This book is not what I was expecting it to be. Sorry I could not get into the story or finish it.

This is a very sad book. It gave me sad dreams. It's about longing, love, lost relationships, and blind terror, the kind you live with for years.Drum and Carter meet in 1959 while they are doing National Service. They could not be more different. Drum's a working class guy who worked in a Ford plan near London, and Carter is a wealthy kid just expelled from Oxford. They become friends, and that friendship lasts their lives. It's not an easy or an even friendship. Carter gets them assigned to a c...

There was something very compelling about the writing that kept me reading this one. Carter and Drummond met and became friends at 'Doomtown', a training center that simulates the aftermath of an atomic war. Carter is wealthy and privileged; Drummond was working-class. This book follows their inter-related lives through some major global crises - the Cuban missile crisis, bombings by the IRA, ISIS, and more - that could have spawned a nuclear threat. There are also family dramas playing out in t...

Well this was an epic read!The story centres around Drum from his National Service in the 1950s to the end of his life some 50 years later. Drum's National Service is spent in Doom Town, a mocked up town scenario of the effect of a nuclear strike; these experiences stick with Drum for the rest of his life, continually causing him anxiety and altering his life decisions.Married to Gwen, and with a son and a daughter, Drum's life remains tied to his service years, with his friend (note it's a very...

Gah, another book that didn't require a 500+ page count to tell its story - this in my opinion of course. Normally I adore a good chunky book, but lately this year most of these tomes have failed to leave a lasting mark on me. This is a good story, it's a little oblique, or vague, if that's a better term/word to use....but my desire to see this story advance was always thwarted because of its endless pages. Is it me? Am I burning out and needing a break or something? I am growing desperate for t...

Stuart Evers epic and ambitious novel follows the lives, friendship, and families of two men, Drummond 'Drum' Moore and Carter from post-war 1950s Britain through the decades, amidst the background of British and global history, such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Cold War, Dagenham Strikes. the IRA bombing campaigns, the War on Terror and culture. Drum ignites his friendship with Carter in 1959 when they meet during National Service after saving him from a card scam. The two men are very diff...

Story of a long-lasting friendship between two men, Drummond Moore and James Carter, who meet during their military service. They bond over shared experiences at Doom Town, a civil defense center that simulates situations related to nuclear war. They are from different classes and backgrounds. Drum works in a Ford factory near London. Carter is a wealthy landowner in northwest England. We follow their long-lasting friendship, relationships, marriages, and children from the late 1950s to the 2010...

I hate when this happens, I really do but I could not finish this book. To many great reads to get through and to little time. I found the story line of this book fairly drab. Along with the fragmented sentences and disjointed plot I just could not bare it any longer.Thank you to Netgalley and W. W. Norton Company for the opportunity to review this arc.

Two men, Drum (Drummond Moore, a worker from the Ford plant in Dagenham) and Carter (James Carter, an upper-middle class student sent down from Oxford), met in the 50s doing their National Service. The novel follows their lives marked first by the Cold War and other historical developments that will shape their relationship and lives for several decades... The story is told from the point of view of Drum and his family (wife and two children) and counterpointed by Carter´s parallel own family. T...

The other day I was talking with a young relative. He is in his mid-twenties. We were discussing the possible intentions China may have vis a vis Taiwan and what would be the reactions of the other major powers, such as the US, Russia, Japan… He thought that China would be pre-empted from any aggressive behaviour because they would not be interested in the economic repercussions were this action to run against the grain of the other powers. The concept of war, or of any serious military conflict...

Stuart Evers’ latest novel is an ambitious and sprawling saga spanning 60 years, a tale of friendship, class and family, underpinned by fear of the threat of nuclear destruction. In 1959, working class Drummond Moore and upper-class James Carter meet while doing their national service at Doom Town, a nuclear training ground in Cumbria. Here servicemen could go to learn about survival after a nuclear war, something envisioned as a very real danger at the time. There develops a mutual dependency b...

In 1959 two soldiers become friends at a training center that simulates the aftermath of an atomic war. Their families become neighbors and there's an underlying fear of "the bomb." The story follows the families through to the present, told from the point of view of all four members of one family, and with a crackerjack ending.

Rounded up from somewhere between 2.5-3 stars ⭐️ The blind light follows the lives of Drummond and Carter, two young men meet during their time in service. Over the years their friendship and lives develop and change. I’m not fully sure how to I feel about this book. It’s the first time I’ve been really unsure about a star rating. I really liked how this book spanned so many different decades and important life points. It was like following someone through a real life journey. That being said, I...

In contention for my Book of the Year, and it’s only March! ‘The Blind Light’ by Stuart Evers is a novel that I was sad to finish. The writer presents recent history intelligently yet with a light touch through the eyes of the Moores and the Carters, two very different families drawn together through their fathers’ friendship. Drum and Carter first meet in the 1950s during National Service, the former quietly rescuing the latter from a gambling blunder. After a spell in Doom Town, the army manuf...

This is a lovely novel. Maybe a touch too long, but I sure did fall in love with these characters. The story is melancholy...but also sweet—a thoughtful examination of friendship, jealousy, love, disappointment, and loyalty. Know that you’ll need to take your time with this one, but your efforts will be rewarded.

Check out the full review on my website. CLICK HERESUBSCRIBE TO MY CHANNEL : YOUTUBEFOLLOW ME ON : TWITTER INSTAGRAMFR REVIEW :TRIGGER WARNINGS : Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Battery.DISCLAIMER : Thank you, Netgalley, Picador and Pan Macmillan for providing me with an ARC of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily.The Blind Light by Stuart Evers is a historical/literary fiction that tells us the story of Drum, Gwen, and their family. We go from 50s to the present following our characters through...

ThemesThis is a book about personal relationships. The consequences of heavy handed parenting and the failure of a parent to trust their child. Stories of hedonism and the attendant danger for the young and inexperienced are cleverly juxtaposed and you can feel some sympathy for the parent. A necessary rite of passage can carry risks. The parent child relationship is fraught, and so is the marital relationship as temptation arises and there’s the reflection on what might have been. In a telling

This is a strong contender for my favourite book of 2021 so far. I absolutely loved this story and the characters and felt fully invested in the ups and downs of their lives.The book covers many years from the late 1950s to the present day, opening with the early days of the relationship between Drummond, who is based at an army training centre to prepare for nuclear war, and Gwen, who is working as a barmaid nearby. From the early origins of their love affair across the years as they raise a fa...

Told mainly from the perspectives of Drum, Gwen, and later Anneka and Nate, this hugely ambitious and engaging story managed to combine the intensity of the intimate, complex relationships between the various characters with evocative portrayals of the external events which were influencing their lives. I was impressed by the convincing way in which the author captured how the co-dependency of the unlikely, unbalanced and frequently toxic nature of the relationship between Drum and Carter was fo...

I found the premise of this novel to be compelling (threat of nuclear war and its effect on those living with it) but the writing was so disjointed in so many places that it simply was not an enjoyable read for me. I didn't care about the characters, thought none of them acted consistently within the parameters they were created in. Especially annoying to me were the frequent paragraphs of sentence fragments or repeated phrases that didn't add to the narrative. Thanks to NetGalley and W.W. Norto...