Title: A Dream of
Lights
Author: Kerry
Drewery
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date: February
28, 2013
Genre: Young
Adult
Reviewed by: Ellen
Fritz
Ellen’s rating: 4/5
SUMMARY
A powerful and moving stand-alone novel for
anyone who loved A GATHERING LIGHT or BETWEEN SHADES OF GREY, in which a
teenage girl struggles against the odds for survival in a North Korean prison
camp...From the author of A Brighter Fear. Yoora is a teenage girl living in
North Korea, dreaming of the lights of foreign cities while eking out a
miserable existence in a rural northern village. But then she makes a mistake:
she falls in love. With someone far removed from her social class. Someone
dangerous to know. When tongues start to wag, her father is executed and she is
taken to a prison camp in the mountains. There, escape seems even further from
her grasp. But Yoora is about to learn an important lesson: love can surprise
you, and it can come in many forms...
REVIEW
Although
A Dream of Lights is truly a
beautiful story, its setting in the very communist North Korea makes for some
depressing - if very realistic - reading. Yoora meets the love of her life,
sees her father executed, ends up losing her entire family, and all the while
she doesn't know whether her love, Sook, betrayed her or whether she herself is
to blame.
I found
this book extremely depressing at first but, as the characters and their tale
took hold of me, I started enjoying this very sad and painful journey with
Yoora. In a world where your neighbour, your best friend, or even a member of
your own family can betray you to the authorities for a bit of food, Yoora
tries to find love and make friends. When her father is shot and her family
disintegrates, she has to cope with prison camp and guards who enjoy the power
they have over their captives with a horrifying viciousness.
Yoora
is a well-crafted, realistic character with a positive attitude that surfaces
even in the face of impending death. I could, however, not really get a grip on
Sook, the other main character. This vagueness in Sook's character makes the
reader wonder about his loyalties right up to the end of the story.
From
descriptions of oppressed rural North Korea, heartbreaking grave side vigils,
and a ride on top of a train in icy weather, to an unexpected moment of
laughter shared with a fellow prisoner, and the birth of a baby, A Dream of Lights is a book that will
captivate you and touch your heart.
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