MARCH 2009

 ABOUT   ARCHIVES   AWARDS   LINKS   SUBMIT   HOME

A Review of Jones’s Light Boxes
By Jason Jordan, Feb 20, 2009

In Thaddeus’s town, winter is known as February. And what happens if February takes over, with no end in sight? Well that’s exactly what happens in Shane Jones’s debut novel Light Boxes—an experimental piece of work delivered in short segments. Before February assumes its reign as a season, and yes, makes appearances as a character, the citizens discover that flight has been banned, beginning the trend of (justifiably?) blaming everything bad on February. The solution? A War. Of course, a war on February.

Light Boxes isn’t the typical novel. For instance, not only are there multiple fonts and font sizes, but there are a variety of first person narrators, and a third person narrator. There are also several numbered and bulleted lists such as “Six Reports from the Priests” (27), “The Catalog of Missing Children” (38-9), “List Written by February and Carried in February’s Corduroy Coat Pocket” (55), etc. So, besides an unpredictable plot that keeps the reader guessing, the writing itself lends another sense of mystery to what is a bizarre novel from the outset. While most of the above-stated devices work well, or at least well enough to get by, the stylistic choice I don’t like is the exclusion of question marks. In fact, you won’t find any in this 170-page book. “How long will February last, Bianca asked, stretching her hands out to her mother who was blowing on her arms” (13) is one sentence wherein a question mark would lead to quicker comprehension. It seems counterintuitive to exclude question marks because they make the reader work harder, plus their absence is distracting and even off-putting.

And then there are the characters. Jones’s characterization is solid, but I don’t care for any of the characters except the brash Caldor Clemens. “I was Thad’s number one guy during the war against February. That’s right, number one. The right hand man. Top wolf. Or top dog. Whatever,” (40)—it’s lines like the preceding that make Clemens likeable, along with his nonchalant attitude and loose mouth. Additionally, the concept of The Solution is clever—“There were five of them, tall and thin, wearing long brown coats and black top-hats. They had thin plastic masks over their faces. Each mask was painted as a different colored bird” (18). Unfortunately, despite members of The Solution narrating a few sections, I think they’re underutilized characters. The others—Thaddeus, his wife Selah, his daughter Bianca, and the townsfolk—I could take or leave. Also, I’m not convinced that the narrators sound as different from one another as they should, so perhaps fewer narrators would’ve worked better.

In the end, Light Boxes is an intriguing page-turner. I don’t care for many of the plot twists and characters, but if nothing else, they’re all interesting in their own ways. Jones’s novel has numerous positive qualities and those should be enough to motivate the adventurous reader to seek out a copy and devour it at will. Otherwise, aficionados of the traditional novel should proceed with caution.

decomP Editor-in-Chief Jason Jordan has a large red beard. Visit him (and his beard) at his blog.

Back