A certain slant of light
by Laura Whitcomb
Story elements
A certain slant of light takes place during the past. The main conflict in the story is trying to live a ''new'' life from someone else body. The book begins with a spirit like ghost in her host's classroom just viewing what he is teaching & stuff. But then she notices an unknown student looking directly at her. She doesn't understand how he could see her.
Character Analysis
The main character is Helen. Three words to describe the main character are outgoing, smart, & kind. The character is motivated by her love, James. Whenever shes feeling low she calls him & he calms her down & talks her out of doing something regretful. Or his acts towards her also motivates her on doing a good job at school. I like this character because shes a bit smart/clever & speaks up for herself at some points in the story. The relationship between Helen & James is pretty interesting & nice but also kinda tricky. They fell in love with each other.
Theme
The theme of the novel is life isn't easy & the things we want the most aren't always the greatest. One example that supports the theme is once Helen got into a body she didn't really like the whole religious family the body had. Another example is she wasn't allowed to date people that weren't religious. A third example from the book is she got everyone thinking Mr. Brown (her old host) was her lover & hes been having sexual interacting with her but it was false info. A final example that supports theme is she took her life away & returned it to its rightful owner because she couldn't stand living in someone else's life style.
Evaluation
i rate this novel a 10. I honestly thought its an excellent book & it kept me wondering what would happen if they made a sequel. I guess teens could sorta relate to this book because these two characters ( Helen & James) were struggling at home & trying to find a way to be together.