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In Sunlight and in Shadow

3.39 of 5 stars 3.39 · rating details · 814 ratings · 295 reviews

Entrancing in its lyricism, In Sunlight and in Shadow so powerfully draws you into New York at the dawn of the modern age that, as in a vivid dream, you will not want to leave. In 1946, Harry Copeland has returned after fighting in the 82nd Airborne from North Africa all the way to the Elbe. Reluctantly assuming the direction of the family fine leather goods manufacture, h...more Entrancing in its lyricism, In Sunlight and in Shadow so powerfully draws you into New York at the dawn of the modern age that, as in a vivid dream, you will not want to leave. In 1946, Harry Copeland has returned after fighting in the 82nd Airborne from North Africa all the way to the Elbe. Reluctantly assuming the direction of the family fine leather goods manufacture, he finds his life unsatisfactory and on hold – until he is “accidentally” united with Catherine Thomas Hale, the woman for whom he has been waiting all his life, although the forces behind his patience have never been revealed to him. A young actress, singer, and heiress, she has been waiting for him, even if she has known this only in flashes that do not come clear to her until the end of the narrative, and that have not prevented her engagement to a much older man who has been taking advantage of her since childhood.

The meeting of Catherine and Harry, their courtship, and their intense love, play out on the stage of New York awakening at mid-century – in the deep worlds of the theater, industry, and high finance, and during the collision of aristocratic New York society with the formidable wave of second-generation, fully assimilated Jews. Though after being broken in the war Harry wants nothing but peace, family, and love, organized crime carries on its extortions as always, even in a city now full of the kind of men who stormed the Point du Hoc and the Siegfried Line. This becomes his moral and physical struggle. While Catherine’s is of a different nature, it is just as consequential, and the courage required of her is perhaps even greater.

Of the widest scope – from the air over Sicily to the heat-and-color-saturated Sacramento Valley; the Bay of Biscay to the sea off Maine; the steel mills of Gary, Indiana to the beaches of Amagansett; London in the blitz; the invasion of Normandy; and a single shell gliding across an American lake in August; from the luminous houses of the wealthy to the pounding of the boards beneath a Broadway chorus line – this is yet, first, and foremost a love story, but also a hymn to New York of the period when one great age elided into the other that we call our own. Rich in language and classical allusion, it is true to the mottoes at its outset: the Dantean “Amor mi mosse, che me fa parlare,” “Love moved me, and made me speak,” and to the lines of Lucretius that describe Catherine’s extraordinary representation of the powers, beauties, and graces of womanhood – “Nothing comes forth into the shores of light, or is glad or lovely without you.”(less)

Hardcover, 720 pages

Published October 2nd 2012 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (first published October 1st 2012)

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Jul 01, 2012 Keith rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, 5-star-reading, fiction

It is no secret to my friends that Mark Helprin is among my favorite authors. I realize my admiration for his work makes me suspect, less than objective. Neverthless I must share my initial reflections regarding his new novel. How can I put this? When I finished In Sunlight and in Shadow I was overwhelmed with the sheer power of the novel. I had the story in my head for several days, I actually couldn't get it out of my head. I have not been moved by any novel in such a manner for many, many yea...more It is no secret to my friends that Mark Helprin is among my favorite authors. I realize my admiration for his work makes me suspect, less than objective. Neverthless I must share my initial reflections regarding his new novel. How can I put this? When I finished In Sunlight and in Shadow I was overwhelmed with the sheer power of the novel. I had the story in my head for several days, I actually couldn't get it out of my head. I have not been moved by any novel in such a manner for many, many years. I was reminded of Benjamin De Mott's extraordinary review of Helprin's Winter's Tale in the New York Times Book Review back in 1982: "I find myself nervous, to a degree I don’t recall in my past as a reviewer, about failing the work, inadequately displaying its brilliance.” My less articulate comment to two of my colleagues at work was "I may never read another novel." Clearly an overstatement, although it has been a week and I haven't started a new novel, a small record for me. In my estimation A Soldier of the Great War is Helprin's masterpiece with Winter's Tale a close second. Now, in the first flush, I am considering the new book to be the equal of those two. I plan to test that judgement with re-reads of both Soldier and the new one sometime soon.

Helprin takes the reader back to NewYork City in 1947 in the first flush of the great post-World War Two Boom. The protagonists are Harry Copeland, a returned veteran, Jewish, and now the owner of his late father's leather goods factory and Catherine Everett Hale, aspiring actress and singer and the daughter of immense Wall Street wealth. Their romance and the kindling of their love forms part of the story but as in any other novel by Helprin there are many more back stories all of which are strands in the magical web of the book. As remarkable as the people is Helprin's loving and detailed evocation of the New York City. Here he becomes the undisputed bard of the city. I know of no one who so lovingly details all the streets and parks, buildings and rivers than Helprin. He clearly loves this city and that great affection shines through on every page.

For a taste of this novel go to the author's web site and read the excerpt from the Prologue that's available there. http://markhelprin.com/novels/sunligh...

No? It begins like this:

If you were a spirit, and could fly and alight as you wished, and time did not bind you, and patience and love were all you knew, then you might rise to enter an open window high above the park, in the New York of almost a lifetime ago, early in November of 1947.

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Oct 02, 2012 Cynthia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-in-2012

Retribution: A Love Story

There are many wonderful things about “In Sunlight and in Shadow”. Helprin’s writing reminds me of novelists from an earlier age where things were more leisurely and people had time and patience to read longer books. The Victorian Age? Helprin indulges in digressions which might sound potentially boring but almost every time he makes a stunning observation. This isn’t a book you’ll want to skim. Let yourself ease into its pace and you’ll be rewarded in my opinion. The de...more Retribution: A Love Story

There are many wonderful things about “In Sunlight and in Shadow”. Helprin’s writing reminds me of novelists from an earlier age where things were more leisurely and people had time and patience to read longer books. The Victorian Age? Helprin indulges in digressions which might sound potentially boring but almost every time he makes a stunning observation. This isn’t a book you’ll want to skim. Let yourself ease into its pace and you’ll be rewarded in my opinion. The depictions of New York and its inhabitants are especially vivid though it’s a city that has been described so times by so many authors. There’s a magical quality to Helprin’s ‘take’ that’s just shy of fanciful.

Harry Copeland, a returning World War II vet, is seeking retribution for a wrong that has been done to him, though, thankfully, retribution is not the main theme of the book. At heart this is a love story between two people from different walks of New York life, Catherine comes from society’s elite, Harry, is middle class from people who fought to attain that status. And he’s Jewish which in 1946 still carries a stigma. He’s also fought in a war to help annihilate this prejudice and free the people who suffer/suffered because of it. He’s not willing to stifle his standards. When he and Catherine get together it’s electric and immediate. The rest of the world seems to falls away yet they’re eventually forced to deal with things like the fiancé she’s jilted and the failing business Harry’s inherited from his father.

Overall this is a workmanlike novel. I’m not meaning any disparagement by that. Helprin uses his plot to hang lots of insights and beautiful vignettes upon and there are parts that soar as when he describes Catherine rehearsing for the musical she’s going to be in or Harry’s experiences as a pathfinder in World War II. Another part that stood out concerned how two out of towners experience New York for the first time. Helprin doesn’t neglect any part of the City; he takes you from working class to high class life and everything in between. There are layers to New York that create its lushness just as there are layers to “In Sunlight and in Shadow”; all of them necessary, many of them dazzling.

There is an over idealization of women with an emphasis, of course, on young women as the ideal. There are characters that show up for what seems like no reason other than they were pretty girls. The love story dips into extremes at times and just misses being caricature. In my opinion what Helprin does well he does so, so well he can’t be faulted for the less than perfect parts. I was reading an Advanced Reading Copy so perhaps some of this was edited out by time it went to print.

This review is based on an e-galley provided by the publishers.

3.5/5 stars(less)

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Mar 30, 2013 Julie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, best-of-2013, usa-historical, war-conflict, read-2013

I spent five weeks with In Sunlight and In Shadow. Five monogamous weeks, which is quite a committed literary relationship for this fast-in, fast-out reader. Yes, life circumstances wore me out and distracted me, so that some days the amount of pages read would be imperceptible as measured on a standard ruler, but never once did I contemplate setting Helprin aside for a less complicated time or supplementing my evening reading with a less demanding literary companion.

I was enthralled by this lu...more I spent five weeks with In Sunlight and In Shadow. Five monogamous weeks, which is quite a committed literary relationship for this fast-in, fast-out reader. Yes, life circumstances wore me out and distracted me, so that some days the amount of pages read would be imperceptible as measured on a standard ruler, but never once did I contemplate setting Helprin aside for a less complicated time or supplementing my evening reading with a less demanding literary companion.

I was enthralled by this lush, resplendent novel. Each and every one of its 705 pages.

The story itself is quite simple. In fact, the old-fashioned romance and adventure style makes this a curl-up-on-the-sofa read. But the beauty of Helprin’s prose, its rococo grandeur and meandering lyricism, make it worthy of lingering. Take your time to reread certain passages and be astonished anew by Helprin’s particular magic.

Harry Copeland is in his early 30s and recently returned to Manhattan from the European Theatre of WWII. Harry is alone in the world, an only child, his parents deceased, and he is taking his time to heal from the emotional wounds and physical trauma sustained as a special ops paratrooper. What can’t wait, however, is the luxury leather goods business he inherited from his father.

The business is being newly bilked by the Mafia. Not the perfunctorily threatening Jewish Mafia to which Copeland Leather and every other manufacturing business in the building has been accustomed to paying off. This is the deeply serious and deadly Mob. Which has singled out Copeland Leather for extortion.

One day, while traveling on the Staten Island ferry, Harry spies a beautiful woman in white and falls immediately and hopelessly in love. She is Catherine Thomas Hale, of the Manhattan and Hamptons Hales, an heiress and Broadway ingénue. Catherine is strong, moral and wise. She meets Harry’s love and passion measure for measure. They are not really star-crossed lovers: Harry is a Harvard man, after all. But he is a Jew and he is broke - facts he and Catherine cannot long hide from her family.

But this is more than a love story. It is a tale of a city at a golden moment in time, when the memories of two wars and the Depression remain vivid enough to fuse gratitude and caution, yet cannot stop the momentum of power and wealth that rocket New York inexorably forward as the steward of all things modern.

It is a thriller, where thugs with Thompsons are pitted against combat heroes with iron nerves; it is a war set piece, where a band of brothers plummet into the mists and mud of western France; it is a window into a world of grand society, where money can buy everything but peace of mind and integrity.

It is true, Helprin uses six words when two would suffice, but never once does the sprawl, the grandiloquence, feel like an attempt to dazzle or distract. The gorgeous language wraps, not traps, the reader; the descriptions of characters and settings put the reader fully inside a moment, most of which you want never to end.

In Sunlight and In Shadow is romanticism at its soft-focus, golden-hued, unapologetic best. Characters are a little more beautiful, dangerous, erudite and talented than real life could afford; food is more delicious, sunsets more vivid, memories more precise and comforting, It is a novel for pleasure-seekers, for readers ready to sink into a web spun by a story-teller. Logic and relativism need not apply; only good guys, bad guys, truth and beauty allowed.
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Apr 13, 2013 Suzanne Parker rated it 2 of 5 stars

I am close to the end of this tiring book, finally. I could not just put it on the shelf and stop reading it so I am going to finish it. I was expecting a lot more plot in stead of the over-reaching, never ending scene descriptions that just go on and on. And beside that, the love story is too much and not enough reality about how love evolves, has it's ups and downs and turns. Not very believable. I want to finish the story to see what happens to the bad guys.

Continued...Well I did finish this...more

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Nov 03, 2012 Lori (Hellian) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Helprin has written some of my favorite books, and nobody can write as beautifully, as lyrically as he can. I form more images in my mind from him than most others. And this is a book about falling in love, it's been a long time since I fell in love and reading this I am transported back.

BUT so far I'm annoyed by all the speechifying in what's supposed to be dialog. We'll see what happens.

11/3 - god I can't believe I'm giving a Helprin 3 stars. But 3 stars means I LIKED IT! I've been pondering...more

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Mar 08, 2013 Hayley rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

I'm unsure of how to write a review for In Sunlight and in Shadow since it is, for lack of a better testimony, the book I've been searching for. Without question, it is now my favorite book and I have no doubt it will continue to be no matter how many more novels I read in my lifetime. It is more beautifully written than I could have imagined and I'm in true mourning for the characters of which I can no longer spend my days with. Even though I'm positive the pages will crease and fade over time...more

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Dec 16, 2012 Chrissie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: hf, usa, audio, sample-g, philo-psychol

In conclusion: Unfortunately, I cannot whole-heartedly recommend this book to everyone, even though I loved parts. Some of the writing is beautiful and thought provoking, but there are verbose, sentimental, overly dramatic and sophomoric passages too. Whole chapters could/should have been completely eliminated. This book needs editing. The dialog IS often funny, but neither these clever lines nor the wonderful depiction of NYC save the book.

Every single woman mentioned is idealized. The two pri...more

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May 19, 2013 Will Lock rated it 4 of 5 stars

I’ve read several novels by Mark Helprin, In Sunlight and In Shadow being the most recent. I will probably read more, but I don’t think I will ever find joy and pleasure that I found nearly 30 years ago in Winter’s Tale. As far as I’m concerned, Winter’s Tale and One Hundred Years of Solitude define “magical realism,” a term so abused and over-used nowadays. I mention Marquez’s masterpiece only to indicate the esteem in which I hold Winter’s Tale. So maybe anything else by Helprin would disappoi...more

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May 12, 2013 Stephanie rated it 1 of 5 stars

Profoundly disappointing.
Mark Helprin wrote a novel about New York that actually changed my life: Winter's Tale is such a gorgeous fairy tale, and such a compelling portrait of New York City, that I carried its images and its story with me when I moved to New York a few years after first reading it.
I've read all of Helprin's other novels, and I do love his way with description, but none of the others stuck with me the way Winter's Tale did.
So when I picked up In Sunlight and in Shadow, I thoug...more Profoundly disappointing.
Mark Helprin wrote a novel about New York that actually changed my life: Winter's Tale is such a gorgeous fairy tale, and such a compelling portrait of New York City, that I carried its images and its story with me when I moved to New York a few years after first reading it.
I've read all of Helprin's other novels, and I do love his way with description, but none of the others stuck with me the way Winter's Tale did.
So when I picked up In Sunlight and in Shadow, I thought that Helprin was going to give me another dose of what I loved before: a magical story that brings out the magic and beauty of NYC. Instead I plowed through a ponderous tome over-stuffed with his fabulous descriptions, but light on story and character description.
Some pet peeves: the main male character, Harry, is a paragon. What in writing classes is sometimes referred to as a "Mary Sue", the character that is perfect in every way and can do no wrong. He runs six miles, sometimes twelve on some days, and swims a mile on others; he loves the city; he is tall and strong; he was a paratrooper; he's determined to save the business he inherited (even though he shows little interest in or aptitude for the business itself, and indeed rarely goes to work); he believes that wrongdoers should be punished. Oh yeah, and he's in love with a beautiful woman. The main proof of his character seems to be that he works out every day. Because being disciplined and athletic means you are also trustworthy and of good moral character, I guess.
Catherine, the female protagonist, is also a paragon, though slightly more interesting than Harry, in that she sometimes blurts something out or makes a foolish choice. But mostly she is beautiful, and the outer beauty of a woman represents the beauty of her inner soul, Helprin tells us again and again. I think one-tenth of this book was comprised of elegies to the things that women represent. Especially beautiful women, who are of course the only ones worth talking about. It got old quickly. I really prefer books in which the female characters do things. Catherine does one thing--she's an actress--and she does it quite well, we're told, but Helprin compares her courage in stepping onstage after a bad review to the courage of soldiers going into battle, which I felt was stretching it to the point of insult. (Oh, she also swims regularly, so clearly has a sterling character. And she's an heiress.)
The story ends abruptly after an interminable march of description and flashback and more description and the cliched juxtaposition of happy scenes with scary scenes and we learn how things turn out for the two main characters, but never hear a word about all of the rest of the people who have been touched by the story. And in a 700 page novel, there are plenty of people in the story to be concerned about.
Most of them more interesting and more realistic than the protagonists.(less)

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May 10, 2013 Matthew Roche rated it 1 of 5 stars

This book made me angry.

There, I said it.

I loved Helprin, especially A Soldier of the Great War. I tolerated two-dimensional female characters and wandering plots just for the opportunity to feed on his magnificent prose. There was no modern peer for his descriptions of the Alps or gilded age New York City.

But then came Freddy and Fredericka, which I barely tolerated, and then this cumbersome lump of dross.

I cannot begin to express what an astonishingly bad book this is. Characters so wooden I w...more

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Mar 25, 2013 Murray rated it 2 of 5 stars

i was hoping for more characters and less caricatures. I get the the idealistic tone of the novel. I think I agree with much of Helprin's philosophy. But I found the writing, while often lyrical, overly stylized and forced. Yes the introductory chapter is beautiful. It drew me in. But halfway through the book I got bored by the lengthy and verbose descriptions of New York and the narrator's repetitive and unchanging account of the lovers feelings for each other. I began to feel like Helprin was...more

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Feb 26, 2013 Lynne rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is the first Mark Helprin book that I've read, and there was enough that I really liked about it that I look forward to reading what I hear are his two best novels, Winter's Tale and A Soldier of the Great War.

His writing is amazing - lush and evocative, playful and also very philosophical. It's the kind of book that helps you to be more high-minded, and I loved and felt very inspired by that. The author expressed throughout the book wonderful ideas about humans fighting through hard times...more

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Feb 17, 2013 Kelly Thompson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: family, fiction, marriage, world-war-ii, mark-helprin, mafia, theater, new-york

"In Sunlight and in Shadow" was my introduction to Mark Helprin. His writing is densely detailed, so much so that after the first few chapters I wondered how I could slog through the rest. But as I kept turning pages, the story and setting and characters became so vivid in my imagination that I realized how much it was worth the time to read it. Helprin leaves no facet of the tale untouched, and the twists and turns of the story are alternately expected and surprising. While the love story betwe...more

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Jan 09, 2013 Jessica rated it 3 of 5 stars

I love Mark Helprin. "Winter's Tale" is probably my favorite book of all time - at least in the top 5 - and I love "Memoirs of an Ant Proof Case." If you haven't read Mark Helprin, please pick up one of those books. Do not pick up this one as your first experience with him, since it may be your last.

It was not a terrible book, but I was very disappointed. It was a love story, but my main problem with it was that he told us about how much these two were in love, rather than show us. There was a l...more

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Jan 03, 2013 Karyn rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 25, 2012 Cathy rated it 4 of 5 stars

When I learned that Mark Helprin had a new book to be released, I preordered it without question. His writing is so beautiful, his stories deep, sometimes whimsical, and always moving. So, it was with great anticipation that I opened In Sunlight and in Shadow and began to read.
The first few chapters, as always captivated me and I quickly devoured. But then, the reading became less pleasurable. For the first time ever, I had to make myself open the book and read at least one chapter. It took alm...more

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Nov 13, 2012 Susan rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read this one because it sounded to me a bit like his Winter's Tale, the only other Helprin novel I've read and which I became completely immersed in and loved. Like Winter's Tale, this novel celebrates New York City, this time at a somewhat later period. The time is 1946 and the main character, Harry Copeland, is a well-to-do Jewish ex-soldier who's come home to run his father's leather goods business, his father having died while he was at war. (I couldn't help but note that Swede Levov, Rot...more I read this one because it sounded to me a bit like his Winter's Tale, the only other Helprin novel I've read and which I became completely immersed in and loved. Like Winter's Tale, this novel celebrates New York City, this time at a somewhat later period. The time is 1946 and the main character, Harry Copeland, is a well-to-do Jewish ex-soldier who's come home to run his father's leather goods business, his father having died while he was at war. (I couldn't help but note that Swede Levov, Roth's main character in American Pastorale, was also a business man in leather goods.) Harry, now in his early 30ies, had been in the special forces and fought his way from Africa to Sicily and eventually to the Normandy invasion, undertaking hazardous missions alone or with an elite team, been seriously wounded and had not exactly expected to survive. In 1942 in NY, he had two significant problems: his want of someone to love and be loved by and the need to save his father's business from the "protection rackets" which were largely unchecked by police or government in the city. And those two are related in ways that define who Harry Copeland is and how he will live his life.

Visiting an aunt (his only relative and she not a blood relative) on Staten Island, he sees a woman on the ferry and falls in love with her before he even meets her. Their love story is the at the core of the novel and Helprin writes some downright purple prose in its praise, verging sometimes on sentimentality, but for me right on the edge with the focus of the horrendous need of human beings to love, especially after living through the nightmare of the century. The woman is Catherine, only daughter of a rich financier, engaged to marry the son of another rich financier; a recent graduate of Bryn Mawr she has been trained as a singer and is in a promising Broadway show. She too was stuck by seeing Harry on the ferry.

Harry's business is threatened with ruinous protection payments, orders of magnitude higher than those his father had been paying or any other tenants of the same building are currently paying, enough to ruin the business within the year. There is no hope of help from authority. The mob rules in this kind of thing. But Harry's sense of honor and dignity and what he owes to his father's memory cannot just close the business down and leave, and eventually it becomes clear that the mob is taking orders from the ex-fiance who has also bribed the critics to ignore Catherine's talent and imply that her rich father bought her a Broadway debut.

Love and honor denominate this novel and speak loudly to a generation that's learned to accept that neither is really possible in a world where return on investment trumps all. I recommend it highly. It's a moving story, a page turner and a tear jerker, but nonetheless honest.

I rate it a 10 though I doubt the critics do. I think it might be time to read other Helprin novels since these this one and Winter's Tale have captivated me so completely. And if you're in love with New York, this one isn't to be missed. I'm not--London is the city I dream about--but I still respond to Helprin's obvious love.
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Nov 06, 2012 Bonny rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: audio-book, cultural-biography, cultures, families, historical-fiction, relationships, social-interaction, societies

This is a good book for listening to while you are doing something else with your hands. I like listening to audio books while I'm knitting gifts for Christmas or things for my family. Or while I'm doing something that needs doing and I can "read" at the same time.

There's a lot of description in this book and for some people this is tedious. To me, it all helps to set the time frame of history and the society at the time. Not only do we get to appreciate a closer picture of the time after the wa...more

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Oct 25, 2012 Al rated it 5 of 5 stars

Five minus. Full disclosure: Mark Helprin is one of my favorite, if not most favorite authors, so I am predisposed to like anything he writes.
With that said, I thought ISAIS was excellent, although not Mr. Helprin's best. In groping for why I admire his work so much, I would mention, in no particular order, the clarity of his writing style, the beauty and detail of his description of physical objects and nature, and his humanity and idealism as displayed in his various discussions of what life...more

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Oct 21, 2012 Alice rated it 3 of 5 stars

I am so disappointed. I have read other Mark Helprin books (Memoirs of an Ant Proof Case, Freddy and Frederica among them) and loved them. This one I did not love. The writing is so overblown. The descriptions are endless; similes abound on every page, nearly every paragraph. Where was the editor? Why wasn't Mr. Helprin told that the style is over the top. I also found elements of the plot unbelievable. For example, why did Catherine's family let Victor continue preying on their daughter? I find...more

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Aug 24, 2012 Chris rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: must-read

Mark Helprin is a genus with the English language. I also believe Helprin is ambitious with the subject matter he tackles. In his latest novel Helprin really tries (and comes as close as I think you can get) to put on a page what it is like to fall head over heals in love. The emotions, sights, smells, tastes, and over all energy involved with a romantic infatuation danced off the page for me. The journey that followed, of a life filled with courage, honesty, and sacrifice made me want to be a b...more

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May 22, 2012 Liviu marked it as tried-but-not-for-me

I never enjoyed the author's style that much - did not hate it either but found it way too ponderous like a schoolteacher presenting a lesson in many ways - and his subject matter in Winter's Tale and Soldier of Great war did not interest me enough to put up with it - this one seemed more interesting; same very ponderous style taking a page to talk about things others describe into a paragraph and again the content turned out to be not really that interesting as i went fast through the book and...more

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Jan 02, 2013 Wendy Wax rated it 3 of 5 stars

I read “In Sunlight and Shadow” hoping to be as swept away by it as I was with “Winter’s Tale”—one of my favorite books, with some of the most beautiful descriptions ever. “In Sunlight and Shadow” comes close in some of its descriptions—especially those about New York City and its surroundings—but (maybe) because it is a novel rather than a fantasy, it was kind of disappointing.

The book is a love story. Harry Copeland, a 32-year-old, Jewish, type-A, Harvard graduate, WWII paratrooper falls in l...more

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Feb 09, 2013 Jana rated it 5 of 5 stars

I love this author and cannot wait to see A Winter's Tale at the movies, though, of course I do not expect it to cover even half of the majesty of that novel (the absolutely only reason I can abide the death of Lady Sibyl in Downton is because she is going to be starring in this movie!)

I believe a Winter's Tale to be one of 5 classics of the 20th Century. I loved Sunlight and Shadow, and I cannot get this story out of my mind either--even after just finishing another novel (the ending of which i...more

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Dec 24, 2012 Judith Hannan rated it 2 of 5 stars

In Sunlight and in Shadow is a long and bloated book. Ostensibly a story about love and honor it is also a tale of New York in post-WWII New York. Perhaps it was Helprin's intent to capture the energy of the time when the country felt ripe with possibility and New York City seemed the powerful energy behind it all. But it didn't work for me. In many ways, it reminded me of the work of Ayn Rand. All is idealized--love, women, valor, the city and "Our Hero" of course. Most unbelievable to me is t...more In Sunlight and in Shadow is a long and bloated book. Ostensibly a story about love and honor it is also a tale of New York in post-WWII New York. Perhaps it was Helprin's intent to capture the energy of the time when the country felt ripe with possibility and New York City seemed the powerful energy behind it all. But it didn't work for me. In many ways, it reminded me of the work of Ayn Rand. All is idealized--love, women, valor, the city and "Our Hero" of course. Most unbelievable to me is the love/rapture/passion/adoration of the two main characters--Harry and Catherine--who meet on the Staten Island Ferry and instantly fall in love. Helprin tells us over and over again how perfect their union is, as if we won't believe him unless he pounds it into our heads. And we won't believe it because nothing is that perfect. It's a lazy way to write. Rather than Sunlight and Shadow, the issues and viewpoints in this book are presented in black and white. Helprin lectures and moralizes through long, wordy paragraphs and stilted dialogue. In one of the oddest scenes, when Catherine--an heiress who suddenly learns that she was descended from a Jewish grandmother through her mother and was therefore Jewish herself, declares her instant affiliation with all Jews "who came before me, who lived in hovels in Eastern Europe ... Whatever I had thought about them before, now they're with me forever." Despite Helprin telling us that his characters are deepening and ripening, we don't see it in their actions, which, if the characters had truly been examining their souls, might have taken a different course.

So why two stars and not one or none? Although Helprin's brilliance as a writer is obscured in this book, it is not totally invisible. While sentences that run for paragraphs or are as empty as describing the wind in Main as "... fresh in a way that only thr northland can be," Helprin also describes the same air as better able carry oxygen "... than air in the city, perhaps because it came off the ocean and was free of the many millions of rooms, tunnels, and cul-de-sac that in the city captured, tortured, and enslaved it."

The scenes of war, when Harry is reliving his past, are the better ones in the book. At the launch of a mission we see, "With a thousand planes behind it, the C-47 faced an empty runway and the wind." When Harry parachutes from a plane, "All was darkness, speed, and wind as he was washe clean, emptied out, and reset." There are many such sentences that pull you from the drudgery of the book but not enough, and even these serve the idealized messages Helprin is trying to convey.

This is not Winter's Tale or A Soldier of the Great War. Read those instead.(less)

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Oct 25, 2012 Erika rated it 3 of 5 stars

SO SO SO wanting this to be a grab-me-at-word-1 kind of Helprin novel. For whatever reason, it is not and has not. His delectable observation skills, however, and his mastercraft of wordsmithing deep emotional tones is alive and well. So that's carrying me through...keeping me surfing, knowing there's big waves ahead that have yet to be ridden. The aesthete in me is loving the feel of the paper and the font.

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Feb 13, 2013 Margaret Sankey rated it 2 of 5 stars

I have loved all of Helprin's other books, especially when they are quirky and use magical realism, so it isn't that I dislike the theme out of hand (it is well known that I am not a romantic, but I enjoy a good story). This is not a good story. Helprin gives us two star-crossed people who drop everything (and I mean everything, including common sense) for each other on the author's say-so. Instead of showing us why Catherine is a worthy soul mate, we are told ad nauseam that she is beautiful an...more

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Dec 01, 2012 Amy S. Foster rated it 3 of 5 stars

If you like free form jazz, this is the book for you. There is no doubt that Helprin is a gorgeous writer, but one gets the impression that he is writing only for his own pleasure, without regard for the reader. Personally, I found the lack of editing and the overly verbose and totally unbelievable dialogue bordered on offensive.
If I could give this book 2 1/2 stars, I think that would be a better rating.
I was especially disappointed in the odd book within a book that took the reader out of th...more

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Oct 28, 2012 Sarah rated it 2 of 5 stars

I loved A Winter's Tale, so I didn't hesitate to dive into In Sunlight and Shadow. Everything I loved about the former is missing from the latter. I remember Winter's Tale as a nimble, imaginative epic. This new novel is ponderous, sentimental, and almost preachy. At times I felt like I was reading male-version harlequin romance. The hero is an idealized male archetype, who, burnished by the masculine trials of physical and academic overachievement and then perfected in the crucible of war, lear...more

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Nov 08, 2012 Rebecca rated it 3 of 5 stars

I had not previously read any Helprin books and I'm guessing from some of the reviews I read it may not have been the best example of his work.
First - the good - the prose was breathtaking. It was like reading a poem. Each sentence was so deliberately constructed and painted such vivid pictures, and the writer in me lapped that up.
The story was also good and, when it was being told, intriguing and suspenseful.
But the reason I went with 3 stars and not 4 or 5 as the prose alone would deserve, is...more

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mind numbing, like sinking in quicksand, ponderous, unforgivable	3	14	Mar 30, 2013 02:51pm

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About Mark Helprin

A conservative commentator who has served in the Israeli army may not seem the likeliest source of whimsy, but Mark Helprin's tales are written from the soul of a poet. Soldiers and burglars figure prominently in his work, but the stories are not tales of intrigue; they focus more on love, morality and far-flung travels. - http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk

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“He had known in times of the greatest misery or danger that his dreams of home, in which all things seemed beautiful, were in essence his longing for the woman for whom he had been made. That was how, as a soldier, he had seen it, and it was how he had come through.” — 2 people liked it

“What could be more lovely than writing a book about something you love?” — 2 people liked it

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