. There is tragedy in each character and in Sarrocco herself—she fears seeing the ghosts mentioned at the start of the review—and this misfortune slowly spreads itself outward from each chapter into the world. A walk up a mountain is fraught with fear of the sisters who cannot leave; a drive through the desert becomes a manic wish to live beyond the banshee hiding just outside. Sarrocco’s life is full of joy, curiosity, and heartbreak, some of which belongs to others, but most of which she bears herself. She carries her reader into this place and lets the reader experience it with her. In short, this is a journey that is worth taking with her.
I hope that you, the potential reader, now have a sense of why you should read this book. I now want to offer a bit of my own thoughts on what the book means. I hope this helps, though I encourage you to keep in mind that this is just my opinion. I’m quite aware that this most likely flies in the face of the intended meaning…
As mentioned above, the book is in large part about ghosts. Some of them are personal ones, like her grandmother’s ashes. A good portion of Sarrocco’s plot revolves around these ashes, though they are not necessarily the central focus. Nonetheless, the burden of doing something (anything) with them haunts her for the better part of the book. This is one type of ghost. The other is a more literal version. Sarrocco repeatedly discusses seeing or sensing ghosts throughout her life; this ability ties her in some ways to her grandmother, but it also guides her life. She speaks to them without really seeing them, yet senses them well enough to proffer their stories throughout the book. The juxtaposition of her life and that of the dead brought me to my understanding of the book’s central motif: The lives of others shape our own in invisible, nearly intangible ways. Though she can directly sense others around her, others (including myself) cannot. This doesn’t make the influence of the incorporeal less meaningful, it just makes it harder to appreciate the continuity between the past and present.
Sarrocco’s book is a nice reminder of the past that sometimes isn’t even past. It’s a wild ride and it’s worth taking.
(For any reader that doesn’t understand the praise but the granting of only four stars, you should keep in mind that my system of review only awards five stars to books that have personally, deeply touched me somehow. Sarrocco’s book is special, but I don’t know that it quite achieves that goal for me.)
October 29, 2017
It kinda reminded me of making a story from what one sees on TV when clicking through channels.
May 3, 2016
Very entertaining! This lady is pretty crazy but in a good way. You want to get to know her better. It helps that my hubby went to high school with her and that I'm familiar with a lot of the places she talks about. I'm really looking forward to her next book.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews