A gripping and deftly plotted narrative of family and belonging, Lights All Night Long is a dazzling debut novel from an acclaimed young writer“A luminous debut. . . . It’s hard not to read the book in a single sitting.”–The Los Angeles Times”Lights All Night Long is utterly brilliant and completely captivating. . . . One of the most propulsive, un-put-downable literary novels I’ve read in … un-put-downable literary novels I’ve read in ages.”–Anthony Marra, author of A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
Fifteen-year-old Ilya arrives in Louisiana from his native Russia for what should be the adventure of his life: a year in America as an exchange student. The abundance of his new world–the Super Walmarts and heated pools and enormous televisions–is as hard to fathom as the relentless cheerfulness of his host parents. And Sadie, their beautiful and enigmatic daughter, has miraculously taken an interest in him.
But all is not right in Ilya’s world: he’s consumed by the fate of his older brother Vladimir, the magnetic rebel to Ilya’s dutiful wunderkind, back in their tiny Russian hometown. The two have always been close, spending their days dreaming of escaping to America. But when Ilya was tapped for the exchange, Vladimir disappeared into their town’s seedy, drug-plagued underworld. Just before Ilya left, the murders of three young women rocked the town’s usual calm, and Vladimir found himself in prison.
With the help of Sadie, who has secrets of her own, Ilya embarks on a mission to prove Vladimir’s innocence. Piecing together the timeline of the murders and Vladimir’s descent into addiction, Ilya discovers the radical lengths to which Vladimir has gone to protect him–a truth he could only have learned by leaving him behind.
A rich tale of belonging and the pull of homes both native and adopted, Lights All Night Long is a spellbinding story of the fierce bond between brothers determined to find a way back to each other.
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This was a stunning and compelling novel that transports you into a completely different way of life. Lights All Night Long by Lydia Fitzpatrick is a remarkable immersive coming-of-age story.
Ilya Alexandrovich is a fifteen-year-old teenager who is living in an extremely poor town in Russia. He lives with his mother and his older brother, Vladimir. Ilya is highly intelligent and begins to learn English by watching American bootleg movies. As part of an exchange program, Ilya is chosen to go to America. Before he leaves, Ilya’s life in Russia begins to crumble all around him. His brother, Vladimir, has stopped going to school, becomes a drug addict and no longer comes home. With a broken heart, Ilya leaves for America.
When Ilya arrives in Effie, Louisiana, he finds out that his brother has confessed to killing three young women and is now sitting in prison. It’s now up to Ilya to gather proof of his brother’s innocence so he can get him out of jail. But thousands of miles away, Ilya questions whether his brother is being framed or can he really be guilty of murder?
This book was amazing and beautiful, yet sad and immersive. I felt I had really discovered something I’ve never read and seen before. The two differing places really showcased the fringing of both characters. From the remote and desolate town in Russia, to a small poverty stricken town in Louisiana — the mirroring of these settling’s struggles and difficulties were eye opening.
What really drew me into the book were the characters, they were captivating and heartbreakingly sad. The connection Ilya and Vladimir have is beyond beautiful but desperately somber. I couldn’t praise Lydia Fitzpatrick’s work more. She certainly out did herself with this unbelievably poignant and memorising novel!
Simply put, Lights All Night Long by Lydia Fitzpatrick is a thought-provoking, intense and gorgeously written book that was difficult to put down and left my heart breaking. If you’re looking for a compelling and lyrical novel that will stay with you days later, look no further than Lights All Night Long. This novel is literary fiction at its best!
Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Press and Lydia Fitzpatrick for an ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.
Read my full review here: https://bit.ly/2Js1HnP
This intricate, capacious, startlingly inventive novel is so vivid, and rings so true, that its characters have taken up permanent residence in my imagination. What an accomplishment.
A cross-cultural coming-of-age story that breaks your heart in the best way. Full of tender hopes and hard truths, Lydia Fitzpatrick’s first novel marks the debut of a gifted storyteller.
Lights All Night Long is as delicious as it is dazzling — a mystery I was tempted to read in one sitting as well as a startling, clear-eyed exploration of what holds us together, regardless of location or distance. Brilliantly conceived and exquisitely observed, Lydia Fitzpatrick’s debut shines as brightly as its title.
Lights All Night Long is utterly brilliant and completely captivating. Lydia Fitzpatrick writes with cinematic clarity about life on margins of contemporary Russia and America. The result is one of the most propulsive, un-put-downable literary novels I’ve read in ages.
Just could not get in to it. Just stopped reading it, which I rarely do. Not what I expected. Too much about the boys past in Russia and not enough about his experience as an exchange student.
This coming of age story is also casually, almost incidentally, a murder mystery. The protagonist not only straddles the years between adolescence and adulthood, he also bridges two vastly different countries and cultures, Russia and the U.S. The characters are vivid and believable. The ending is promising rather than happy- ever- after, because by the time you reach the end of the book any dreams are tempered by realism.
I did not finish reading this book. I did try to skip read to the end. Either way, the constant flashbacks made the story too disjointed.
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this was an interesting read, maybe a bit conventional handling of episodes and situations– all’s well that end’s well is not the one common key, although there are suggestions of such with some plot lines. More effort to ‘flesh’ out some situations and events, rather than just ‘mentioning’ the happening would also add to the book’s credibility
Great read. Original story and a cultural experience.
Two settings alternated in the story – half spent recalling Ilya’s young childhood up to the near-present in his Russian home town and the other half in Louisiana where Ilya moved as a high school exchange student. Lights All Night Long was largely a fascinating coming of age story that was often heartbreaking because of it’s intense and gritty realism, but also hopeful in the intelligent and dogged determination of unconditional love. I was thoroughly invested the entire time. This wasn’t a lighthearted read, but it had it’s lighter moments and in the end, I was blown away by the skill and care that this author invested into the details and her overall writing.
For readers drawn to literary thrills, Lights All Night Long offers drugs, sex, and murder, but this supple, sparkling novel is really about tender souls navigating unfamiliar terrain and human bonds warm enough to thaw snowbanks. The indecipherable language of loss, love, and longing is normally impossible to understand. At last, thankfully, we have Lydia Fitzpatrick to interpret it.