The Sunlight Pilgrims by Jenni Fagan"There are three Suns in the sky and it is the last day of autumn-perhaps forever. Sun dogs. Phantom suns. Parhelia. They mark the arrival of the most extreme winter for 200 years."
Chapters 1-4:
I am following Dylan MacRae,in November of 2020, as he closes up shop in Babylon, England after the death of his Grandma, and Mum. Dad...? Maybe we will find out later.
"Eighty years and people trying to get permanent bits of stone before they go, as if permanence were a real thing. Everyone has been taken hostage. Bankers and big-business are tyrannical demigods"( Corporatocy is becoming popular a little too late, for the "Earth is striking back!" :)
Dylan's family ran out of money, and the repo men are already starting to bang on the doors. Now, with barely enough time to eject himself from his home. Where will Dylan go?
"...he found an envelope containing the deeds for a caravan 578.3 miles away, with a pink Post-it note and her scrawl: Bought for cash-no record in any of our accounts. Mum X."
His Mum ( you go girl! ) secretly bought him a silver bullet in Clachan Falls (#7). Nice save! She had actually prepared in advance knowing that she was dying and business wasn't making it. Now Get on that bus, Dylan..we've got people to meet and places to go!!
I really like the way Dylan describes his feelings as he is doing his best to deal with everything coming at him: Especailly grief/sadness.. I really identified with these quotes.
1. "Now he knows something he did not before-there is a totality to silence. It makes his bones ache."
2." There is an impenetrability to absence."
3. " Nobody told him grief would be so physical."
4. " Grief is in his marrow. It is in his brain. It has even slowed the way he washes his hands."
Lastly before leaving, he thinks "..but for the very first time in his life there is absolutely nowhere to go back to. With each step forward the road behind him disappears. That's what it feels like. Just one step back and it would be an endless plummet."
Dylan's strange new life is just beginning. Let's meet the infamous "Crisp-man"!, a seat buddy for his 12 hour bus ride to Clachan Falls. I stole the "Earth is striking back!" From Crisp- man.
A quick taxi ride, and he arrives to Falls Lane, where a caravan awaits. Tired, after quickly looking everything over, he goes to sleep. Not for long because at 5 am the next morning he hears a BOOM! "At the end of the path a womanhooversup the road. Her pyjama top rides up and exposes each knot of her vertebra like a fine rope. She is hoovering up the miles between herself and what?.. " She returns the Vaccume and "..walks back on her porch with a rag on her hand-she reaches a pale arm up into the sky and polishes the moon." Hmm...Who will we/Dylan meet next...?
Stella - A bold, beautiful, intelligent and sassy teen! She also belongs to the woman who polishes the moon. I think that the characters are going to get more interesting and the weather will start impacting Dylan's small world.
Stella says, "You are aware that you are living in what is essentially a metal tin at the bottom of seven mountains." Dylan says "Doesn't scare me." We shall see.. All he knows about is obsure films and how to make gin, because he was always involved in the family business.
"Which way would you rather go? The last great war or frozen like a fish finger?"
I am enjoying this book! I have to say a awesome Scottish website
A Dictionary of Slang Is very useful! I also used it when reading
. Also a good England type dictionary will help a lot since our dialects, verbiage, wordage, and even slang can be totally different. Like butt to us is a booty, but butt is also a friendly term to call your mate/buddy/friend, like how we use bro, dude, man, girlfriend, buddy, etc. I also Google places, names, movies, books..anything mentioned that I don't know about and it may see tedious but I understand the writer better and give a better review than if I had skipped overall the little stuff. I learned to do this with historical novels because who remembers high school history at 31? I forgot..but now reading about it.. I remember!
*Will update soon, Chapter 5-10** I won this on goodreads giveaways and all opinions are my own. As in nobody made me write a review. I am testing out new review styles to find my niche.
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