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M D Tuch

Hawker can do better

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 30 November 2022

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*Beware! Spoilers! *
I have to say that I was let down by this offering from Hawker. I have read her other works and became a fan of her unusual story twists, outstanding prose and character insights. But ‘The Rise of Light’ did not come up to her standards. The pace was sloth-like. None of the characters were likeable. Nothing happens until late in the book, except revenge inspired teen angst (usually foot stomping and eye rolling). The young teen character, Tamsin, was more like a brooding brat, always looking for ways to impeach authority. She knew that she lived in a strict religious home and yet she pushed family members’ buttons for no good reason except that she could. She was the one that wanted to continue to pose for the secret nude paintings for her brother, and if not for Aran’s determination this would have continued into adulthood. The whole concept is creepy and they knew it. Guilt feelings and the insistence to keep the paintings secret should have proved that to them. Hawker repeatedly tries to justify Aran’s motives. It is art. Nothing sexual happened. It is a study. Only posing. Sorry to say, the excuses don’t work. It is still unsettling and somehow exploitative. Of course, spilling their secret will eventually be used to solidify Tamsin’s desire for revenge even if it destroys her father and the brother’s marriage. Yes, Gad deserved it, the controlling jerk. But it turns out that the daughter is no better than the father she despises. The mother is a space cadet and Aran’s wife, Linda, somehow an art genius and business whiz with little or no education, is portrayed as a strong woman. She is a rebellious phony that pursues Aran and presents Tamsin with a distorted outlook on the world. Then she is ready to bolt with ‘my’ baby when she realizes that Aran and Tamsin aren’t what she thought they were. At last, the happy happy ending came. It is unabashedly contrived.
Mormon religious patriarchs are ubiquitously portrayed as controlling and selfish. Maybe they are. But in this book the entire family is filled with psychotics in one ilk or another.
Hawker has a unique talent for descriptive genius, but without a great story to go along with it, the book reduces to a lot of pretty words with no real substance. Hawker can do better. She should do better.

4 people found this helpful

A perfect title for this book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 18 December 2022

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Absolutely horrifying how a religion can ruin lives.
So pleased however that the light does shine at the end.
The book is testimony to how important it is to be yourself!

One person found this helpful

Christine

The Power of Fear

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 2 January 2023

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Such good story. Ms Hawker’s story of love, betrayal, fear and above all, the power of forgiveness, was so spot on. The lengths some people can go to when they refuse to acknowledge their fear and failings inside, and the hurt they can bestow upon those they love because of it. The forgiveness from Aran to his father was a lesson we could take with us in our real lives.

Kindle Customer

Another Triumph for Olivia Hawker

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 2 January 2023

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This book, which will probably be disliked by most Mormons, is a brilliant tale of a family nearly destroyed by using opp religious protocols to avoid the reality of our ordinary human weaknesses, yet ultimately redeemed by an unthinkable disaster. No spoilers, you'll just have to read it for yourself. Thanks, Livvy.

Sandra L

Good Read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 1 September 2022

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Well written, interesting story. I enjoyed this one much more than One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow. I didn't really get the relationship between the brother and sister, or the extremely unChristian-like behaviour of the father and found those to be unrealistic. What stood out for me was the insight into how extreme religious beliefs create a prison for their followers. In this case it's Mormonism but applies to any fundamentalist sect.

One person found this helpful

j m dawes

The Best yet

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 19 October 2022

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I love books by this author. Totally immersive. I was lost in these characters and couldn't wait to see what would happen next.

One person found this helpful

DebMend

ended too abruptly

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 1 December 2022

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So many parts when I read every word and then other parts that I ended up skimming because they went on and on. The flood was amazingly written and horrific. But then the healing was left out and everyone just came to their senses immediately. I wish there was the same ending written differently.

2 people found this helpful

EHinkson

Spoiler Alert!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 9 September 2021

Verified Purchase

I moved to Rexburg Idaho two months after the (spoiler alert!) flood and saw the devastation it left behind. I also experienced some of the close-mindedness of the community, but not from a family member. Her depiction is pretty close to accurate in portraying the marriage meat-market of the singles wards in the community.

I have never experienced anything close to the family dynamics that are at the center of the book, but did know of a very few who did. Most people in this culture are (like Sandy) very loving and supportive to their families and not the crazies this book makes people of this faith out to be. That said, there are always extremists in every religion.

When I started this book I had no idea what it was about and nearly stopped reading it. There is enough hatred in the world right now I wasn't sure if I could handle it hitting so close to home, but I did finish it. I thought the way the father totally changed in the end was far-fetched. Most people I've met would never do such a turn-around in their personality. I also was very uncomfortable with the secret that Aran and Tamsin shared, but other than that I enjoyed the book.

28 people found this helpful

Jess

Not Olivia Hawker's best

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 25 August 2021

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I enjoyed this book but not as much as I have enjoyed this writer's other books (I have now read all three). It took a fair while to really get going and I felt it was slightly too long. However, the disaster scene at the end of the book was horrifying and so well written I felt as though I was there. My heart was in my mouth and I got quite upset about it. It is just a shame that most of the rest of the book did not live up to it. Still, it was a good story and although I would not place it at the top of my reading list of books to read again it was quite engrossing.

2 people found this helpful

Karen Heenan

What makes a family?

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 20 August 2021

Verified Purchase

Every happy family is the same, but every dysfunctional family makes absorbing reading. The Rigby family is no exception - in fact, they might be a prime example.

The Rise of Light is a richly detailed portrait of a family, a community, and a religion that both holds and tears apart that family and community. For all that the main characters are sympathetic, none of them are particularly likable, because they all keep secrets and hurt each other to protect themselves. Gad, the patriarch of the Rigby family, is an awful human: an abusive father, a distant husband, and something more, which, when his carefully seeded backstory appears, makes you empathize with him even as you want to punch him into the next state.

Aran and Tamsin, two of Gad's children, deal with their father's tempers in different ways. Aran tries to conform and to make his father happy, but nothing he does will ever be enough - and if his father discovers his secret painting, it will get even worse. Tamsin wants nothing more than to escape and be able to control her own life.

As always, Hawker is top notch at her descriptions of landscape, so vivid that you can see it. Her handling of Aran's art, how he sees light and renders it on canvas, are is also very convincing and evocative.

This is another fabulous book from Olivia Hawker, only slightly less perfect than her One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow, which is one of my absolute favorites.

21 people found this helpful

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