Sudden Light (Stein)
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A Sudden Light
Garth Stein, 2014
Simon & Schuster
416 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781439187036
Summary
When a boy tries to save his parents’ marriage, he uncovers a legacy of family secrets in a coming-of-age ghost story.
In the summer of 1990, fourteen-year-old Trevor Riddell gets his first glimpse of Riddell House. Built from the spoils of a massive timber fortune, the legendary family mansion is constructed of giant, whole trees, and is set on a huge estate overlooking Puget Sound.
Trevor’s bankrupt parents have begun a trial separation, and his father, Jones Riddell, has brought Trevor to Riddell House with a goal: to join forces with his sister, Serena, dispatch Grandpa Samuel—who is flickering in and out of dementia—to a graduated living facility, sell off the house and property for development into “tract housing for millionaires,” divide up the profits, and live happily ever after.
But Trevor soon discovers there’s someone else living in Riddell House: a ghost with an agenda of his own. For while the land holds tremendous value, it is also burdened by the final wishes of the family patriarch, Elijah, who mandated it be allowed to return to untamed forestland as a penance for the millions of trees harvested over the decades by the Riddell Timber company. The ghost will not rest until Elijah’s wish is fulfilled, and Trevor’s willingness to face the past holds the key to his family’s future.
A Sudden Light is a rich, atmospheric work that is at once a multigenerational family saga, a historical novel, a ghost story, and the story of a contemporary family’s struggle to connect with each other. A tribute to the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest, it reflects Garth Stein’s outsized capacity for empathy and keen understanding of human motivation, and his rare ability to see the unseen: the universal threads that connect us all. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—December 6, 1964
• Where—Los Angeles, California, USA
• Rasied—Seattle, Washington
• Education—B.A., M.F.A., Columbia University
• Currently—lives in Seattle, Washington
Garth Stein is an American author and film producer from Seattle, Washington. Widely known as the author of the New York Times bestselling novel, The Art of Racing in the Rain, Stein is also a documentary film maker, playwright, teacher, and amateur racer.
Early years
Born in California, Garth Stein spent most of his childhood growing up in Seattle. His father, a Brooklyn native, was the child of Austrian Jewish immigrants, while Stein's Alaskan mother comes from Tlingit and Irish descent. Stein later revisited his Tlingit heritage in his first novel, Raven Stole the Moon.
Stein attended Columbia University, where he received a B.A. in 1987. He then stayed at Columbia to earn His M.F.A. from its School of the Arts in 1990.
Career
Stein has worked as a director, producer and/or writer of documentary films—several of which won awards. In 1991, he co-produced an Academy Award winning short film, The Lunch Date. He then co-produced The Last Party, a film account of the 1992 Democratic National Convention; later he produced and directed When Your Head's Not a Head, It's a Nut, a documentary about his sister's brain surgery.
After films, Stein took up creative writing. At one time, he taught creative writing at Tacoma School of the Arts. His published works include three books and two plays. Brother Jones, his first play, was produced in Los Angeles in 2005. He wrote another play, No One Calls Me Mutt Anymore in 2010 for the theatrical department at his alma mater, Shorewood High School in Shoreline, WA.
The Art of Racing in the Rain
Stein's third novel, The Art of Racing in the Rain (2008) became a New York Times bestseller. The novel is told from the point of view of Enzo, a race car-obsessed dog, whose owner teaches him about the art of racing. But most of Enzo's knowledge comes from watching television, including a program about a Mongolian legend of dogs reincarnated as humans. Enzo comes to believe it is his fate, as well—to be reincarnated as a human.
Stein was inspired to write the book after viewing a documentary on Mongolia called State of Dogs and after hearing a reading of the Billy Collins poem "The Revenant," told from a dog's point of view.
The racing experience is based on Stein's own experience racing cars. Stein became involved in "high performance driver education," receiveding his racing license from the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). He won the points championship in the Northwest Region Spec Miata class in 2004 but left racing after a serious crash—while racing in the rain.
Personal life
After spending 18 years in New York City, Stein returned to Seattle where he lives with his wife, Andrea Perlbinder Stein, their three sons, and the family dog, Comet, a lab/poodle mix. While living in New York, played in a rock band, called Zero Band, that rehearsed but rarely performed. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 10/13/2014.)
Book Reviews
Rich and textured...Stein is resourceful, cleverly piecing together the family history with dreams, overheard conversations, and reminiscences...a tale well told.
Seattle Times
A captivating page-turner.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Witty, atmospheric and filled with acutely observed characters, Stein’s ghost story possesses uncommon depth.
People
Set against the stunning beauty of the Pacific Northwest and told with expert angst, empthy, poetry, and mystery, Stein has created an ode to nature and redemption...in turns touching and classically sinister, with surprising twists.
Interview Magazine
A haunting family saga.
Good Housekeeping
With its single setting and small cast of characters...the story’s feeling of claustrophobia adds to the tension. Stein dramatizes the various tensions between his characters well.... The history of the Riddell family fails to shock after a while, even as events in the present lead to the tragic denouement.
Publishers Weekly
[O]ffers a touch of magic. [Trevor Riddell's father] wants to shove aside ailing grandpa and sell the house and land to a developer. But the ghost of family patriarch Elijah wants the land returned to wilderness to make amends for the millions of trees harvested by the Riddell Timber Company.
Library Journal
(Starred review.) Haunting in all the right ways.
Booklist
A Sudden Light is the best of many genres: a ghost story, a love story, historical fiction….a truly killer read…a bold, poignant book about wealth, family ties, and the power—and fallacy—of memory.
BookPage
This monotonous multigenerational tale of a family and its timber empire will have the reader sawing logs in no time.... The fatal flaw here is the author's decision to have a teenager narrate this complex, sprawling story; ...no matter how precocious he was, he couldn't possibly have had the vantage point to describe the whole situation.... A repetitive, poorly conceived work of pulp fiction. Frankly, we're stumped.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
2. Jones tells Trevor that they are going to Riddell House so they can convince Samuel to sell it. What other reasons does Jones have for returning? What does he really hope will come of their visit?
3. What sort of woman is Serena? Why do you think she never left Riddell House? In what ways does she control the family narrative? What are some of her redemptive qualities?
4. Grandpa Samuel talks about what his wife, Isobel, knew: “If you feel you don’t have enough, you hold on to things. But if you feel you have enough, you let go of things.” Do you agree? What does each character in the novel hold on to and how does it motivate their actions? Who is most willing to let go?
5. A Sudden Light features generations of men. Other than Serena, the women in the story play a relatively minor role yet often have a lasting impact. How did Isobel, Rachel, and Alice influence the men in their lives?
6. Consider the theme of redemption in the novel. What drives Elijah’s and Benjamin’s wish to return The North Estate to its original wild forest? What do they have to atone for? Will returning the land to wilderness redeem them?
7. Why was Benjamin so conflicted during his lifetime? Is his internal conflict a result of his upbringing or education or sexuality? How much of it is a product of the place and time in which he lived?
8. What is the significance of the carving of a hand holding a globe that Harry made for Riddell House? What does the carving symbolize to Benjamin, Isobel, Samuel, Jones, and Trevor?
9. The “eternal groaning” is one of the characteristics of Riddell House. How are Riddell House and The North Estate used as characters in the novel?
10. The beauty and power of nature deeply move Benjamin and Trevor. What do they experience while climbing the great tree near Riddell House? How is Trevor transformed by the climb? Have you felt something similar in nature?
11. Trevor tells Dickie that he chooses truth over loyalty. Do you think seeking answers makes Trevor disloyal to his family? When Trevor reveals what he has learned to his father, what happens?
12. How does the author’s portrayal of ghosts and spirits differ from other ghost stories you’ve read? Did the distinction of ghosts versus spirits make sense to you? Why were Trevor and Samuel the only ones who could see the ghosts?
13. In what way was Jones’s death an act of love? How was it a promise he had to fulfill?
14. Elijah Riddell wrote: “no man is beyond redemption as long as he acts in redeemable ways” and Ben wrote: “It is not prayer, but in deeds that we find absolution.” What burdens have Elijah, Ben, Samuel, Jones, Serena, and Trevor each carried? Was each a permanent obstacle to success in life? Were the characters able to change their fates?
15. What does “faith” mean in the context of this novel? Are faith and belief the same thing? How would you answer the question: “How do we reconcile the differences between what we see and what we know?”
- See more at: Simon & Schuster.
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
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