[amazon_link id=”0670023566″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]Title : Little Night
Author : Luanne Rice
Genre : Women’s Fiction
Publisher : Pamela Dorman Books (Viking)
Pages : 321
Source : Publisher
Rating : 3.5/5

Clare has been cut off from her once close sister Anne for more than 20 years. She has also served 2 years for allegedly attempting to kill Anne’s controlling husband Frederik. Now 18 years after her release she has settled into a placid, bird-watching life in New York. Her life has unraveled but she is at peace with herself, or so it seems. Now, Clare’s niece Grit has unexpectedly come visiting and Clare realizes that the sister she has forgiven is still caught in a bad situation.

This book is about domestic violence and Rice’s description of situations which foster abuse kept me reading. She describes such situations realistically – it is not only physical violence that is damaging, it is also verbal insinuations and mental coercions that make life hell. Her description of Anne and Frederik’s life from Anne’s diary truly show how abusive relationships can look normal to a casual passer-by but cause the vicitims to remain on tenterhooks awaiting the next outburst of violence. Besides that, truly heartbreaking are the effects of all this on the children. Anne’s kids, Grit and Gilly, helpless witnesses to domestic violence, receive bad treatment not only from abusive Frederik but also from Anne.

She had grown up in the cycle of violence, understood how being abused once made it more likely you would feel so bad about yourself you’d let it happen again. You’d get used to accepting terrible treatment. Almost worse, if you didn’t get help, you could turn into a batterer yourself.

The novel takes some time getting to the crux of the problem. Even though Grit moves in with her aunt she takes her time spilling the beans, and I was a little taken aback with the restraint shown by Clare as she goes about bird-watching instead if demanding answers of Grit about Anne, the sister she has been longing for all these years. Clare also seemed frail and vulnerable and living life at a distance afraid to commit, which seemed a realistic portrayal. Grit character was well-sketched; her spying habits and her lies tied in well with her tortured character.

I did find certain things in the book a little clichéd. Also, I understand that Rice tries to give us a clearer picture, but some backstory telling seemed exactly that – more tell and less show, which takes away from the novel. Clare’s character seemed quite forgiving towards her sister given that it was Anne’s false testimony that helped put Clare in jail. She seems to absolve Anne of all responsibility – a little too saintly and hard to take, and something which might be food for thought post-read.

I would recommend this novel to all my readers. It is a thought-provoking book, and well-worth the read, and I read it very quickly, almost in one sitting. The book has a gorgeous cover, which Rice tweets (in response to mine) is of Poet’s Walk in Central Park.