The Many Shades of Light

by Shoshana Avni

Overview

Young Sarah is dazzling, intelligent, and sassy. Older Sarah is also intriguing and wise. They both know the meaning of fully loving the other and being loved. They are both sensual and enjoy sex. The Many Shades of Light stretches a span of more than sixty years in the life of this incredible woman. You will not put down the book until you finish reading, and then, you would like to have Sarah as your friend.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781482826425
Publisher:	Partridge Publishing Singapore
Publication date:	08/11/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	230
File size:	283 KB

About the Author

Shoshana Avni is in her midseventies, and it is her first book. She is a Rabbi’s daughter in a family of nine siblings and deeply cares for women, children, animals, trees, and older people’s rights for equality and consideration. She believes the act of reading has many purposes, and her purpose as a writer is to bring mainly pleasure to her readers. She thinks life without humor is unbearable.

Editorial Reviews

2014-10-01
A septuagenarian recalls her younger years in Avni's debut novel.After being inspired by a Robert Goddard quote about memories, "Older Sarah," attended by a presence named Ariel, reviews her past experiences as "Young Sarah." The remembrances begin with her attachment to impetuous Guy, who dies in an automobile accident. Events then unfold at a leisurely pace in an unspecified locale (possibly Italy, as a trattoria and a villa are mentioned). Ethan Saddot, an older houseguest, greatly influences the young Sarah, providing emotional support after Guy's death. He and Sarah develop a friendship before sleeping together, and their experiences shape her later approach to lovemaking, although Sarah is hardly promiscuous. She happily weds and later has two sets of twins, while also serving as an integral part of her husband Michael's profitable electronics firm. Exquisitely attired and universally admired, she exudes beauty, refinement, intelligence, femininity, humility and principle; she's especially sensitive to gender issues and equality between the sexes. To Ethan, she is "natural and guileless," with barely a misstep during her lifetime, although at one point she misjudges a former acquaintance. In later years, she remains attractive, desirable and genuinely surprised at receiving male attentions. Avni gives her character a circular perspective: Old Sarah evaluates the story of Young Sarah, but casts herself and her past experiences in a positive light; although touched by tragedy, she's virtually devoid of regret. Overall, the novel is polished, but isn't a page-turner, as few surprises occur in this clear-cut chronicle of Sarah's loves. It does offer a refreshingly unhurried view of sex, however, in which "[m]oral compatibility" matters; it stresses that people should trust each other before leaping into bed. Ariel's role in the story, though, will likely be as unclear to readers as it is to Older Sarah: "I can never determine in my mind whether it [Ariel] was a dream, a figment of my imagination, or something related to my age and its need for rejuvenation and sexual excitement."An unassuming memory-based tale, with a central character that's a near-perfect model of womanhood.

Kirkus Reviews