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katiemcdo's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
Poetically written novel for the end of the world. Focus on the slow paced everyday lives of the characters. Strong, descriptive world building with focus on the growing progression of the character.
I wasn't expecting it to be so much of coming of age story, something I don't tend to read but Stella was a strong, interesting character.
I wasn't expecting it to be so much of coming of age story, something I don't tend to read but Stella was a strong, interesting character.
twstdtink's review
3.0
When I originally read the synopsis of this book, I was under the impression that it was set much further in the future. This was not the author's fault; it clearly says 2020. My brain just happens to believe that I still live in 2007. Maybe I'm secretly hoping they bring back low-rise jeans and velour tracksuits.
Books that take place in a specific year that aren't in the past, the distant future, or part of a weird alternate reality, irritate me. At some point, the actual year of the reader is going to surpass the fictional year of the story. I call this the Back to the Future effect. It's difficult to suspend disbelief when you're too busy pouting that you don't have a hoverboard yet. People in 2020 are going to read this book and (hopefully) say, "Gee, it's pretty warm for an ice age."
Let's talk about that ice age, anyway. Fagan's tale takes place in BFE, Scotland. Clachan Fells, to be exact. Temperatures are dropping at an alarming rate and there's an iceberg coming. At least, that's what Fagan wants you to believe this story is about. It's what is advertised on the back of the book, after all. The real story is about 12-year-old Stella, though, a transgender girl. And THAT narrative is amazing. I wish Fagan hadn't felt the need to wrap Stella's story in something more palatable for conventional audiences.
Fagan does a wonderful job of narrating the familiar anxiety of a 12-year-old kid and marrying it with the more unfamiliar anxiety of being a transgender teen. You feel every moment of Stella's angst as she tries to navigate within an unyielding world. For me, someone who is not transgender and doesn't personally know someone who is transgender, this story was enlightening and thoughtfully written.
My only other issue with "The Sunlight Pilgrims" is that it's not a full story. It's a slice of a story. It's the valley between two big mountains - the big events that happened before you, the reader, were dropped in, and the big events you anticipate are about to happen. I loved some of the characters. But, in the end, I felt like I didn't get to know them very well.
Books that take place in a specific year that aren't in the past, the distant future, or part of a weird alternate reality, irritate me. At some point, the actual year of the reader is going to surpass the fictional year of the story. I call this the Back to the Future effect. It's difficult to suspend disbelief when you're too busy pouting that you don't have a hoverboard yet. People in 2020 are going to read this book and (hopefully) say, "Gee, it's pretty warm for an ice age."
Let's talk about that ice age, anyway. Fagan's tale takes place in BFE, Scotland. Clachan Fells, to be exact. Temperatures are dropping at an alarming rate and there's an iceberg coming. At least, that's what Fagan wants you to believe this story is about. It's what is advertised on the back of the book, after all. The real story is about 12-year-old Stella, though, a transgender girl. And THAT narrative is amazing. I wish Fagan hadn't felt the need to wrap Stella's story in something more palatable for conventional audiences.
Fagan does a wonderful job of narrating the familiar anxiety of a 12-year-old kid and marrying it with the more unfamiliar anxiety of being a transgender teen. You feel every moment of Stella's angst as she tries to navigate within an unyielding world. For me, someone who is not transgender and doesn't personally know someone who is transgender, this story was enlightening and thoughtfully written.
My only other issue with "The Sunlight Pilgrims" is that it's not a full story. It's a slice of a story. It's the valley between two big mountains - the big events that happened before you, the reader, were dropped in, and the big events you anticipate are about to happen. I loved some of the characters. But, in the end, I felt like I didn't get to know them very well.
jennog's review
1.0
I tried. I really, really tried to finish this book. I got to page 135 and I just couldn't do it. I took notes on some chapters, I tried to relax and just enjoy the book. I tried everything and I still do not have the desire to finish it.
So as far as I got, I can see why some reviewers are comparing it to Station Eleven. It's like a more vulgar, random Station Eleven. In an apocalyptic Ice Age, there are caravans/neighborhoods of people trying to survive. There's Dylan, a giant man who has just lost his mother and grandmother. There's Stella, a transgender pre-pubescent trying to figure out life (as if the teenage years aren't hard enough already). And there's Constance, Stella's mom, who has her own single mom issues. I really didn't understand the randomness of the secondary characters and why I was supposed to just jump in and care about what was happening. (Like the wolf costume in Chapter 15...what?? why??)
I really enjoyed some quotes/paragraphs that Fagan wrote about "freedom" and identity. I will eventually finish this book, probably, but definitely not in the timeframe First To Read gave me.
Thanks to the Penguin First to Read program for this book.
So as far as I got, I can see why some reviewers are comparing it to Station Eleven. It's like a more vulgar, random Station Eleven. In an apocalyptic Ice Age, there are caravans/neighborhoods of people trying to survive. There's Dylan, a giant man who has just lost his mother and grandmother. There's Stella, a transgender pre-pubescent trying to figure out life (as if the teenage years aren't hard enough already). And there's Constance, Stella's mom, who has her own single mom issues. I really didn't understand the randomness of the secondary characters and why I was supposed to just jump in and care about what was happening. (Like the wolf costume in Chapter 15...what?? why??)
I really enjoyed some quotes/paragraphs that Fagan wrote about "freedom" and identity. I will eventually finish this book, probably, but definitely not in the timeframe First To Read gave me.
Thanks to the Penguin First to Read program for this book.
bmg20's review against another edition
4.0
‘The North Atlantic Drift is cooling and Dylan MacRae has just arrived in Clachan Fells caravan park and there are three suns in the sky.
That’s how it all begins.’
The North Atlantic Drift is a wind driven current of warm water that is responsible for the warmer climates in Europe. The ongoing thaw of the polar ice caps result in massive amounts of fresh water being released in the oceans, vastly changing its salinity. Changes in salinity have the potential to unsettle ocean currents and thus our weather. A decrease in salinity would cause the North Atlantic Drift to slacken, subsequently changing Europe’s climate slowly over time. We’re experiencing this subtle climate change now and have been for many years, but in The Sunlight Pilgrims, Fagan brings us to the year 2020 where the worst case scenario has finally become a reality. It’s November, before true winter has even arrived and the weather outside is -6°F. By the end of January temperatures will have dropped to -38° and a small village in Scotland is struggling to endure.
‘Dark is following them. It’s coming to cloak everything. Each day it will eat a little more light until they will wake up one morning to find the sun won’t rise again.’
The alarming Ice Age chronicled in these pages never quite becomes the focal point for this story. It’s the aura surrounding the true story. The dire circumstances help to establish the characters and showcases their most base natures, but at center stage is twelve year old Stella Fairbairn, who thirteen months ago used to be referred to as ‘he’.
‘Cael Fairbairn has ceased to exist. Thirteen months ago the girl that wore his body got up and told everyone to quit calling her by the wrong pronoun.’
Stella has finally found some form of peace after no longer having to show the world one person when the person she feels she is on the inside is completely different. She’s headstrong and determined to find her new place in the world amidst all the appalling bullying she’s forced to deal with from her classmates who she used to call friends. She resorts to finding people with similar stories on the internet to make her feel less alone and to find people that will accept her for how she is. Meanwhile, her and everyone else fights to stay alive in the rapidly changing climate. And at heart, that’s what this story is all about: surviving. Whether it’s surviving growing up in a society that refuses to accept you for who you are or whether it’s surviving in a harsh and unforgiving climate, it’s all the same.
Stella isn’t the only enticing character in the book; its chock-full of them. Constance, Stella’s free-spirited, survivalist mother, Dylan, the giant of a man who arrives in the village carrying the ashes of his mother and grandmother, and their neighbors which include a porn star, lesbian school teachers, some Satan worshipers, and a guy determined to prove the existence of aliens. While their descriptions alone would seem to guarantee a most quirky read, The Sunlight Pilgrims was a surprisingly subdued and almost peaceful read about the possible end of the world as we know it. Fagan has once again placed the spotlight on individuals that would typically be relegated to darkened corners. The Panopticon gave juvenile offenders the spotlight and now The Sunlight Pilgrims displays the marginalization of individuals undergoing a gender transition. Between the doctors that suggested anti-depressants to her instead of the hormone blockers she requested and the majority of the community that looks on her with nothing but disdain. All while this is happening, the Ice Age is still coming on slowly but surely. It all seems so insignificant that these individuals are still able to maintain their scorn and self-righteousness while there are more important things going on outside; like the world ending.
Fagan’s writing is almost restrained yet still remains vibrant and descriptively lush. She aptly describes icicles growing to the size of narwhal tusks, “…the long bony finger of winter herself.” While the world around them is being encased in ice, there is still a remarkable beauty to be found.
‘Sun spirals down through treetops showing up sediments of silver and amber dust. A frozen pond. Curls of ice make a frost flower on a fallen bough. Each iced petal is perfectly curled and see-through. Winter has been hand-carving them overnight. Placing them here.’
‘A flock of birds fly low overhead.
Mossy greens and purples and red-golds have faded to brown.
Sleet billows off the mountain.
Treetops disappear in one blink as the white owerblaw races over the mountaintop and drifts down thicker and faster, painting everything white until within seconds the whole landscape is utterly changed.’
While the mere concept of negative double digit temperatures is horrifying, Fagan manages to make it a poetic experience. There’s even a pinch of magical realism added to this most realistic world, when Dylan first sets eyes on Constance, “…she reaches up a pale arm up into the sky and polishes the moon.” It was a frivolous addition to the story, however, it added a touch of magic to the existing beauty and I loved it.
When I sat down to write this review tonight, I was distressed because I didn’t have any idea what to say about this story or if I’d even be able to successfully explain what made it so special. I spent over an hour researching salinity and the North Atlantic Drift so that I could understand just how something like what happened in this story could actually happen. My research took me right back to how this story made me feel: aghast yet somehow sanguine. Survival is always a possibility, no matter the circumstances.
I received this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
That’s how it all begins.’
The North Atlantic Drift is a wind driven current of warm water that is responsible for the warmer climates in Europe. The ongoing thaw of the polar ice caps result in massive amounts of fresh water being released in the oceans, vastly changing its salinity. Changes in salinity have the potential to unsettle ocean currents and thus our weather. A decrease in salinity would cause the North Atlantic Drift to slacken, subsequently changing Europe’s climate slowly over time. We’re experiencing this subtle climate change now and have been for many years, but in The Sunlight Pilgrims, Fagan brings us to the year 2020 where the worst case scenario has finally become a reality. It’s November, before true winter has even arrived and the weather outside is -6°F. By the end of January temperatures will have dropped to -38° and a small village in Scotland is struggling to endure.
‘Dark is following them. It’s coming to cloak everything. Each day it will eat a little more light until they will wake up one morning to find the sun won’t rise again.’
The alarming Ice Age chronicled in these pages never quite becomes the focal point for this story. It’s the aura surrounding the true story. The dire circumstances help to establish the characters and showcases their most base natures, but at center stage is twelve year old Stella Fairbairn, who thirteen months ago used to be referred to as ‘he’.
‘Cael Fairbairn has ceased to exist. Thirteen months ago the girl that wore his body got up and told everyone to quit calling her by the wrong pronoun.’
Stella has finally found some form of peace after no longer having to show the world one person when the person she feels she is on the inside is completely different. She’s headstrong and determined to find her new place in the world amidst all the appalling bullying she’s forced to deal with from her classmates who she used to call friends. She resorts to finding people with similar stories on the internet to make her feel less alone and to find people that will accept her for how she is. Meanwhile, her and everyone else fights to stay alive in the rapidly changing climate. And at heart, that’s what this story is all about: surviving. Whether it’s surviving growing up in a society that refuses to accept you for who you are or whether it’s surviving in a harsh and unforgiving climate, it’s all the same.
Stella isn’t the only enticing character in the book; its chock-full of them. Constance, Stella’s free-spirited, survivalist mother, Dylan, the giant of a man who arrives in the village carrying the ashes of his mother and grandmother, and their neighbors which include a porn star, lesbian school teachers, some Satan worshipers, and a guy determined to prove the existence of aliens. While their descriptions alone would seem to guarantee a most quirky read, The Sunlight Pilgrims was a surprisingly subdued and almost peaceful read about the possible end of the world as we know it. Fagan has once again placed the spotlight on individuals that would typically be relegated to darkened corners. The Panopticon gave juvenile offenders the spotlight and now The Sunlight Pilgrims displays the marginalization of individuals undergoing a gender transition. Between the doctors that suggested anti-depressants to her instead of the hormone blockers she requested and the majority of the community that looks on her with nothing but disdain. All while this is happening, the Ice Age is still coming on slowly but surely. It all seems so insignificant that these individuals are still able to maintain their scorn and self-righteousness while there are more important things going on outside; like the world ending.
Fagan’s writing is almost restrained yet still remains vibrant and descriptively lush. She aptly describes icicles growing to the size of narwhal tusks, “…the long bony finger of winter herself.” While the world around them is being encased in ice, there is still a remarkable beauty to be found.
‘Sun spirals down through treetops showing up sediments of silver and amber dust. A frozen pond. Curls of ice make a frost flower on a fallen bough. Each iced petal is perfectly curled and see-through. Winter has been hand-carving them overnight. Placing them here.’
‘A flock of birds fly low overhead.
Mossy greens and purples and red-golds have faded to brown.
Sleet billows off the mountain.
Treetops disappear in one blink as the white owerblaw races over the mountaintop and drifts down thicker and faster, painting everything white until within seconds the whole landscape is utterly changed.’
While the mere concept of negative double digit temperatures is horrifying, Fagan manages to make it a poetic experience. There’s even a pinch of magical realism added to this most realistic world, when Dylan first sets eyes on Constance, “…she reaches up a pale arm up into the sky and polishes the moon.” It was a frivolous addition to the story, however, it added a touch of magic to the existing beauty and I loved it.
When I sat down to write this review tonight, I was distressed because I didn’t have any idea what to say about this story or if I’d even be able to successfully explain what made it so special. I spent over an hour researching salinity and the North Atlantic Drift so that I could understand just how something like what happened in this story could actually happen. My research took me right back to how this story made me feel: aghast yet somehow sanguine. Survival is always a possibility, no matter the circumstances.
I received this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
cassie_grace's review against another edition
5.0
The Atlantic jet stream has collapsed and the UK is going to see it’s coldest winter since the last ice age. Obviously the heart of the story, for me, is Stella, a 12 year old trans girl who’s negotiating puberty and becoming a teenager and this is of equal important to the global climate crisis, because of course it is, it’s her life. I loved her.
joyousreads132's review
4.0
This book is tough to review. On the one hand, I’m somewhat disappointed because I assumed this book to be about panic and hysteria brought on by the coming ice age. On the other, I’m in awe of what Ms Fagan was able to accomplish here. Although there is an unfair balance between the two plot arches in this book, I was able to appreciate the sentiment.
I’ve always been a fan of apocalyptic books. I’m especially fond of reading (or watching) something close to reality like environmental and natural disasters. The Sunlight Pilgrims is about global warming and how it melted the icebergs. Consequently, it brought a cooling of the oceans, which then created the weather phenomena that would usher in an Ice Age of biblical proportions. But if you’re expecting mayhem and chaos, you’d be disappointed like I was. We don’t see the panic that Hollywood is only too happy to show us in films. We don’t see people hoarding sweaters, food, and firewood. What we see are three people going about their lives not at all worried about the coldest, longest winter they’ll ever have.
In the forefront is Dylan who just lost his mum and gran almost simultaneously. They’d been his life along with a cinema that he’d had to give up because he could no longer afford it. His mum made provisions for him to live in a Scottish caravan community where he would meet Stella and Constance. In Clachan Fells, he hopes to deal with the grief of losing the two people who have been the sum of everything he was. Not knowing anything else but tending to a defunct small theatre would prove to be a struggle.
Constance is a fiercely independent woman who gives zero fucks about the gossips from her neighbours. From a long affair with two men that sometimes overlapped, to her daughter, Stella who once was a boy named, Cael, Constance marched to the beat of her own drum. Stella is transgender on the cusp of puberty. If she ever has any hopes of completing her change, she needs to start taking her hormone pills soon. But the coming ice age might impede the very thing she’d always wished for since she’d become aware of her true self.
These three people are survivors regardless of whether or not they survive what’s coming. Their false fearlessness convinced me that there was nothing to worry about; which is an odd thing to feel considering the scope of the impending doom. The ice age was always in the periphery but the book spotlights humanity above all else. I am a newbie to Jenni Fagan’s writing (though, I own her other book, Panopticon). Well, let me tell you that this woman can write. The poet in her shines through with every beautiful imagery despite the bleakness of the situation. The ending was the kind of ending that left me scrambling and wishing there was more. Definitely more than the Acknowledgement page, that is.
I’ve always been a fan of apocalyptic books. I’m especially fond of reading (or watching) something close to reality like environmental and natural disasters. The Sunlight Pilgrims is about global warming and how it melted the icebergs. Consequently, it brought a cooling of the oceans, which then created the weather phenomena that would usher in an Ice Age of biblical proportions. But if you’re expecting mayhem and chaos, you’d be disappointed like I was. We don’t see the panic that Hollywood is only too happy to show us in films. We don’t see people hoarding sweaters, food, and firewood. What we see are three people going about their lives not at all worried about the coldest, longest winter they’ll ever have.
In the forefront is Dylan who just lost his mum and gran almost simultaneously. They’d been his life along with a cinema that he’d had to give up because he could no longer afford it. His mum made provisions for him to live in a Scottish caravan community where he would meet Stella and Constance. In Clachan Fells, he hopes to deal with the grief of losing the two people who have been the sum of everything he was. Not knowing anything else but tending to a defunct small theatre would prove to be a struggle.
Constance is a fiercely independent woman who gives zero fucks about the gossips from her neighbours. From a long affair with two men that sometimes overlapped, to her daughter, Stella who once was a boy named, Cael, Constance marched to the beat of her own drum. Stella is transgender on the cusp of puberty. If she ever has any hopes of completing her change, she needs to start taking her hormone pills soon. But the coming ice age might impede the very thing she’d always wished for since she’d become aware of her true self.
These three people are survivors regardless of whether or not they survive what’s coming. Their false fearlessness convinced me that there was nothing to worry about; which is an odd thing to feel considering the scope of the impending doom. The ice age was always in the periphery but the book spotlights humanity above all else. I am a newbie to Jenni Fagan’s writing (though, I own her other book, Panopticon). Well, let me tell you that this woman can write. The poet in her shines through with every beautiful imagery despite the bleakness of the situation. The ending was the kind of ending that left me scrambling and wishing there was more. Definitely more than the Acknowledgement page, that is.
andintothetrees's review
3.0
The good: the writing is absolutely beautiful. It has the an excellent portrayal of a transperson and the other main characters are quirky and real, too. The whole notion of an ice age is creepy and interesting. It depicts lives on the margins of society.
The bad: not enough happens, and I just wasn't fully gripped by the story or the book most of the time.
The bad: not enough happens, and I just wasn't fully gripped by the story or the book most of the time.
bookswithemily's review
4.0
This book is set in a future world (2020) where the winters seen to be harsher due to global warming and people wonder if they have entered a new ice age.
It follows Dylan who runs a family owned cinema in Soho who then moves to Scotland to retrace the footsteps of his grandmother and to fulfil his mothers last wish. He moves into a caravan which is next to Stella and her mother, Constance.
Stella is a trans-teen trying to get her best friend, Lewis, to notice her. She is also dealing with her transphobic father and classmates. She is a very outgoing character for the things she has gone through and she still remains an innocent child. She has a positive vibe about her.
Constance is a strong character who has two distinctive lovers, one of which is Alistair, Stella's father. She has a bad reputation in Clachan Falls as she doesn't want to settle down which people think is bad.
You see the book through Stella and Dylan's perspective so you can only see Constance through their views, you never get to see how Constance see everyone else. This shows a mysterious side to Constance.
This book follows these characters through the winter months as the temperature decreases to -50 degrees. The description of the weather, the ice and snow are exceptional, you can just imagine how cold it would be. The book is very open to imagination in some places but it works in this type of book as you can imagine what would happen to the characters and it gives a different experience for each reader.
I would love to read other books by this author as I enjoyed reading this novel. I would also recommend this book to anyone who likes sci-fi or dystopian books.
I was given this book for free from NetGalley for review.
I posted this review on my blog www.emilysnovels.wordpress.com
It follows Dylan who runs a family owned cinema in Soho who then moves to Scotland to retrace the footsteps of his grandmother and to fulfil his mothers last wish. He moves into a caravan which is next to Stella and her mother, Constance.
Stella is a trans-teen trying to get her best friend, Lewis, to notice her. She is also dealing with her transphobic father and classmates. She is a very outgoing character for the things she has gone through and she still remains an innocent child. She has a positive vibe about her.
Constance is a strong character who has two distinctive lovers, one of which is Alistair, Stella's father. She has a bad reputation in Clachan Falls as she doesn't want to settle down which people think is bad.
You see the book through Stella and Dylan's perspective so you can only see Constance through their views, you never get to see how Constance see everyone else. This shows a mysterious side to Constance.
This book follows these characters through the winter months as the temperature decreases to -50 degrees. The description of the weather, the ice and snow are exceptional, you can just imagine how cold it would be. The book is very open to imagination in some places but it works in this type of book as you can imagine what would happen to the characters and it gives a different experience for each reader.
I would love to read other books by this author as I enjoyed reading this novel. I would also recommend this book to anyone who likes sci-fi or dystopian books.
I was given this book for free from NetGalley for review.
I posted this review on my blog www.emilysnovels.wordpress.com
wildgurl's review
4.0
The Sunlight Pilgrim
By Jenni Fagan
This Scottish author, known intially for her poetry, I first discovered, reading her debut novel, The Panopticon. She is one of the most intelligent and original writer and thinker I've come across in awhile......
This novel starts in November 2020, in Cache Falls, Scotland. They are experiencing the worse ice age imaginable, temperatures are -6 degrees and falling. She has a way of descriping the cold so vividly and realistically, you can feel the temp drop. This novel is also about family...those we are born into and those we chose. This apocalyptic novels characters make this book unforgettable and hard to not relate to.Stella ( who use to bea boy named Cael)is a transgender, her mother Constance is very supportive, and brings home the importance of family love, support and inclusion.
Stella and Constance form a life together surrounded by an usual and eccentric group of neighbors in a caravan park, attempting to survive the harsh climate.
Life is good, Stella is learning to cope with the school bullies and closed minds....as well as the in climate weather..until Dylan arrives in Clachen Falls....
Such a fantastic, forward thinking novel. Some excellent points are brought to light and I could not put this down. Another excellent novel from Jenni Fagan. Highly recommended.
By Jenni Fagan
This Scottish author, known intially for her poetry, I first discovered, reading her debut novel, The Panopticon. She is one of the most intelligent and original writer and thinker I've come across in awhile......
This novel starts in November 2020, in Cache Falls, Scotland. They are experiencing the worse ice age imaginable, temperatures are -6 degrees and falling. She has a way of descriping the cold so vividly and realistically, you can feel the temp drop. This novel is also about family...those we are born into and those we chose. This apocalyptic novels characters make this book unforgettable and hard to not relate to.Stella ( who use to bea boy named Cael)is a transgender, her mother Constance is very supportive, and brings home the importance of family love, support and inclusion.
Stella and Constance form a life together surrounded by an usual and eccentric group of neighbors in a caravan park, attempting to survive the harsh climate.
Life is good, Stella is learning to cope with the school bullies and closed minds....as well as the in climate weather..until Dylan arrives in Clachen Falls....
Such a fantastic, forward thinking novel. Some excellent points are brought to light and I could not put this down. Another excellent novel from Jenni Fagan. Highly recommended.