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Illumination
Faith is a young girl who is confused about her self and her life. She is revisited by an old imaginary friend. Now she is left to discover and decide whether this returning ‘friend’ is real or just her imagination. She desperately wants to believe in him but does not know what to believe in under the circumstances. On the road to discovering the reality about her hallucination she also discovers herself. Her parents are disturbed by their daughter’s condition and are unable to cope with it in the best manner.
126 pages, Paperback
First published June 27, 2009
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October 9, 2012
I'm really embarrassed it took me 3 years to read a 100 page book, but I'm glad I read it when I did. This is a story about a girl named Faith who has to deal with normal teenage problems like cramming for finals and dealing with testy parents but something changes suddenly: she is seeing someone who may not actually be there. The book follows her through a journey of discovering who this person is and what it means for her: is she crazy? Is he real? Can other people see him? Along the way she meets a kind natured librarian who helps her research and sift through her problems. This book explores what it actually means to be "delusional".
So this being the author's first book, I was eager to see what her writing style was like. The book was a lot shorter than I expected but it kept my attention throughout. You feel very intimately connected to Faith by sharing her thoughts and the day to day details of her everyday life. This causes the reader to really relate with her and see that becoming "delusional" or "disturbed" is not quite so far fetched as we may think it is. It's a coping mechanism. With distant, combative parents, few friends in school, and virtually no attention from teachers it's very easy to see how this girl just slipped through the cracks. But she's very normal - that's the scary part, just like you or me. She's just, different.
I loved the characters. Williams, the librarian, and David, her imaginary friend in particular. They are both soft, deep, and supportive people to Faith and truly want the best for her. Almost like what her parents are supposed to be.
I noticed that Faith would often just get lost in her mind, another thing I can relate to. For example, instead of doing her homework, she would sleep for hours or just watch "the blue ocean" of her curtains color her entire room as the day passed. It's descriptions like that that really kept me engaged in her world.
Finally, let me just say that the ending bumped this book up a few stars for me. Not wanting to give anything away, but it definitely leaves you wanting more, which I think is a perfect way to end any book. I remember a NYT bestselling author saying that when people ask what happens after the book ends he tells them he doesn't know because truly the story is over and the rest is just left to your imagination. Fitting, for this book in particular.
So this being the author's first book, I was eager to see what her writing style was like. The book was a lot shorter than I expected but it kept my attention throughout. You feel very intimately connected to Faith by sharing her thoughts and the day to day details of her everyday life. This causes the reader to really relate with her and see that becoming "delusional" or "disturbed" is not quite so far fetched as we may think it is. It's a coping mechanism. With distant, combative parents, few friends in school, and virtually no attention from teachers it's very easy to see how this girl just slipped through the cracks. But she's very normal - that's the scary part, just like you or me. She's just, different.
I loved the characters. Williams, the librarian, and David, her imaginary friend in particular. They are both soft, deep, and supportive people to Faith and truly want the best for her. Almost like what her parents are supposed to be.
I noticed that Faith would often just get lost in her mind, another thing I can relate to. For example, instead of doing her homework, she would sleep for hours or just watch "the blue ocean" of her curtains color her entire room as the day passed. It's descriptions like that that really kept me engaged in her world.
Finally, let me just say that the ending bumped this book up a few stars for me. Not wanting to give anything away, but it definitely leaves you wanting more, which I think is a perfect way to end any book. I remember a NYT bestselling author saying that when people ask what happens after the book ends he tells them he doesn't know because truly the story is over and the rest is just left to your imagination. Fitting, for this book in particular.
Displaying 1 of 1 review