The Light of Falling Stars (First Edition, inscribed to author Chris Offutt)

The story of a small town rocked by the tragedy of a plane crash, the arrival of a stranger who claims to be the lone survivor of the crash, and a marriage about to crumble offers a richly textured portrait of change, compassion, and tenuous connections. A first novel.

Lennon's impressive first novel--psychologically nuanced, richly detailed, unexpectedly comic--offers us an unsentimental examination of the ways in which we find and lose those we love, both before and after death.

A debut novel in which many stories mingle in the wake of a plane crash. Marshall, Montana, is an agreeable college town. But its placidity is scarred by tragedy when AirAmerica flight 114 from Seattle plunges to the ground, apparently killing all but one passenger. Lennon uses the catastrophe as a means of linking otherwise disparate stories: those of families who have come to meet the plane, that of the lone survivor, Bernardo, and of the young couple, Paul and Anita Beveridge, who live near the crash site. The idea is promising, and the interest it garners credible, and yet the narrative lacks human and moral depth. As though trying a little too hard to include a cast varied in age, ethnicity, and experience, the author seems reluctant to choose a true emotional center. The closest he comes is in the Beveridges, whose strained marriage is indirectly pushed apart by the crash after Anita begins an affair with the uncle of a boy who died on board. But the Beveridges are relative newcomers to Marshall, and they don't really want to be there, having neither authenticity nor roots. Lennon might have done better to focus on Lars Cowgill, a midwesterner who found a home in Marshall and who's a more likable human gauge for the impact of disaster (his girlfriend Megan is among the dead). The best sections here are the glimpses of Marshall and its denizens: the ``Nouveau West'' knotty-pine decor at the small airport; the flyaway punk charm of Alyssa, a high- school student at loose ends who is briefly present in the novel; Lars's helplessly romantic slacker friend Toth, persuasively lost in post-adolescent muddle; and the streets, bowling alleys, and convenience stores of this quiet town. A sharp portrait of a place, but too often diluted by a scattered and uncertain plot and people. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

The effects of a plane crash on the friends and family of the victims, and especially on the lives of the young couple who witness the crash, is the subject of this sporadically interesting but ultimately weak first novel. As the book opens, Paul and Anita Beveridge are sitting outdoors opening Paul's birthday presents when an airplane goes down in flames, destroying part of their house in the Montana woods. Then the scene shifts to people waiting for the plane's arrival, including Lars Cowgill, whose girlfriend Megan was on the plane, and Trixie, whose long-time ex-husband, Hamish has shocked her with the news that he is coming to Montana to see her. The crash also gives Bernardo, the sole survivor, a chance to rebuild his life after fleeing Italy in disgrace. Lennon occasionally shows flashes of real talent?the book's first chapter is particularly good?but he has included too many characters and failed to adequately develop them, using successively fewer interesting subplots. Skip this and wait for Lennon's next.?Nancy Pearl, Washington Ctr. for the Book, Seattle
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Lennon's new novel takes up the delicate, albeit newsworthy, subject of a plane crash with surprising grace and, perhaps more surprising, restraint. Lennon avoids the depersonalized or the melodramatic potential of such a tragedy by focusing on the particulars--the details of the lives of several characters who died in the crash, waited for the arrival of someone, or witnessed the crash and its stomach-turning trail of destruction. Lennon focuses particularly on the aftermath of the crash and its inevitable reverberations. How the trauma sinks in, how the different characters react, is compelling and certainly the stuff of life, and what we want from popular fiction. The Light of Falling Stars shows the promise of a young writer who clearly knows what kind of subject matter is provocative yet has the self-control to maintain enough realism, and respect, to avoid exploitation. Lennon is likely to be a writer we will hear from again and again, with his strong, clear voice that possesses refreshing sincerity and appropriate self-confidence. Janet St. John