Heat and Light: a Novel Online
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qzEuw (Mobile pdf) Heat and Light: A Novel Online [qzEuw.ebook] Heat and Light: A Novel Pdf Free Jennifer Haigh *Download PDF | ePub | DOC | audiobook | ebooks #188380 in Books Jennifer Haigh 2016-05-03 2016-05-03Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x 1.37 x 6.00l, 1.11 #File Name: 0061763292448 pagesHeat and Light | File size: 32.Mb Jennifer Haigh : Heat and Light: A Novel before purchasing it in order to gage whether or not it would be worth my time, and all praised Heat and Light: A Novel: 9 of 9 people found the following review helpful. Fracking up close and personalBy P. GaitensThis is an enlightening dissection of the business of fracking, it's environmental implications and its effects on the lives of the residents of a small Pennsylvania county.It's a topic that deserves serious attention and the novel Is informative without being didactic.The author spares few details in portraying the lives and past history of her characters. In fact, in some instances this detail detracts from the momentum of her story. Unfortunately, most of the characters are not particularly likeable or compelling and they suffer from a lack of redeeming qualities.At times, this story meanders and can't stay on track toward a conclusion. Its realism builds credibility but the overall perspective smacks of cynicism.This book was more disappointing than rewarding.11 of 11 people found the following review helpful. Heat Light is an excellent portrayal of the multi-faceted impacts the fracking industry has ...By Jono CyrusHeat Light is an excellent portrayal of the multi-faceted impacts the fracking industry has on small towns. I grew up in the same area of Southwestern Pennsylvania as the author, and it was fascinating trying to piece together the area she was talking about based on the obvious geographic references, and the ones that were more generalized. It's a story told from numerous perspectives of different characters on every side of the issue, and it's fascinating to see the way that the narrative of these very different people is woven together by the common thread of the gas industry.I wouldn't characterize this book as "anti-fracking" although it does take a pretty negative view of it, based pretty much in the fact and reality of it.I was enthralled by this book and finished it in a weekend. I'm looking forward to picking up some of the author's other titles.41 of 42 people found the following review helpful. BrilliantBy Jean A MellingerThis review has been difficult to formulate, not because of concerns with the caliber of the book but because Irsquo;d like to do it justice. With the setting and underlying themes, Ms. Haigh has managed to not only explore her characters with empathy for even minor players but to have their lives reflect so many issues facing us today. This is what good fiction is all about, isnrsquo;t it? You become involved in someone elsersquo;s story and think more deeply about why people do the inexplicable.I live in Houston, a place many of the characters call home. I disagree completely with the description of Houston asrdquo; a charmless, treeless, damp sinkhole with urban pretensionsrdquo;. There are plenty of trees, parks and all the urban amenities one could wish for even if the climate in summer is a little hard to handle. The stereotypes of the ldquo;bubbardquo; businessmen were also a little hard to stomach. This section of the book almost made me quit reading but I am glad I didnrsquo;t.But this isnrsquo;t a story about Houston; this is set in former coal country in Pennsylvania. The latest round of extractive industry begins with a ldquo;landmanrdquo; approaching local residents, most of whom are struggling to get by. For an upfront payment, these residents sell their mineral rights for a payment per acre with promises of income down the road once drilling begins.So begins what is really a second or third wave of exploitation of resources in the area of Bakerton, PA. As the author puts it: ldquo;Rural Pennsylvania doesnrsquo;t fascinate the world, not generally, but cyclically, periodically, its innards are of interestrdquo;.Ms, Haigh explores the remnants of coal mining, family history and its impact on decisions made today, The forces for and against fracking who are either off to the next cause or on to the next unexplored terrain are contrasted beautifully with the people who live in Bakerton and must live with their decisions for long after the business people and activists are gone.The lives of the locals are explored in a very real way and without preaching about it; the ills of a town left behind by the 21st economy are explored through a number of characters you canrsquo;t help caring about. This is true even if you become frustrated with their choices. In other words they are human and as most of our friends and family are in real life.There are no tidy endings here, again as in our real lives and where the people we have grown to care about is unknown. The story will stay with you though and inform the brief news stories and commentary we see about industry and environmental concerns. After all, there are people living in these areas and the news stories have very real world consequences for their present and their future lives. A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, NPRAcclaimed New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Haigh returns to the Pennsylvania town at the center of her iconic novel Baker Towers in this ambitious, achingly human story of modern America and the conflicting forces at its heartmdash;a bold, moving drama of hope and desperation, greed and power, big business and small-town families.Forty years ago, Bakerton coal fueled the country. Then the mines closed, and the town wore away like a bar of soap. Now Bakerton has been granted a surprise third act: it sits squarely atop the Marcellus Shale, a massive deposit of natural gas.To drill or not to drill? Prison guard Rich Devlin leases his mineral rights to finance his dream of farming. He doesnrsquo;t count on the truck traffic and nonstop noise, his brotherrsquo;s skepticism or the paranoia of his wife, Shelby, who insists the water smells strange and is poisoning their frail daughter. Meanwhile his neighbors, organic dairy farmers Mack and Rena, hold out against the drillingmdash;until a passionate environmental activist disrupts their lives.Told through a cast of characters whose lives are increasingly bound by the opposing interests that underpin the national debate, Heat and Light depicts a community blessed and cursed by its natural resources. Soaring and ambitious, it zooms from drill rig to shareholdersrsquo; meeting to the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor to the ruined landscape of the ldquo;strippins,rdquo; haunting reminders of Pennsylvaniarsquo;s past energy booms. This is a dispatch from a forgotten Americamdash;a work of searing moral clarity from one of the finest writers of her generation, a courageous and necessary book. .com An Best Book of May 2016: When an author can tell a beautiful and compelling story about fracking, well, you know you are in the presence of something special. Set in the decaying Pennsylvania town of Appalachia, situated over a natural gas deposit, Haigh brings together a host of endearing characters to tell a surprisingly poignant story about passion, the world today, and so many of the details in between. This is one of those books that catches you off guard with a powerful message--not overpowering or in your face, just perfectlyhellip;there. --Penny MannFrom Publishers WeeklyFor her excellent sixth work of fiction, Haigh (The Condition) returns to the mortally wounded mining town of Bakerton, Pa., peopled by unsettled folks whose ennui seems genetic, even in the wake of what might be a renaissance as the town begins exploiting a massive deposit of natural gas. Prison guard Rich Devlin signs over the mineral rights to his Pap's farm, hoping for a better life for himself, his wife, Shelby, and their chronically ill daughter, Olivia. Pastor Jess, the widow of Pastor Wes, counsels the hypochondriac Shelby, but begins to unravel herself as she becomes involved with Herc, a member of the Texan drilling crew whom the townspeople resent as noisy outsiders. The Devlins' neighbors, Mack and Rena, are organic dairy farmers whose customers begin to fall away as rumor spreads of contamination from the new drilling. And Gia, the waitress at Rich's dad's bar, has a drug problem that no one but Rich's brother, Darren, a recovering addict himself, can see. The author has deftly, and with few false notes, created a geography of connections among the townspeople, who are brothers, daughters, high school sweethearts, and strangers. Haigh has conjured stories of great consequence out of rural Pennsylvania, observing that "more than most places, Pennsylvania is what lies beneath." She has tapped the deep well of the human condition and relayed something profound about America at the turn of the 21st century. (May)\n ldquo;Ms. Haigh is an expertly nuanced storyteller long overdue for major attention. Her work is gripping, real and totally immersive, akin to that of writers as different as Richard Price, Richard Ford and Richard Russo...With this book, she moves one big step closer to being in their league.rdquo; (Janet Maslin, New York Times)ldquo;We finally have a novel - and a novelist - whose ambitions match the scale of this subjecthellip;a tour-de-force of multiple point-of-view narrationhellip;DeLillo- esquehellip;Haighrsquo;s achievement in this expansive, gripping novel is to delineate the ways in which we are all connected, for better and worse.