who gets up in the gray dawn to call on another man’s wife? It’s a *girl*

Book Review 

 

Rating: * * *

 

Title: The Light that Failed

Author: Rudyard Kipling

 

pub info: originally published 1891; I listened to the audiobook released 2005 by Blackstone Audio Publishing, narrated by a cast; 9 hours

 

Genre: semi-autobiographical novel

 

A brief synopsis: 

Dick Heldar is a war correspondent and artist, well known for the drawings he sends home to London papers from wars in exotic places like Sudan. When he returns to London, he attempts to make a career for himself as a serious artist, and re-encounters his childhood sweetheart, Maisie. Then he learns that a minor problem with his eyes is actually the onset of incurable blindness, the result of a head injury. As his vision fails, the light of everything around him—his life, hopes, and dreams—fades with it. Terrible choices must be made between the love of a woman and the friendship of the men who stood by him at the front.

Analysis and recommendation: from a practical standpoint, this was my first, and probably last, cast-narrated audiobook. The different voices were oddly distracting. When there is just one narrator and I'm not fond of the voice, I can stop for that reason, but with this one I felt like I had to keep going even though there was only one that was very annoying. 

    Dick Heldar is an obtuse, sometimes-unlikable, oblivious narrator. This helps make his progression from start to finish satisfying. I liked the best friend character, Torpenhow, who is the most realistic and admirable of the bunch. The Nilghai (the fat friend, nicknamed after a gigantic antelope) is both irritating and profound, his odd presence absolutely pivotal. Maisie is disagreeable, selfish, and mercenary, my least favorite character by far. 

    Did I like the story? No. Am I glad I read it? Yes. Do I want to read it again? No. Do I want to talk about it at length, with someone else who's read it? For sure. Can I recommend it unreservedly? No. Are there a few people I'd suggest read it? Heck yeah.

 

[the book review format is adapted from here; the title quotation is from The Light that Failed]