This is not my usual genre of reads but this book sounded very fascinating. I heard about it on (where else but) NPR and picked it up.

I do not like too much fantasy and mystique in books – I prefer them to be grounded in reality. The Illumination by Kevin Brockmeiers is a fantasy book. A book where people glow in pain and the world sees it. Personally, I would hate such a world – not all my pain is for public consumption or so I would like to think. I have to give it to the author for painting pain so real and so beautifully. It is hard to find words to describe pain and this book was a refreshing change.

The book starts with Carol Ann who cuts her hand when opening a package from her ex and rushes to the hospital. She wakes up from surgery and her finger glows with pain. All around the world, people are talking about it. It is a simple fantasy but wonderfully written. Brockmeiers visuals are highly descriptive and it almost feels real.The book is divided into 6 sections each with its own protagonist (Carol Ann, Jason, Chuck, Ryan, Nina and Morse) and each of these sections is connected by a diary – a diary of “I love you” notes written by a husband to his wife who dies in a car crash. Somewhere around the 4th protagonist – Kevin lost me. I felt the disconnect and the story just was not as gripping as I would have liked it to be.

Fantasy is not my genre but this book started with such promise and I felt letdown when I finished it. I just wish Kevin Brockmeier wove the same magic he did to the first couple of sections all through the book.

An okie weekend read