Book Review 6: A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb

                                 Book Summary

Some­one was look­ing at me, a dis­turb­ing sen­sa­tion when you’re dead.

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 Helen, ter­ri­fied, but intrigued, is drawn to him. The fact that he is in a body and she is not presents this unlikely cou­ple with their first chal­lenge. But as the lovers strug­gle to find a way to be together, they begin to dis­cover the secrets of their for­mer lives and the young peo­ple they come to possess.

                            Review

               I admit that I have turned away from this book many times as I found it when I was delving at a local bookstore. I kept on stumbling upon it every time I am having a ‘bookhunting ‘ every weekend. Destiny’s perhaps at worked, so I bought it finally for only 50 pesos. This book is beautiful, inside and out. I love it from its cover design to its content. That was really a fool of me for not buying it right away. But that’s okay, because I had it already.

                We have to admit that there are a lot of paranormal/supernatural books that are sprouting from the shelves right now. It is hard to appreciate or get inclined with one for most of them had almost the same plot. You end up loving them all instead. But it is not the same with A Certain Slant of Life. This book stands out among the others. It is not a typical girlish story, but rather a love story that gain quite a reputation. It is far more sophisticated than the paranormal books that are, needless to say, selling best.

                This novel is well written. The prose is perfectly polite and easy to take in. This unusual love story is sad, and while reading, I was beginning to think that the characters, Helen and James, would not have a happy ending. What with being ghosts, then inhabiting human bodies that have very complicated and different lives? But they had! This story had me biting my fingernails, for I never really had an idea what is going to happen next. Of course, I took it as a good quality a book should possess no matter how it made me feel a discomforting excitement for I always wanted to leap into the next chapters.

                The cover which I so like became an alive scene at the ending. The ending! I think it is just too abrupt. Throughout the novel, Whitcomb had maintained a gentle depiction of every event. But the ending, I felt like it’s too sudden. I was craving for a more detailed one.

                I recommend this book to those readers who wanted to read a sophisticated paranormal novel that is smarter than Twilight.

Rating: 5/5 stars

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