Florida is slipping away. As devastating weather patterns and rising sea levels gradually wreak havoc on the state’s infrastructure, a powerful hurricane approaches a small town on the southeastern coast. Kirby Lowe, an electrical line worker; his pregnant wife, Frida; and their two sons, Flip and Lucas, prepare for the worst. When the boys go missing just before the hurricane hits, Kirby heads out into the high winds to search for them. Left alone, Frida goes into premature labor and gives birth to an unusual child, Wanda, whom she names after the catastrophic storm that ushers her into a society closer to collapse than ever before.
As Florida continues to unravel, Wanda grows. Moving from childhood to adulthood, adapting not only to the changing landscape, but also to the people who stayed behind in a place abandoned by civilization, Wanda loses family, gains community, and ultimately, seeks adventure, love, and …
Florida is slipping away. As devastating weather patterns and rising sea levels gradually wreak havoc on the state’s infrastructure, a powerful hurricane approaches a small town on the southeastern coast. Kirby Lowe, an electrical line worker; his pregnant wife, Frida; and their two sons, Flip and Lucas, prepare for the worst. When the boys go missing just before the hurricane hits, Kirby heads out into the high winds to search for them. Left alone, Frida goes into premature labor and gives birth to an unusual child, Wanda, whom she names after the catastrophic storm that ushers her into a society closer to collapse than ever before.
As Florida continues to unravel, Wanda grows. Moving from childhood to adulthood, adapting not only to the changing landscape, but also to the people who stayed behind in a place abandoned by civilization, Wanda loses family, gains community, and ultimately, seeks adventure, love, and purpose in a place remade by nature.
Told in four parts—power, water, light, and time—The Light Pirate mirrors the rhythms of the elements and the sometimes quick, sometimes slow dissolution of the world as we know it. It is a meditation on the changes we would rather not see, the future we would rather not greet, and a call back to the beauty and violence of an untamable wilderness.
This is one of the best novels I’ve read yet about trying to live with and survive the near-future impacts of climate breakdown. The prose is occasionally poetic or lyrical, but generally straightforward and matter of fact. What I especially like is that it's mostly showing, without much telling. It asks the reader to engage. Overall, this book is beautifully written, touching, sad, and haunting. A real gem, highly recommended.
This is a very good novel, almost excellent. The dystopian tale is believable, plausible and frightening. The characters are heroic as well as tragic...
Listen, this was a good book. I'd even go so far as to say it was a really good book. But while I don't mean to sound like I'm "not like other girls," this book spoke to some deep, deep anxieties and trauma that I experienced. Being a Louisiana native and having lived through the worst of Hurricane Katrina, I really have to commend the author for her chest tightening descriptions of what it is like dealing with a hurricane that you should have evacuated for. The preparation, the dread, the fear, the unknown, it was all well done and too real. This, mixed with the climate change throughline of "nowhere else is safe" and the multiple natural disaster deaths that happened in the book made me feel nothing other than intense sadness and unease.
I could speak about the effective way the characters were built over the years. I …
Listen, this was a good book. I'd even go so far as to say it was a really good book. But while I don't mean to sound like I'm "not like other girls," this book spoke to some deep, deep anxieties and trauma that I experienced. Being a Louisiana native and having lived through the worst of Hurricane Katrina, I really have to commend the author for her chest tightening descriptions of what it is like dealing with a hurricane that you should have evacuated for. The preparation, the dread, the fear, the unknown, it was all well done and too real. This, mixed with the climate change throughline of "nowhere else is safe" and the multiple natural disaster deaths that happened in the book made me feel nothing other than intense sadness and unease.
I could speak about the effective way the characters were built over the years. I could speak about the stunning, atmospheric writing. I could speak about the three distinct acts and how each were or were not successful. But at the end of the day, frankly, this book scared me and I understand that others have enjoyed it for a multitude of reasons but it was just too real for me. Maybe it is unfair to give this rating to a book that was technically very strong, but it's my review and it made me upset.
