Raymond Strom

Northern Lights is the Story of Shane, a boy who had recently lost his father, thrown out by his uncle, and searching for his long-gone mother. He arrives in Holm, Minnesota the last place he received a letter from his mother. She is gone, and no one has much to say about her. He meets new friends resigned to live in Holm. Holm has been dying for a while. Walmart moved to the fringes of town and destroyed downtown. It seems the only people with money are the drug dealers. Shane himself is androgynous looking fluid in his sexuality; what there is of it. The story is a dark and depressing look at northern cities, once manufacturing centers, now crumbling and abandoned. The novel covers most young adult issues from pregnancy, drugs, bullying, sexuality, and the promise of a bleak future. The book will be more of interest to younger and millennial readers as it captures their era and issues.… (meer)

In Holm, Minnesota the water tower proclaims “Holm Sucks” while throughout the town and on the sides of railway cars, a different message more quietly expresses, “HOPE.” By novel’s end only one declaration remains.

Shane Stephenson’s father is dead, his uncle’s kicked him out, and before he enters the University of Minnesota in the fall, he’s dedicated his last free summer to finding his mother who abandoned him years ago. Holm is the last address he has for her and it’s why he now finds himself in this sad little Minnesota town. Of course, she’s long gone and he’s left searching for answers.

Raymond Strom has peopled his novel with all of the stereotypes we’ve come to associate with small Midwestern towns, a flourishing drug trade, young adults who appear to have little or no future (and one who wants to escape as soon as she can), a kindly sheriff, a villain with a truck (Sven Svenson is a great name for a northern Minnesota youth), homophobes, and at least one older woman who’s addicted to prescription drugs and alcohol.

Shane is the androgynous and conflicted hero, who, at times, I personally wished would just give up and get out of Dodge (Holm), but then there would have been no story. Northern Lights is not a bad book. It held my interest and at no time did I want to give up on it and reach for another book. I just didn’t feel that much for any of the characters and pretty much guessed how it would end.

Review copy provided by Net Gallery… (meer)