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Black Light
The privileged daughter of famous television actors, Charlotte, "Lit, " Moylan is ready to enjoy one last wild fling before college and adulthood. In fact, the whole idyllic hamlet of Kamensic, New York, is ready to party, for legendary avant-garde film director--and Lit's godfather--Alex Kern is coming back to reopen his fabulous mansion, Bolerium. But it won't be just an...more
Mass Market Paperback, 380 pages
Published
April 1st 2000
by HarperTorch
(first published 1999)
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This is a follow-up to Hand's amazing & wonderful Waking the Moon. The themes are similar & Balthazar Warnick makes an appearance which is nice for those of us fond of the other book & this character.
I guess this is categorized as horror, although I've never really been able to decide what category Hand is in. She's in her own category with slightly psychedelic & overtly lush writing & odd twisty plots that meander through myth & modernity.
Just as in Waking the Moon, the...more
I guess this is categorized as horror, although I've never really been able to decide what category Hand is in. She's in her own category with slightly psychedelic & overtly lush writing & odd twisty plots that meander through myth & modernity.
Just as in Waking the Moon, the...more
This is the prequel to the lovely Waking the Moon with similar themes and much the same vibe. Most of what I said about that one applies here as well: "Part fantasy, part gothic horror, part mythology, part twisted love story. It's dark, lush, sensual, and quite creepy in places."
However, while I found it more empowering than the previous book (woo hoo! the main female can DO something! On her own!), it wasn't nearly as heartbreaking. There's no "I'll love you next time, I promise", no grand pa...more
However, while I found it more empowering than the previous book (woo hoo! the main female can DO something! On her own!), it wasn't nearly as heartbreaking. There's no "I'll love you next time, I promise", no grand pa...more
Mar 19, 2013
Bridget
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
magical 70's realism and MAJICK
Shelves:
cult
I wish I'd realized that Elizabeth Hand had written more than one book when I was in high school. I mean I really enjoyed the hell out of this book the way I enjoy any book about 70's pre-punk and Dionysian rituals but I think high school me would have freaked the hell out over this book the way I did over Waking the Moon.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Dec 13, 2012
Lisa Grabenstetter
added it
I really don't know how I feel about this. I started out REALLY liking it, but it hopped the rails at some point and though I liked the ending I'm not entirely sure it absolved the book of some of the more uncomfortable parts. I'll have to sleep on it I think.
Reminded me of a Charles de Lint novel, with Hand expertly combining ancient mythology and modern life. I'll probably have to read it again in a year or so, and figure out everything I missed the first time around.
I enjoyed this book, but really felt like the ending was incredibly abrupt. At the same time, I didn't feel a huge sense of closure or answers or anything of significance in the ending. It just sort of... ended. I'm glad I read it and I'll read other Hand books, but perhaps wouldn't recommend it as my first choice of her work.
I read this a few years ago and don't remember much about it.
Slow moving, unengaging characters, and not rightly classified as horror. It started out promising and went off the path early on, I had to struggle to finish it.
This is the first book from this author that I have read. I haven't read this type of book in quite sometime. I read it more as a horror type book-I believe it's under science fiction. The book included many things to do with drugs, feeling helpless, etc. I had a difficult time getting into at first. But I stuck around for the ending. The characters are unique. The plot involves century old things, drugs, close-knit communities. I wasn't all the happy with the ending, but it is a well written bo...more
Reading Black Light is a bit like having eaten magic mushrooms...what an intriguing, magical, erotic psychedelic trip. I was a teenager myself when I first read this - attending goth parties in abandoned churches - and the parallels I (thought I) found were the sprinkles on top of Black Light and its predecessor, Waking the Moon.
Unfinished, unfortunately, it had to go back to the library. Roman gods in the US story. Being raised by well-off hippies in an early seventies artsy town. What got me was the last sentence of the intro...paraphrased: My mother always said my father do anything for Alex, except to give up his firstborn. She was wrong on that.
I read this years ago, and remember liking Hand's take on teenagers growing up in a small town with famous parents more than the actual plot, which meanders until the very end. Some day I want to pick up another one of Hand's works.
Gorgeous scene-setting and the like, some great characters, some out of place characters. I want to say that the ending was a disappointment, but it's haunted me for a whole week now so I'm not sure that's true.
elizabeth hand, i love you but you are a weirdo sometimes.
Nov 20, 2007
Miss
added it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
still-to-finish,
too-painful-to-finish
also shelved in "too painful to finish"
i actually put this down 3 times only to read it again but enough!
i actually put this down 3 times only to read it again but enough!
All about a tiny town with a tight knit community of theatre type people and artists. Very original.
This is literary perfection.
May 18, 2013
Ani Copti
marked it as to-read
May 11, 2013
Matthew Berg
added it
May 04, 2013
Angela
added it
May 02, 2013
Legato Darksummers
added it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
daddy-dark-s-baby-warrior-list
Apr 30, 2013
notyourmonkey
marked it as to-read
Apr 30, 2013
Sarah
marked it as to-read
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Half way not sure I am going to make it | 2 | 2 | Jan 02, 2013 04:03pm |
A New York Times notable and multiple award– winning author, Elizabeth Hand has written seven novels, including the cult classic Waking the Moon, and short-story collections. She is a longtime contributor to numerous publications, including the Washington Post Book World and the Village Voice Literary Supplement. She and her two children divide their time between the coast of Maine and North Londo...more
More about Elizabeth Hand...
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