Abby’s Reviews > Sunburn > Status Update

Quote from page 132
“The early December sun is lowering at my window, on us both.”

Rather than S being the light shining on L, there is light on them both, as if they are both producers and receivers of light; their love is reciprocal.

Stuff from page 145:
“for a moment, she is a dark shape in the glowing daylight, and I am drawn into the darkness. A black sun, taking the light from the world, and I am glad.”

Susannah, so often described as light herself, is here the darkness. There is something different about this time. There is a darkness, for this is when they will be discovered. (by L’s mum)

Quote from page 144:
“My room is waiting for us, for our honesty. The bedroom door is flush with its frame, and since it became the thing that keeps Susannah and me from the rest of the world, it has been the most venerated object in the house.”

Sexual imagery used - the door is “flush”, “the sun perks up”, L’s “soul is a swollen wave” (wet, swollen, flushed, perky)

“The evening is over, and I stand up. With his head at my hips, he stares up at me. It gets colder; although it felt like it for a moment, this is not Summer.”

Lucy can try to feel something for Martin, but he is not Susannah.

“You seem to think I have all the power here, like I was going to decide not to want you anymore. I’m powerless.
If you want me, I’m yours.
S x “

This book is so full of descriptions of nature. But not in a boring 19th-century classics way. In a beautiful, slow, grounding way.

“She is looking at me with bad eyes, her hair is fire against the foxgloves, and the last of the summer sunlight is sacrificing itself to fall on her. The wind slows till it is less than a breath.”

“Soon, the dawn will be gone. We must go to bed now, or I will stand here all day, watching as the sun changes on her blessed face. There is no need to talk, the birdsong fills the silence.”