The Bright Years: A Novel

The Bright Years is the debut novel by Sarah Damoff. The novel is told in past and present timelines and in multiple points of view, following four generations. The novel is brief, at less than 300 pages. Sarah Damoff’s writing is lovely; there are many gems of deep and profound insight about life and love scattered throughout the novel. It is a tale of loss, of regret, of finding and losing love, and of forgiveness. There are heavy topics discussed, but they didn’t quite hit me emotionally. I’m not sure the book was long enough for me to feel as if I had formed relationships with the characters or if there was a disconnect there due to the author’s writing style (which I still think is beautiful), etc. I wanted the book to be longer, I wanted to bond more with these characters, but I just couldn’t, and that’s a shame because I feel like with about 50-100 more pages of character development, I may have been spilling the tears that everyone else has been spilling over this novel! Overall, though, a great debut that I’m rating 3 out of 5 stars. I’ll be interested to read this author’s work in the future. I think she has a lot of potential. Thank you to Simon & Schuster for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I loved this book. 8.5 rounded up.

FAIR WARNING: DO NOT START THIS BOOK AT NIGHT, YOU WILL NOT FALL ASLEEP

This debut novel will surely be on the list for best fiction of the year, but I thought it was just ok. I don't understand all the 4+ ratings. It reads like a YA novel. It is the story of 1 family-3 perspectives-mother, father, daughter. Instead of alternating perspectives, each one is told separately. The story starts with Lily, the mom. She meets Ryan in a library, and their love story is so cliche and rom-com. They are both flawed and have secrets that will shape their future. Lily's story was the most YA to me and the longest part of the book. The first big shock comes at the end of mom's story (or maybe beginning of Jet's story) but I almost missed it because it was quickly mentioned and then moved on. I remember thinking, "oh wow, that's a big deal" but the writing/emotion didn't match. I thought maybe I skipped a page reading. Her daughter, Georgette, has her own story which picks up where Lily's left off. Her story was more interesting and then the last perspective (also the shortest) is from the father, Ryan. The story continued to get better. I liked the style of writing each perspective instead of going back and forth between the characters. There are some big themes in here-broken hearts, grief, abandonment, forgiveness, second chances, addiction

AMAZING 🤩 loved every chapter, every character. It touched on so many life lessons but in such raw ways. 9/10 ⭐️