Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Penguin Classics (1988), Paperback, 272 pages
Description
Dick Heldar is a war correspondent and an artist, well known for the drawings he sends home to the London papers from wars in exotic places like Sudan. When he returns to London, he attempts to make a career for himself as a serious artist and re-encounters his childhood sweetheart, Maisie. Then he learns that a minor problem with his eyes is actually the onset of an incurable blindness, the result of a head injury during the war. As his vision fails, the light of everything around him--his life, hopes, and dreams--fails with it. Terrible choices must be made between the love of a woman and the love of the men who stood by him at the front.
User reviews
LibraryThing member iayork
A touching and vivid story about independence and decadence: Kipling proves his expertise as an author in this vivid description of a young, cocky sketch artist moving up the social ladder and the introspection he is forced to face when he can't have his childhood love. His professionalism in
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retelling the themes of independence vs dependence, decadence and self-doubt makes up for his sometimes annoying racist undertones and romantic depicting of the colonialistic era, which is just about the only reason for the missing fifth star. Show Less
LibraryThing member SeriousGrace
This book was hard for me to get into, at first. The story didn't roll off the pages as easily as other war-time novels. The Light that Failed follows the life of Richard Heldar, a soldier turned painter. The story begins with Dick as a child with his companion, Maisie, shooting a pistol by the
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ocean. This opening scene lays the foundation for the competitiveness they will share later in life. It also begins Dick's never ending love for Maisie despite the fact they will have gone their separate ways by adulthood. Dick spends some time as a soldier in Sudan and makes some lifelong friends, but it's after the war when he returns to London, England that the story really picks up. Dick comes home to be an artisit and to paint. His depictions of war become popular and his talent is exposed. Ironically, it is that same war that brought him fame that also brings his downfall. Show Less
LibraryThing member jonfaith
There were aspects of this novel which will no doubt linger, such a work so preoccupied with light and color. I felt the characters genuine albeit incomplete.
LibraryThing member mbmackay
Kiplings first novel - wasn't really a success, and I can see why. The writing flows - Kipling was a master wordsmith, but the plot and character development are a bit limited and limiting.
Kipling's blatant racism is front and centre - any mention of "inferior" races was sure to include adjectives
He was a writer of his times. We should all be glad that such times are (mostly) past.
Kipling's blatant racism is front and centre - any mention of "inferior" races was sure to include adjectives
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suggesting members of the other race were "children" or "devils", often both!He was a writer of his times. We should all be glad that such times are (mostly) past.
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Language
Original publication date
1890
Physical description
272 p.; 6.93 inches
ISBN
0140432833 / 9780140432831