136th out of 6,175 books
—
17,367 voters
A Certain Slant of Light (Light #1)
In the class of the high school English teacher she has been haunting, Helen feels them: for the first time in 130 years, human eyes are looking at her. They belong to a boy, a boy who has not seemed remarkable until now. And Helenterrified, but intriguedis drawn to him. The fact that he is in a body and she is not presents this unlikely couple with their first challenge...more
Paperback, 282 pages
Published
September 21st 2005
by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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4.5 stars Wow. Is this really being shelved in young adult fiction? Laura Whitcomb's writing is deliciously wordy, witty, and wonderful, and the story surprisingly complex with many mature themes. The author did a fantastic job of minding the formal speech and thought patterns of Helen's background and contrasting them with the jarring reality of present day, all while ruminating on human existence and forgiveness and the value of a life well-lived. This is an exceptionally intelligent YA book t...more
I can see why A Certain Slant of Light is not a book everyone can enjoy. The writing is very… specific (I’d rather say it’s wonderful, but I’m trying to be moderate here) and the story raises some issues not everyone likes to think about. Lately I’ve been in the mood for challenges, and that’s probably one of the reasons why I enjoyed it so much.
I also understand why others (let’s not name names, ok? :)) had issues with the decisions Helen and James made. But, in my opinion, they rea...more
I also understand why others (let’s not name names, ok? :)) had issues with the decisions Helen and James made. But, in my opinion, they rea...more
Opening Line:"Someone was looking at me, a disturbing sensation if you're dead."
This is one of the best books that I've read in a long time. And although it's being touted as teen fiction this can absolutely be enjoyed by adults and as one I'll be recommending it to all my friends. It's just a beautiful story of fated romance no matter what your age.
A CERTAIN SLANT OF LIGHT tells the story of a girl named Helen who's been dead for a 130 years. She is now a gho...more
This is one of the best books that I've read in a long time. And although it's being touted as teen fiction this can absolutely be enjoyed by adults and as one I'll be recommending it to all my friends. It's just a beautiful story of fated romance no matter what your age.
A CERTAIN SLANT OF LIGHT tells the story of a girl named Helen who's been dead for a 130 years. She is now a gho...more
I could see and feel each of his days and he mine. Childhood songs, books read, hearts broken, arguments forgiven. The sweetness of these imperfections far outshining the regrets. Our lives overlapped as naturally as two blades of grass brushing together.
Why I Read This
I was drawn to this book by the title, further intrigued by the premise, and sold by Wendy Darling’s Review.
Main Characters
Our narrator is Helen, a Light who has benevolently haunted fiv...more
Why I Read This
I was drawn to this book by the title, further intrigued by the premise, and sold by Wendy Darling’s Review.
Main Characters
Our narrator is Helen, a Light who has benevolently haunted fiv...more
This is very close to 4 stars.
I'm a bit shocked that all quotes listed on goodreads from this novel only concern the romance side of the story, because it has much more to offer.
This is the story of two ghosts who have been haunting people and places for decades, alone, without knowing why they were stuck on earth. When they finally meet, they fall in love and try to find their way, to find happiness.
The love story is touching and beautifully told, both charac...more
I'm a bit shocked that all quotes listed on goodreads from this novel only concern the romance side of the story, because it has much more to offer.
This is the story of two ghosts who have been haunting people and places for decades, alone, without knowing why they were stuck on earth. When they finally meet, they fall in love and try to find their way, to find happiness.
The love story is touching and beautifully told, both charac...more
Well, if I had one word to describe this book it would be Weird. It is definitely weird and maybe a bit disturbing if you really thing about it. (view spoiler) But this is fiction so I'll take the disturbing and roll with it, and I still quite enjoyed the story.
It's hard to explain what the book is about without getting spoiler-y. So just quickly, it's about a ghost with no recollection of her death who clings to...more
It's hard to explain what the book is about without getting spoiler-y. So just quickly, it's about a ghost with no recollection of her death who clings to...more
What a disappointing read this was. After seeing all the high ratings for this (including my own daughter's 4-star rating), I was eagerly anticipating a unique and touching ghost story. Sad to say, nothing in this story touched me in any way, and in fact it's one of the worst books I've read in 2011 so far, filled with ham-fisted stereotypes and unbelievable character actions.
Whitcomb actually had a fairly interesting premise starting out. Helen, a young woman dead for 150 years, ...more
Whitcomb actually had a fairly interesting premise starting out. Helen, a young woman dead for 150 years, ...more
rachel
rated it
For some reason, I feel as though to be able to review this book, I need to qualify whatever I'm going to say with the fact that I'm not really a romantic person. I believe in the possibility of establishing a human connection with someone after first meeting, and I believe in the possibility of lust at first sight. But I also believe that there is a giant difference between infatuation and lust, and actual love. And yes, to me infatuation and lust are more common but much lesser entities tha...more
Morgan F
rated it
Shelves:
2000s,
young-adult,
fantasy,
romance,
death-and-dying,
the-afterlife,
its-a-girl,
own,
favorites,
debut,
read-2010,
medium-sized,
favorite-covers,
awesome-titles,
forgiveness
I started this book the day the world ended. No, not in a literal 2012-tsunami-earthquake kinda way, but in a my-cell-phone-and-laptop-just-so-happened-to-break-on-the-same-day kinda way. And when you are a 17 year old girl, that is really, really bad. So while I was rolling around on the ground suffering from texting withdrawl, a thought occurred to me: Go read a book, you idjit! So I did. And in no time at all, I forgot the outside world existed.
To say I loved this book would ...more
To say I loved this book would ...more
Someone was looking at me, a disturing sensation if you're dead. I was with my teacher, Mr Brown. As usual, we were in our classroom, that safe and wooden-walled box - the windows opening onto the grassy field to the west, the fading flag standing in the chalk dusty corner, the television set mounted above the bulletin board like a sleeping eye, and Mr Brown's princely table keeping watch over a regimen of student desks.
I stumbled upon a copy of A Certain Slant of Light by ...more
I stumbled upon a copy of A Certain Slant of Light by ...more
Oh my, this book was good. I only meant to read it during my lunch hour, but I found myself engrossed. Needless to say, I didn't get much work done yesterday.
It's a ghost story, but not a scary one. Helen has been dead for 130 years and remembers only that she was a woman who had been married. She finds herself stuck between earth and hell, knowing that something about how she died is keeping her from heaven. She attaches to "hosts" who don't know she's there but still feel...more
It's a ghost story, but not a scary one. Helen has been dead for 130 years and remembers only that she was a woman who had been married. She finds herself stuck between earth and hell, knowing that something about how she died is keeping her from heaven. She attaches to "hosts" who don't know she's there but still feel...more
This was a fantastic book. (I'm tired of saying 'really good'.)
Helen is a ghost who has been dead for 130 years, and has haunted a series of people. She is in the high school classroom of the teacher she is currently haunting, when a boy in the class sees her. She is amazed and freaked out because no one has ever seen her. Ends up that he is a ghost too, and he has taken over the boy's body. The boy's spirit left his body an empty shell, so he took it over. They fall in love, and she take...more
Helen is a ghost who has been dead for 130 years, and has haunted a series of people. She is in the high school classroom of the teacher she is currently haunting, when a boy in the class sees her. She is amazed and freaked out because no one has ever seen her. Ends up that he is a ghost too, and he has taken over the boy's body. The boy's spirit left his body an empty shell, so he took it over. They fall in love, and she take...more
An interesting ghost story told from the point of view of--you guessed it--the ghost. Helen has not been able to cross over into the light and is condemned to darkenss, unless she can attach herself to a human "host." She clings to her various hosts, who are all writers, until it is time to move on to the next one. Some of her hosts are famous literary figures, including Emily Dickinson (the title is taken from a Dickinson poem). After she falls in love with a kindred spirit (liter...more
I've been wanting to read this book for a while now and after waiting so long for the public library to obtain a copy and ignoring my requests, I bought a copy instead. I wasn't disappointed.
I have a soft spot for gothic style literature, regardless of the age group the book is aimed for. This was a lovely twist on the general paranormal romanace genre (no sparkling vampires, thank Christ!) and was a pleasure to read.
The story itself was original and captivating and the n...more
I have a soft spot for gothic style literature, regardless of the age group the book is aimed for. This was a lovely twist on the general paranormal romanace genre (no sparkling vampires, thank Christ!) and was a pleasure to read.
The story itself was original and captivating and the n...more
Holly
rated it
Shelves:
young-adult-reads,
angst-a-plenty,
best-covers-ever,
deals-with-religious-materials,
definitely-unique,
deep-stuff,
families-and-family-issues,
flashbacks,
ghost-stories,
loved,
magical-supernatural-paranormal,
makes-you-think,
not-what-i-expected,
paranormal-romance,
sexxy-stuff,
unique-in-a-really-good-way
I really enjoyed this book, but the whole time, I kept thinking, "Did I really pick this up in the YA section? It must have been shelved wrong." The characters are late-twenty-somethings spirits who steal teenage bodies, and therefore have adult relationships, and obviously just think like adults (which, again, made me think it was an adult novel--- the characters were adults, and had more maturity and wisdom than most of the characters in YA novels). I've read in other reviews that a ...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Beca "oNe-C"
rated it
So I have nothing bad to say about this book except that I wish I found out for sure what happened to Mr. Brown, but that does not even matter because I HEARTED this book! I mean I can only guess that things turned out okay for him too with the way things ended. A Certain Slant of Light was just not what I thought it was going to be at all and I was pleasantly surprised by the plot of this story, so full of twist and turns. Just wish the book was longer just to find out if the real Billy and Je...more
Penny
rated it
Recommends it for:
Anyone wanting to read a
Recommended to Penny by:
Reviewer X (blog)
I was told it is a modern ghost story. But really, it is so much more then just a ghost story. Yes, the main character, Helen, is dead. And yes, I will admit Helen haunts people, or rather, attaches herself to certain people. But the people she "haunts" are, for the most part, unaware of her presence. She doesn't go around scaring people. So I want to make it clear, this isn't a spooky ghost story. When all is said and done, this story is about love, self-discovery and forgivenes...more
Laura
rated it
Recommends it for:
Li & Colleen, especially Li
Recommended to Laura by:
Mom, kind of. I don't think she really liked it.
Shelves:
ya-fiction,
supernatural
Where to start. First, this is a bizarre book, conceptually, for what I would call fairly mainstream fiction. It's a ghost story through and through, but the premise that people can leave their bodies and they remain vacant, but still completely functional, and that a "Light" (ghost) can enter the body and take it over, with no memories of the former occupent... Just really strange.
The book could have easily been doubled in length and probably would have been better if the ...more
The book could have easily been doubled in length and probably would have been better if the ...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Helen is a ghost: for the last 130 years, she has haunted a series of hosts, following their lives until death, seeing everything without ever being seen. But one day, in the class room of her current host, a high school English teacher, someonea young mansees Helen for the first time. Although scared, Helen is also intrigued, and the two become friends, starting them on an unusual journey as they struggle to find a way to be together and to come to terms with their pasts and the lives of the ...more
Laura Whitcomb's debut is a novel of redemption and love. If you are a fan of Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bone, then you will adore this one also. The point of view is told from Helen a 150 + year old ghost who suffers from her death and the reason why she is still on earth and not going on to the great beyond. She meets James another spirit like her. After they meet, their spirit lives become hopeful and passionate as they find a way to take over human bodies.
Even though this is mark...more
Even though this is mark...more
Really good book! It is about a ghost girl who finds a boy who can see her. It scares her, because in all the years that she was dead no one ever saw her, but she wants to learn more
Ghosts with unfinished business borrow the bodies of a couple of teens and fall in love.
I liked the idea of a ghost being attached to a living person, and acting as a muse. And I liked the creepy stuff - if someone checks out for a while because of trauma, something else, either a ghost or something darker, could move in.
This may be more an adult story than a teen one, despite the teen bodies. The two ghosts are suffering from survivor guilt, not struggling to figure out who they are...more
I liked the idea of a ghost being attached to a living person, and acting as a muse. And I liked the creepy stuff - if someone checks out for a while because of trauma, something else, either a ghost or something darker, could move in.
This may be more an adult story than a teen one, despite the teen bodies. The two ghosts are suffering from survivor guilt, not struggling to figure out who they are...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
The story of a deceased woman who, as a ghost, haunts a school and ends up meeting another ghost, who has taken over the body of a young man. She decided to take over the body of a young woman and the two of them start a torrid love affair. Which results in death, and lots of familial anguish. The book is a great concept, and the beginning when the woman was just herself with her hosts was really good, but it got a little dramatic and kind of silly when she took over the girl's body and "...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I read this book months ago, but never reviewed it, which is shocking as A Certain Slant of Light has certainly earned its place as one of my favorites. Whitcomb has woven an absolutely beautiful story. The prose was fantastic and the characters were a heart breaking delight to read. There were touching moments throughout and I doubt any of the events could have ended more perfectly. Great book!
El Templo de las Mil Puertas
added it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
criticas-literarias,
04-eltemplo
"Los fantasmas deben vivir siempre con un anfitrión. Un humano que no pueda ni verles ni sentirles, pero al que puedan agarrarse y con el que vaguen hasta que éste fallezca, momento en el cual deberán escoger a otro. Helen es una Luz, como les gusta llamarse a sí mismos, que no recuerda cómo falleció. Únicamente, que de pronto un día encontró una voz en medio de la oscuridad a la que aferrarse y gracias a la cual salió a la superficie. Esta voz pertenecía a una mujer, y esa mujer pasó ento...more
Helga
added it
So, my dear friend has been trying to get me to read A Certain Slant of Light, the first novel by Laura Whitcomb, for over three years. She even lent me the book a year and a half ago, I suppose in the hope that proximity would move me to do what the passage of time had not. And it finally worked! I am very glad that I got around to reading it, as well, although it was much more dark and serious than I had expected. At first, the story seems to be about a ghost (Helen) and the high school boy (B...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Books That Moved ...: Books That Stuck With Me | 14 | 13 | Oct 26, 2011 08:34pm | |
| DOES ANYONE HAVE THIS BOOK? | 10 | 56 | Apr 13, 2011 03:24pm |
Laura Whitcomb grew up in Pasadena, California in a mildly haunted house. She received her English degree at California State University at Northridge in 1993. She has taught Language Arts in California and Hawaii. She has won three Kay Snow Awards and was once runner up in the Bulwer-Lytton writing contest for the best first sentence of the worst Science Fiction novel never written. In her spare ...more
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“The library smells like old books — a thousand leather doorways into other worlds. I hear silence, like the mind of God. I feel a presence in the empty chair beside me. The librarian watches me suspiciously. But the library is a sacred place, and I sit with the patron saint of readers. Pulsing goddess light moves through me for one moment like a glimpse of eternity instantly forgotten. She is gone. I smell mold, I hear the clock ticking, I see an empty chair. Ask me now and I'll say this is just a place where you can't play music or eat. She's gone. The library sucks.”
—
68 people liked it
“To desperately hope," I whispered
James let out a breath. "To gratefully believe.”
—
38 people liked it
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James let out a breath. "To gratefully believe.”

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