Light Years

by James Salter


What makes you return to a particular book again and again? If I had to choose one novel for my desert island, ‘Light Years’ by James Salter would be it. It’s a luminous portrait of a marriage, (and as we know, nobody really knows what goes on inside other people’s marriages). Here Salter shows us how something seemingly perfect falls apart and unravels over the years.

I first read it hungrily, in one sitting. The prose – or perhaps prose-poetry is a better description is some of the finest I’ve ever read. When the novel was reissued recently as a Penguin Modern Classic, the introductory essay by Richard Ford began: “It is an article of faith among readers of fiction that James Salter writes American sentences better than anybody writing today.” I couldn’t agree more.

Salter himself said: “a page should seem effortless … as if the page wrote itself”. And this is how the book feels – full of light, lean and natural. Each time I go back to it, some new jewel of a phrase or sentence sparkles out. Take this section:
"Their life is mysterious, it is like a forest; from far off it seems a unity, it can be comprehended, described, but closer it begins to separate, to break into light and shadow, the density blinds one. Within there is no form, only prodigious detail that reaches everywhere: exotic sounds, spills of sunlight, foliage, fallen trees, small beasts that flee at the sound of a twig-snap, insects, silence, flowers.

And all of this, dependent, closely woven, all of it is deceiving. There are really two kinds of life. There is, as Viri says, the one people believe you are living, and there is the other. It is this other which causes the trouble, this other we long to see."

Salter’s writing is so good, that as a writer it either makes you want to put the lid on your pen – or it makes you want to raise your game. I love his work – he can be tough (this is the man who wrote: "Women fall in love when they get to know you. Men are the opposite. When they finally know you they're ready to leave"), and he can be tender. Just as whether an artist can ‘do’ hands, I’ve always thought whether a writer can write about sex is a good test of their skill. And no one can do it like James Salter.

Reviewed by Kate Lord Brown


Kate Lord Brown’s debut, ‘The Beauty Chorus’ is available here.

You can read more about Kate on her website here, and you can read my review of the fabulous 'The Beauty Chorus' here.

The Beauty Chorus

By Kate Lord Brown

‘The Beauty Chorus’ is a moving, and ultimately uplifting, story of three young women who did their bit during the Second World War by ferrying fighter planes up and down the country.

Evie, Stella and Megan are three very different young women who are thrown together on their first day working for the ATA. We follow them through the story finding out how they get on with their flying duties, but also sharing the ups and downs of their emotional lives.

Interweaved with the fictional story are flashes of history involving real historical figures including the legendary aviator Amy Johnson and none other than Winston Churchill. I felt that this aspect worked really well and gave the book an added dimension.

The story is rich with period detail, and clearly well researched although it doesn’t feel at any point as though the research is intruding on the story. Although I’ve read quite a bit about WW2 both in fiction and non-fiction, I wasn’t aware of the work of the ATA, so for me this was a further element of the story that held my interest.

I found the story gripping and I finished it in a couple of sessions as I didn’t want to put it down until I’d found out what was going to happen next. The mix of romance, adventure and intrigue was perfectly blended into a satisfying whole.

‘The Beauty Chorus’ is the sort of novel where the characters are so likeable and real that you can imagine the story going on after the book has finished.

For a very enjoyable romance with the added interest of a fascinating historical backdrop, I highly recommend this novel.

Reviewed by Helen M Hunt

Kate Lord Brown talks about ‘The Beauty Chorus’ now over on my writing blog ‘Fiction Is Stranger Than Fact’.