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"* 'The whole book [has] peculiarly biting charm, a narrative that manages to be both eerily surreal and fundamentally credible... In some ways reminiscent of Anne Tyler... Vida's novel has more in common with Joan Didion's masterpiece Play It As It Lays.' New York Times * 'A brilliantly constructed lightening-flash of a novel: compelling, surprising, economical, lush, beautifully written.' George Saunders * 'A taut, intricately layered page-turner that looks deeply and fearlessly into matters of profound human concern.' Michael Cunningham * 'Marvellous.' Ann Packer"
Peter Carty, Independent
'Graceful and inventive.'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name is the story of a young woman who discovers, on the day of her father's funeral, that he was not actually her father. Abandoned by her mother at a young age she sets out impulsively to discover her real father and roots among the Sami people in Scandinavia.
The early part of the book, describing both her grief and her relationship with her partner, seemed the strongest to me, written with clarity and depth. The later section, amongst the Sami, was not as well achieved.
Vida manages to pass on quite a lot of information about the Sami and their lives, without overloading the story with anthropological detail. There is colour and understanding, but the facts to do not occlude the humanity of the story.
This book is character driven, rather than plot driven, so don't expect too many exciting, unforeseen twists and turns, just vignettes of people living their lives.
This is an enjoyable read, well-executed, although not great. Recommended.
The early part of the book, describing both her grief and her relationship with her partner, seemed the strongest to me, written with clarity and depth. The later section, amongst the Sami, was not as well achieved.
Vida manages to pass on quite a lot of information about the Sami and their lives, without overloading the story with anthropological detail. There is colour and understanding, but the facts to do not occlude the humanity of the story.
This book is character driven, rather than plot driven, so don't expect too many exciting, unforeseen twists and turns, just vignettes of people living their lives.
This is an enjoyable read, well-executed, although not great. Recommended.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It wasn't a book I'd heard of, but when I saw that title I just had to pick it up. When I saw the cover I had to open it. And the concept - one woman's journey to the northern lights in search of her roots - ensured that the book came home.
It turned out to be book with a certain pedigree - a Radio 4 Book at Bedtime on my side of the Atlantic, and a New York Times Notable Book on the other. And definitely a book worth reading.
Clarissa is twenty-eight and living in New York with her fiance, who she has known since childhood, when her father dies. She has already lost her mother, who disappeared when she was fourteen. And then there is a another loss. Going through her father's desk Clarissa finds her birth certificate, and discovers a different man is named as her father.
How do you deal with something like that? Clarissa abandons her fiance and travels to Helsinki and then further north into Lapland, in search of her family history and long-held secrets.
Vendela Vida tells her story in sparse, elegant prose, and creates lovely pictures of the places Clarissa travels through with just a few lines. But the real journey is an emotional one, as Clarissa breaks away from her roots to stare into the future alone.
A few things that happened didn't quite ring true, but I was able to let them go, because they served the story well. And because Clarissa was such a vivid character. Though not always sympathetic. Her grief and sense of loss hit hard, she was clearly driven, but she was also selfish and thoughtless. A believable, fallible human being.
How could she put aside the memory of a man who raised her as his own so easily? How could she abandon without one word a fiance who had done all he could support her, simply because he hadn't shared a secret that he felt wasn't hers to tell?
`And when I would hear people say that you can't start over, that you cannot escape the past, I would think. You can. You must.'
I'm not sure if that's a happy or a sad ending. I'm expected to be happy that Clarissa is looking forward into the future, but I have to feel sad that she feels she has to shed her past to do that. What do you think?
I think that maybe the greatest strength of this book is that it leaves enough space have that kind of thought ...
It turned out to be book with a certain pedigree - a Radio 4 Book at Bedtime on my side of the Atlantic, and a New York Times Notable Book on the other. And definitely a book worth reading.
Clarissa is twenty-eight and living in New York with her fiance, who she has known since childhood, when her father dies. She has already lost her mother, who disappeared when she was fourteen. And then there is a another loss. Going through her father's desk Clarissa finds her birth certificate, and discovers a different man is named as her father.
How do you deal with something like that? Clarissa abandons her fiance and travels to Helsinki and then further north into Lapland, in search of her family history and long-held secrets.
Vendela Vida tells her story in sparse, elegant prose, and creates lovely pictures of the places Clarissa travels through with just a few lines. But the real journey is an emotional one, as Clarissa breaks away from her roots to stare into the future alone.
A few things that happened didn't quite ring true, but I was able to let them go, because they served the story well. And because Clarissa was such a vivid character. Though not always sympathetic. Her grief and sense of loss hit hard, she was clearly driven, but she was also selfish and thoughtless. A believable, fallible human being.
How could she put aside the memory of a man who raised her as his own so easily? How could she abandon without one word a fiance who had done all he could support her, simply because he hadn't shared a secret that he felt wasn't hers to tell?
`And when I would hear people say that you can't start over, that you cannot escape the past, I would think. You can. You must.'
I'm not sure if that's a happy or a sad ending. I'm expected to be happy that Clarissa is looking forward into the future, but I have to feel sad that she feels she has to shed her past to do that. What do you think?
I think that maybe the greatest strength of this book is that it leaves enough space have that kind of thought ...
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found Vida's work enjoyable and engaging for two reasons. First, her prose is economical, compact, and almost Impressionist in its preference for momentarily glimpsed images. It is far more delicately wrought than the vast majority of over-written, wordy bestsellers of today. Vida's plot, to my eyes, is only as important as the sensory, uncannily familiar experience offered by her prose in itself. If you're someone who gets agigated by paragraph after anodyne paragraph of glacial narrative, this book will be a refreshing change.
Secondly, I would commend this book for being markedly unromantic (apart from a few tacked-on closing paragraphs which read tritely, almost as if the publisher requested Vida to simply the tone somewhat). Clarissa (the protagonist) is a character who veers between pedantic arrogance, warm empathy and detached, world-weary cynicism. She is not willing to simplistically moralize over her past or present. She is a three-dimensional, uncomfortably recognizable character.
Secondly, I would commend this book for being markedly unromantic (apart from a few tacked-on closing paragraphs which read tritely, almost as if the publisher requested Vida to simply the tone somewhat). Clarissa (the protagonist) is a character who veers between pedantic arrogance, warm empathy and detached, world-weary cynicism. She is not willing to simplistically moralize over her past or present. She is a three-dimensional, uncomfortably recognizable character.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Outstanding
This and her previous work, "And Now You Can Go", are both extremely good reads. Her style of writing draws you in and, for a relatively short book, creates a great depth to the... Read more
Published 4 months ago by S.J.
Sparse and elegant writing and a book full of beautiful images
Clarissa has always believed that Richard is her father, but when he dies and she discovers her birth certificate she embarks on a journey to Lapland to discover the truth about... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Sarah Durston
5X 1000 stars : Marvellous, beautiful, READ READ READ !!!
Yes I would not only give this book five stars but all the stars in the sky ! Sometimes you meet a book like you meet a friend among a crowd, and it's instant resonance. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Josephine Huys
Shedding (Northern) Light on the Sámi culture
I came across this book by pure chance - in a local `PoundStore'! For those of you not acquainted with these outlets, they are cheap and cheerful shops where everything - literally... Read more
Published 20 months ago by J. R. Brookes
A quick and easy read, but fulfilling nonetheless
This book is about Clarissa, a 28 year old woman whose father has just died and whose mother abandoned her family when Clarissa was 14. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Nicola
Bright and beautiful, deep and dark
I loved this beautiful and brilliant book and found it unputdownable. There is something cold, but intense and peaceful about it. Read more
Published on 26 July 2009 by R. A. Marsh
A lot in a little
Written in a highly economical style - no wasted words or over-elaborate sentences here - the language seems to reflect the landscape of winter Lapland in its black and whiteness. Read more
Published on 1 Dec 2008 by Blencathra
misleading blurbs
I was very disappointed by this book. On the cover it is described as an unforgettable story, full of warmth and surprising humour about a young woman's search to find the truth... Read more
Published on 28 Feb 2007 by B. van Dijk
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