The Illumination by Kevin Brockmeier

The Illumination

Kevin Brockmeier

A startling but enthralling and fantastical novel set in a world when physical pain manifests itself as bright light. Really a book of six parts, it is tied together by a journal of love notes passed from person to person. Some brilliant characters and stories, slightly frustrating at times as you want to know what happens to everyone but a memorable read, and something that's little bit different!

Extract
The world had changed in the wake of the Illumination. No one could disguise his pain anymore. You could hardly step out in public without noticing the white blaze of someone's impacted heel showing through her slingbacks; and over there, hailing a taxi, a woman with shimmering pressure marks where her pants cut into her gut; and behind her, beneath the awning of the of the flower shop, a man lit all over in a glory of leukemia.
Parallels
  • Accordian Crimes by Annie Proulx
  • Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell