Book Review: A Ring of Endless Light

Title: A Ring of Endless Light

Author: Madeleine L'Engle

Genre: Fiction

Review:

This quaint little novel captured my heart a few years ago. Actually, my sister found it at a used book store, but I sort of ended up reading it more than she did :-) A Ring of Endless Light is such an excellent coming of age novel, and it deals with the topic of death in a realistic, but tactful way.

Vicky's family moved from New York to a small island to spend more time with her dying grandfather. Tension between family members are somewhat strained as everyone is under stress, yet somehow, Vicky's grandfather--who is the person, um, dying--manages to be the calmest of everyone. Her grandfather reminds me of Atticus from To Kill a Mockingbird in many ways: he is very intelligent, but humble.

During the summer on the island, Vicky reunites with a long time friend, Leo, whose father has recently passed trying to rescue a reckless boater (is that a word?) At the funeral for Leo's father, Vicky meets Adam, a marine biologist intern working with dolphins. And then there's Zachery, a troubled boy who clearly has feelings for Vicky. He also has a guilty secret involving the death of one of the characters in the novel...

As Vicky struggles to face the fact that her grandfather is going to die and tries to sort out her feelings for Leo and Zach, she finds comfort and solace in Adam and his dolphins. Soon, she's helping him with a research project that turns out to be beneficial and healing to the soul in many ways. Unfortunately, death seems to plague Vicky and she is heartbroken when a baby dolphin dies. However, she learns that one must move on in life.

I love how readers can look into Vicky's mind through her journal (in the book, Vicky keeps a journal with snippets of poems and such.)

Through small, daily life activities and events, Vicky learns several life lessons that hopefully readers will too. The novel is filled with gorgeous quotes:

"Poets are born knowing the language of angels."

"Maybe you have to know the darkness before you can appreciate the light."

"There is in God, some say, a deep bu dazzling darkness."

Rating: