Friday, October 13, 2023

Book Review: Lights on the Sea by Miquel Reina

Have you ever enjoyed a book enough to read it again? Although I don't often revisit a novel, after first reading Lights on the Sea, I knew this was a book I would read again. A recent second reading allowed me to more fully appreciate the struggles of both main characters as they slowly dealt with their tragic past.

Review of Lights on the Sea by Miquel Reina


The house of Mr. and Mrs. Grapes, which overlooks a vast ocean, lays precariously close to the edge of Death’s Cliff. Due to extensive erosion of the cliff’s porous volcanic rock, Harold and Mary Rose Grapes are being forced to move from the home where they continue to mourn the loss of their son thirty-five years ago. The night before the move, a fierce storm sends the house and its two sleeping occupants down the cliff and sailing off into the ocean.
 

To even begin the healing process of thirty-five years of stagnation and regret requires a violent uprooting. As Harold and Mary Rose drift at the mercy of the ocean tides, the many death-threatening struggles they encounter slowly bring awareness to the futility of blame and lack of forgiveness. 

Some suspension of disbelief was required to immerse myself in their physical journey. Their emotional journey, however, was immediately all too real. Allegorical in nature, the author’s tale explores the consequences of placing blame and refusing to move forward after tragedy strikes. 

Lights on the Sea is a translation of Miquel Reina’s Spanish edition Lucus en el Mar.

*****


7 comments:

  1. It sounds like an interesting read, but not sure if I could suspend my disbelief as you did.

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  2. Yes, Martha, it is more fable than reality. And getting past the floating house required the author to add a bit about the porous volcanic rock attached to the framework to keep it afloat.

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  3. I rarely re-read a book either. But this one sounds really interesting and moving! x

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  5. http://debioneille.blogspot.comOctober 25, 2023 at 5:15 AM

    This sounds like a joy to read, and yet with grief involved, it will also b!e difficult to read. I might have to give it a try. Thanks

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