Northern Lights

As I have been reading this book (to take a lesson from our class) I have been confronted with so many different borders and gaps.  There are a lot of things that I have never come close to feeling, seeing and doing.  Such as how Clarrissa must feel about her mother leaving, and finding out the identity of her true father.  I can not imagine how what it would be like to travel all the way to Finland, to meet your real father for the first time.  However, I think that this book is well written, and therefore have gotten a feeling of what emotions and motivations Clarrissa is feeling.

Clarrissa compared her leaving Pankaj, to being as easy as it was for her mother when she left.  She was able to tell him the night before, "don't ever leave me" as she was thinking to herself about how she was going to leave.  This is another thing that I just cannot imagine doing.  

I must say that I am really enjoying reading this book, and that I thought I would not.  I have not read too many books, typically just because I do not enjoy having to read in order to have the story reviled to me.  Usually I cannot concentrate on the book, and sometimes just fall asleep.  This book really does keep my attention.  Some of my favorite parts include when she is talking about her feelings in the church when she first saw her real father Eero.  How she was not sure whether or not to get communion because she was worried he either would or would not recognize her.  

I also like the mysteriousness of her mother, how she disappears, clearly has secrets from people such as her affair, and does strange things like talking to the neighbors cat and changing relationships with friends by the month.  

The author does a good job of describing the landscape and setting.  I have never been to Finland, or anywhere like it where you have long hours of no light, but I like the images that are put into my head of school children walking with flashlights, a dark sky with the sun in the corner, and the description of the people she meets.

The gaps and borders in this book really have made me very interested in it.  The situations, places and emotions that I cannot relate with, but feel through the reading have made it very interesting.