The Professor of Light

by Marina Budhos

A gripping depiction of the intense bond between a father and a daughter - a father who is driven mad in his quest to understand light, and a devoted daughter who risks falling off the edge with him. It is a novel of passion and logic, one that illuminates what it means to grow up and to grow apart. This novel is the story of young Meggie Singh and her father, a charming befuddled professor of philosophy from the Caribbean. Meggie grows from childhood to the brink of being an adult, groomed by her father in a rich mix of philosophy and storytelling which illuminates the lost history of her family scattered over India, Guyana, America and England. Now older, she learns to recognize the scratchy of his pen on paper, the curves of his thoughts, as he struggles to write a book on the nature of light. The paradox of light, both particle and wave, comes to resonate with the larger questions of identity and imagination, of belonging and moving on.

254 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 1999

About the author

Marina Budhos is an author of award-winning fiction and nonfiction. Her most recent novel is We Are All We Have, about Rania, a teenage asylum seeker, whose life is suddenly shattered and she goes on the road, in search of sanctuary, and family truths. Previously she published The Long Ride, Watched, which received an Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature YA Honor and a The Walter Award Honor. Her other novels include Tell Us We're Home, a 2017 Essex County YA Pick and Ask Me No Questions, recipient of a James Cook Teen Book Award, The Professor of Light, House of Waiting, and a nonfiction book, Remix: Conversations with Immigrant Teenagers. With her husband Marc Aronson, she co-authored Eyes of the World: Robert Capa & Gerda Taro & The Invention of Modern Photojournalism and Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom & Science, a 2010 Los Angeles Times Book Award Finalist. Budhos has been a Fulbright Scholar to India, received there Fellowships from the New Jersey Council on the Arts and is a professor emerita at William Paterson University.

Reviews

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story following the summers in teh life of an Indian-Carribean Jewish girl and her father, a philosopher/physicist/writer trying to come to terms with the wave/particle paradox of light, while dealing with pulls on his attention/obligations to families.

Strange story, weird family dynamics

Very interesting blend of cultures - folk beliefs, science, philosophy.

[Shivanee Ramlochan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful for its eclectic blend of philosophy, quirky family matters and theoretical physics, 'The Professor of Light' was one of my favourite YA reads (meaning that I read it as a young adult, not that it's necessarily targeted towards that audience, though it might be.)

[Madumitha Selvaraj · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love books that talk about mix of culture! And this one does it really well. There are times when you feel the author has gone on a tangent and lost track of the plot but the book manages to sustain your interest - because at the core of it is a story of a father and daughter who live through myriad experiences and it is amazing how they both are affected by it as individuals as well as a combined entity! I might not read it again but it was indeed a good one-time read for its celebration of the Caribbean culture, science and the fragile nature of parent-child relationship.

[Inderpal · Rating 1 out of 5]

ABANDONED: I am sorry, the prose is beautifully written, but I guess descriptive YA that goes nowhere with it's plot linearly is just not for me. Training myself to save precious time by abandoning books mid-way.