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Rating: 
Summary: Has anyone noticed?
Review: A veteran of the worst atrocities of World War I including poison gas, Ray "Fos" Foster travels the American countryside carrying the scientific marvel, X-ray equipment. Fos claims to be an expert "Phenomenologist". Visiting the Carolina's Outer Banks for a meteor show, Fos meets and falls in love with Opal.The duo marries as they share more than attraction. Both love everything scientific. Opal accompanies Fos on his circuit where he displays his X-ray machine at county fairs. He demonstrates the capabilities of x-rays to penetrate the skin by irradiating Opal's foot. Fos' scientific knowledge reputation grows until the Feds hire him to work for the Tennessee Valley Authority and ultimately during World War II at Site X in Oak Ridge. However, his idyllic life hits a major detour when Opal falls mysteriously ill. Science fails to help Fos, as he and the doctors know not why or what she suffers from. The lead couple and a lad that they adopt are strong characters but the link to science seems farfetched, even with the character names loosely connected to science. The story line vividly describes the years between the great wars especially achievements that come across as homage to scientific accomplishment yet also carries a warning of beware what you create. It is this dual sword inside a deep look back at twentieth century that makes this epic worth reading. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Glory
Review: I must have read a review of this book in a newspaper as I reserved it from the library. And I'm so glad I didn't miss that week's review. There are so few books that are truly brilliant. And this is one. The writing is poetic. Ms. Wiggins' use of language is wonderful. And her storyline is unforgettable. This is a remarkable book. One that I will now purchase to share with friends. My only regret is the ending. Whenever I find a book such as this I never want it to end. And when it does the ending is a let down. In this case not because the ending is unrealistic, or seemingly cut short. In this case, because I just wanted more and more and more. And I would ask you not to read the cover, not to read to much about this book. It's better to let the author unfold word by word, page by page.
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Summary: Has anyone noticed?
Review: I will include this book in a program I'm giving for a local women's club. Has anyone else noticed the play on words?
The main character is Fos.
"Phos" is the Greek word for light.
Rating:
Summary: Poetic, incandescent prose about the mystery of life
Review: Marianne Wiggins' "Evidence Of Things Unseen (EOTU)" was an also-ran in the 2003 National Book Awards stake that should have snagged the prize. Shirley Hazzard's "The Great Fire" was a worthy winner but it's also more difficult and less accessible to the reading public.
EOTU is an uncommon masterpiece, a magically uplifting work of American fiction that outstrips anything I have read in recent years. Written in gloriously poetic, incandescent prose, EOTU is ambitious, even epic in scope, yet relentlessly intimate in execution. Wiggins somehow manages to locate the fulcrum that keeps the delicate balance throughout without losing either thread. The story of Fos and Opal is a tender love story on one level and a ode to the mystery of life on another.
Fos is obsessed with light, radiance, phosphorous material, anything that glows in the dark. Opal is the "gem" that drops into his life while on the way to catch the falling stars one night. But unlike the untutored Opal who exudes a quiet wisdom in dealing with life's surprises, Fos hangs his life on harnessing the natural world for the betterment of mankind, so when his faith in science turns around unexpectedly to backbite the hand that feeds it, his world crumbles and dissolves. But just when it seems like science has dealt the couple its most cruel blow, we are reminded that life has also gifted them with Lightfoot, a child that dropped into their lives, as it were, from nowhere. Just as it is capable of delivering Lightfoot to the childless couple, life is equally capable of letting an innocent child bite into a live cable and leave death and destruction in its wake.
When Lightfoot picks up the fallen threads of his life with Flash's help and he meets a girl called Ramona who paints using the invisible glow of fish hearts to illuminate her picture, we know that the cycle of life has once again begun and that it will go on forever.
"Evidence Of Things Unseen" is among the finest of contemporary American literature that deserves to be widely read. Go buy yourself a copy. Don't miss it.
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Summary: Must read...
Review: Surprised not to see more reviews on this National Book Award finalist. Writing is superb. Story captures your head and heart. Happened to Read the "Great Fire" by Shirley Hazzard (A National Book Award Winner) before this book and this book is a far superior work.
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Summary: A Treat of a Book!
Review: This story set in the years between from 1st to 2nd world wars traces the lives of two unique characters, Opal and Fos. Their quiet love will sink into your mind and heart and you will find them unforgettable. The events of the time at first swirl around them and then directly affect them. No account of the plot can possibly convey the depth and beauty of the writing. Don't miss this book and this writer!
Rating:
Summary: A Treat of a Book!
Review: This story set in the years between from 1st to 2nd world wars traces the lives of two unique characters, Opal and Fos. Their quiet love will sink into your mind and heart and you will find them unforgettable. The events of the time at first swirl around them and then directly affect them. No account of the plot can possibly convey the depth and beauty of the writing. Don't miss this book and this writer!
Rating:
Summary: pretty spectacular
Review: Wiggins does a masterful job of intertwining historical themes (American exceptionalism; ethical traps posed by 20th century scientific advances) with larger themes of love and death. But the book has tremendous heart, her characters are not historical constructs but as alive as people you know. Her prose is lyrical, but always inviting, never pretentious. Highly recommended.
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