The Light Of Falling Stars

This novel about a group of people whose lives are affected by the explosion of a commuter airplane going from Seattle to a small town in Montana is also a moving, gracefully wrought exploration of grief and love. Some of the characters in The Light Of Falling Stars by J. Robert Lennon are touched literally by the crash, like Paul and Anita — the only ones to see the disaster (it happened in their yard, shearing off the back of their home) — and some are touched metaphorically, like Lars, who had a girlfriend on the plane; Trixie, who had an ex-husband; and Larry, who had a nephew. The crack that opened up in the plane's fuselage opens in their own lives as well, exposing faulty emotional wiring and relationships built on shaky foundations. The end result is an elegy that manages to never fall into cliche. A-