Skilled Debut ... A Dream-Like Read | The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors: A Novel

Love this book! | The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors: A Novel | Michele Young-Stone

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	• The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors: A Novel Michele Young-Stone Crown, 2010 - 384 pages average customer review:based on 18 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Fantastic book, clear your calendar for a long weekend

I normally would not have purchased this book, but the title intrigued me. I read the first few pages, and had to (yes, HAD to) finish it. The characters are real, the emotions you get from Becca and Buckley are intense, and I think we all know someone like these people. The coincidences in this novel are believable, as well, and the ending is unexpected. Being a sci-fi fan, this book is not in that genre, but is on par with "Electric God" by the person who wrote "Pay it Forward". Excellent first work. I have this author on my radar now.

Skilled Debut ... A Dream-Like Read

Story Overview

Becca Burke is first struck by lightning at the age of 8. Unfortunately, she is alone when it happens, and, because she is relatively unharmed, her parents doubt whether it actually happened. Yet though she is physically unharmed, the lightning strike changes Becca in mysterious ways--watches break or run backwards when she wears them, halos of light appear around her in photographs. Becca does her best to continue on, yet her family life becomes increasingly difficult as her father's affairs and her mother's drinking rip the family apart. As she grows older (and experiences a second lightning strike), the loss of her family, estrangement from her best friend, and her inability to be open to love lead Becca to the tortured life of an artist in New York City, complete with doomed love affairs and too much drinking. When a series of paintings inspired by lightning strikes ignites her painting career, it also leads her to another lost soul tortured by lightning ... Buckley R. Pitank.

Buckley's life is an endless loop of being bullied and teased. His home life is hardly a respite. His beloved mother is the only support he has, yet they are trapped living with his bitter and nasty grandmother. When Buckley inadvertently brings an evangelical preacher into their lives (who is really just looking for good home cooking and a place to stay), Buckley's life seems to settle into an endless cycle of despair and gloom. But his mother--in a heroic act of will and rebellion--realizes they must escape if they are ever going to have a chance of happiness. Stealing away in the middle of the night, Buckley and his mother settle in Galveston, Texas, where they build a new life that seems filled with the possibility of happiness and love. Then tragedy strikes, and everything Buckley holds dear is ripped away. Returning to his grandmother's home as penance for his survival, Buckley writes The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors (excerpts of which are scattered throughout the book). Eventually, his journey brings him to New York City, where a chance encounter with Becca's paintings draw him into her orbit.

As their lives become more closely intertwined, lightning (inevitably) strikes once again ... and leads to unexpected consequences.

My Thoughts

I know you're probably thinking "Well just go tell us the entire story, why don't you?" Believe me when I tell you that knowing the outlines of the story doesn't give you even a hint of the depth of Young-Stone's writing. She effortlessly moves from character to character--allowing the reader to inhabit their interior lives for a time. Aside from following Becca and Buckley's stories, we also venture into the mind of other characters as well, including Becca's depressed and drunken mother, Becca's philandering father, a young drug addict, and Buckley's newly empowered mother. Young-Stone manages to create an almost dream-like reading experience. This is the type of book where you can know what is going to happen, but getting there is what makes the journey so worthwhile.

This is Young-Stone's debut novel, and I was very impressed with the sophistication of her writing. Instead of telling you about a character, you get to inhabit their world for a while. I think this is difficult to pull off by even the most seasoned writers, yet Young-Stone manages it in her very first "at bat." If you are the type of reader who seeks out new authors, this is one author who should make your list. I think she has a true gift, and I'm excited to see what she does in the future.

I was curious about why lightning featured so prominently in the book, so I wasn't surprised to learn that Young-Stone herself was a lightning strike survivor. I imagine this type of experience would affect you deeply, and learning this tidbit about the author gave the book even more of an air of authenticity. Lightning strikes was an interesting way to connect the stories of Becca and Buckley, and the inclusion of the excerpts from Buckley's book provide the reader with a wealth of information about lighting strikes and those who have survived them.

Yet Young-Stone's writing is so powerful that she could have dispensed with the lightning motif and the book would have been just as good because ultimately, this is a book about people ... people who are damaged, lost, and trying to find love and happiness. Young-Stone does a brilliant job of creating realistic and touching journeys for all the characters--both major and minor--and I loved that she provided one of my favorite ending devices (a "where are they now" wrap-up ... you just don't get this enough, I think) that answered any lingering questions I had about the fate of the various characters I met throughout the book.

The Bottom Line

A wonderful debut from a writer who has true talent. Reading this book is like entering a dream-like state where you journey into the interior worlds of both the major and minor characters. Definitely recommended.

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Love this book!

I recently purchased this book for my book club. I loved it! This book captures you from the beginning. I would definitely recommend it to everyone.

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A must read...

one of the best books I have read in a long, long time. I couldn't bear for it to end; however, I also couldn't put it down. Buy it! You won't regret it.

Strikingly Amazing

This book struck my heartstrings over and over again.

Becca and Buckley were two of the best developed and most relateable characters I've ever met. I cried.

I was going to give it 4 stars for the language and sex that would make this book possibly unsuitable for the immature reader. But I couldn't push myself to do so because it wasn't language for the sake of language, or sex for the sake of sex. They had a purpose...

Michelle Young-Stone put her soul onto these pages.

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When lightning strikes, lives are changed.

BECCA

On a sunny day in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, eight-year-old Becca Burke was struck by lightning. No one believed her?not her philandering father or her drunk, love-sick mother?not even when her watch kept losing time and a spooky halo of light appeared overhead in photographs. Becca was struck again when she was sixteen. She survived, but over time she would learn that outsmarting lightning was the least of her concerns.

BUCKLEY

In rural Arkansas, Buckley R. Pitank?s world seemed plagued by disaster. Ashamed but protective of his obese mother, fearful of his scathing grandmother, and always running from bullies (including his pseudo-evangelical stepfather), he needed a miracle to set him free. At thirteen years old, Buckley witnessed a lightning strike that would change everything.

Now an art student in New York City, Becca Burke is a gifted but tortured painter who strives to recapture the intensity of her lightning-strike memories on canvas. On the night of her first gallery opening, a stranger appears and is captivated by her art. Who is this odd young man with whom she shares a mysterious connection?

When Buckley and Becca finally meet, neither is prepared for the charge of emotions?or for the perilous event that will bring them even closer to one another, and to the families they?ve been running from for as long as they can remember.

Crackling with atmosphere and eccentric characters, The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors explores the magic of nature and the power of redemption in a novel as beautiful and unpredictable as lightning itself.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

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