Paul Pen

The Light of the Fireflies

Escuché que Paul Pen se ganó el apodo del Stephen King español. No estoy muy seguro, pero brutal con esta novela.

Joel Mendoza Sanchez 

Cat Josephson

Writing was pretty good, but I just... I couldn't stand the ending. I couldn't stand how Sister was portrayed as the bad guy here, when really it was most of the rest of the family.

Lacy W

Alright. This book was a little weird. I think there are several contributing factors to it being so different. For starters, the book I read was actually translated from I think Spanish, but I'm not certain on that. It was hard to read in places and I think because it was translated, I lost some of the detail that would otherwise have been in it. 

Another thing that was kind of weird was there was literally no names. The main character was called the boy. The mother was Mom or my mom. There was no use of names at all. That led to some confusion on my part because I had to keep track of who was who and what happened to them. But I also liked that aspect. It made you think about the book and the characters. I tend to get caught up in names and sometimes I won't like a character because their name is awful. I know I know, I'm judgey. Sue me. 

So I think that in order to understand this book, I suggest reading  Room  first. It helps to clarify what it is like being trapped in a room for long long periods of times. Like  Room , this book is first person narrative through the point of view of a child which sometimes is frustrating. Children don't always observe details and there were points in this book that could really use details. 

I mean, overall, I liked the book. I almost stopped reading it about the halfway point because it was seriously starting to drag. Nothing too major was happening and I starting to wonder if anything was going to happen. Luckily, the minute I decided that I was going to stop reading the book, a massive plot twist happened and the book picked up speed. Hence why I gave this book four stars. Would I recommend this book, however? I can't be sure. I think it takes a certain person to read this book. To understand what is going on. To understand why the family is living in the basement. Don't let my review deter you from reading this. Totally go for it if it sounds intriguing.

Naty Corbett

** spoiler alert **
           [Spoilers ahead]

I am happy I did not have to pay for this book. The premise of the book was interesting and had promise, but as the story unfolded I just felt disgust and contempt for the people in the book. Mainly disgust at what I was reading. The family is horrible and the treatment of the daughter as the root of all their problems stems from age old trope of women being the cause. The rape of her by her brother who has mental issues is terrible, but what is worse is how they take it out on her just reeks of rape culture. Then the repeated rape by the mentally handicapped brother of an injured woman who later succumbs to her injuries took my disgust to a whole new level. I only kept reading hoping the protagonist and his sister would escape only to be disappointed in the end. It turns out the author ends up trying to justify the family's horrible decision making and re-enforcing the blame on the sister who is killed off seemingly only to let everyone else live happily ever after.

The Light of the Fireflies

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