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A Novel
by Shane Jones
Paperback. With all the elements of a classic fable, vivid descriptions, and a wholly unique style, this idiosyncratic debut introduces a new and exciting voice to readers of such authors as George Saunders, Kurt Vonnegut, and Yann Martel.
In Light Boxes, the inhabitants of one closely-knit town are experiencing perpetual February. It turns out that a god-like spirit who lives in the sky, named February, is punishing the town for flying, and bans flight of all kind, including hot air balloons and even children's kites. It's February who makes the sun nothing but a faint memory, who blankets the ground with snow, who freezes the rivers and the lakes. As endless February continues, children go missing and more and more adults become nearly catatonic with depression. But others find the strength to fight back, waging war on February.
"[T]his literary gem of metaphysical malaise has that ideally weird blend of offputting sensualism and heartfelt emotion - just the sort of thing to ensure a dedicated, if limited, following." - Booklist
"It’s a quaint and bizarre allegory that explores the perils of equivocation, but it’s likely more pleased with its own cleverness than readers will be." - Publishers Weekly
"...there’s no doubt that Jones can write: His spare, alliterative sentences are flawless and sometimes delightful." - Time Out New York
"I reviewed the Publishing Genius Press edition of Light Boxes when it was released in February of 2009, and I spent the review marveling at Jones’ adept and flawless pursuit of imagery and descriptive fervor, the way he takes phrases and makes them into dreams and then folds those dreams in our pockets for safekeeping. Having read the new Penguin version of Light Boxes, I am no less amazed by Jones’ transformative and liquid language ... Light Boxes is a winter catching fire. Go get some heat." - The Collagist, J.A. Tyler
"You will have to go a long way to find a more magical and quirky novella than Light Boxes. Set in a far off land, as all good fairy stories should be, the balloon-loving residents suffer a ban on all forms of flight. But the culprit is not some unpronounceable Icelandic volcano, but rather February. And this February - who takes both the form of a person and a season - has lasted for more than three hundred days. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he has also started making children disappear. One man, Thaddeus Lowe, is determined to do something about it." - The BookBag.co.uk
This information about Light Boxes was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
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