Bright Burning Things

Last updated

Bright Burning Things is a novel by Lisa Harding about a former actress whose lavish life comes to an end with single motherhood and with an addiction to alcohol. Bright Burning Things was published by Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom. [1] Film director Michael Lennox is reported to be creating a film based on the novel. [1] [2]

Contents

Plot

The story opens up with Sonya, a failed mother and failed actress, living in Dublin with her 4-year-old son Tommy, and a dog, Herbie. [3] [4] Her father, who she does not have a good relationship with, intervenes by sending her to rehab for 3 months. When she moves to rehab, Tommy and Herbie are looked after by her father without any promise of them being returned after she completes the program. [4] Sonya struggles in rehab as she is not able to take it seriously. She finds it difficult to connect with the others in the rehab, and it becomes difficult for her to discover who she really is. [3] [4]

Reviews

The Guardian wrote about the book "Written with great energy and generosity, Bright Burning Things is the raw and emotional story of a woman’s search for self-knowledge; one that grips from the beginning." [5] The Washington Post wrote, "A novel that gives authentic voice to a modern woman’s alcoholism". [6]

Related Research Articles

<i>Crime and Punishment</i> 1866 Russian-language novel by Dostoyevsky

Crime and Punishment is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published in the literary journal The Russian Messenger in twelve monthly installments during 1866. It was later published in a single volume. It is the second of Dostoevsky's full-length novels following his return from ten years of exile in Siberia. Crime and Punishment is considered the first great novel of his mature period of writing. The novel is often cited as one of the supreme achievements in world literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa Lampanelli</span> American stand-up comedian and insult comic

Lisa Lampanelli is an American former stand-up comedian, actress and insult comic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlotte Rampling</span> English actress

Tessa Charlotte Rampling is an English actress, known for her work in European arthouse films in English, French, and Italian. An icon of the Swinging Sixties, she began her career as a model.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bai Ling</span> Chinese actress (born 1966)

Bai Ling is a Chinese-American actress known for her work in the films The Crow, Nixon, Red Corner, Crank: High Voltage, Dumplings, Wild Wild West, Anna and the King, Southland Tales, and Maximum Impact, as well as TV shows Entourage and Lost. Notably, she won the Best Supporting Actress awards at the 2004 Hong Kong Film Awards and the 2004 Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan for her role in Dumplings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Deland</span> American writer and poet (1857–1945)

Margaret Deland was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet. She also wrote an autobiography in two volumes. She generally is considered part of the literary realism movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa Loring</span> American actress (1958–2023)

Lisa Loring was an American actress. She was best known for her work as a child actress from age six playing Wednesday Addams on the 1964–1966 sitcom The Addams Family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bridgette Wilson</span> American actress, singer, and model (born 1973)

Bridgette Leann Wilson Sampras is an American former actress, singer, model, and Miss Teen USA award winner. Wilson began her career as an actress after being crowned Miss Teen USA in 1990, playing the character of Lisa Fenimore on the soap opera Santa Barbara from April 1992 to January 1993.

<i>Never Let Me Go</i> (novel) 2005 dystopian science fiction novel by Kazuo Ishiguro

Never Let Me Go is a 2005 dystopian science fiction novel by the British author Kazuo Ishiguro. It was shortlisted for the 2005 Man Booker Prize, for the 2006 Arthur C. Clarke Award and for the 2005 National Book Critics Circle Award. Time magazine named it the best novel of 2005 and included the novel in its "100 Best English-language novels published since 1923—the beginning of TIME". It also received an ALA Alex Award in 2006. A film adaptation directed by Mark Romanek was released in 2010; a Japanese television drama aired in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natasha Rostova</span> Character from Leo Tolstoys War and Peace

Countess Natalya "Natasha" Ilyinichna Rostova is a central fictional character in Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel War and Peace. She is the daughter of Ilya Rostov, a loving, kind, and generous nobleman. Natasha is based on both Tanya Behrs, Tolstoy's sister-in-law, and Sophia Tolstaya, Tolstoy's wife.

Bertice Berry is an American sociologist, author, lecturer, and educator.

<i>Look Homeward, Angel</i> 1929 novel by Thomas Wolfe

Look Homeward, Angel: A Story of the Buried Life is a 1929 novel by Thomas Wolfe. It is Wolfe's first novel, and is considered a highly autobiographical American coming-of-age story. The character of Eugene Gant is generally believed to be a depiction of Wolfe himself. The novel briefly recounts Eugene's father's early life, but primarily covers the span of time from Eugene's birth in 1900 to his definitive departure from home at the age of 19. The setting is a fictionalization of his home town of Asheville, North Carolina, called Altamont, Catawba, in the novel.

<i>A Thousand Splendid Suns</i> 2007 novel by Khalid Hosseini

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a 2007 novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini, following the huge success of his bestselling 2003 debut The Kite Runner. Mariam, an illegitimate teenager from Herat, is forced to marry a shoemaker from Kabul after a family tragedy. Laila, born a generation later, lives a relatively privileged life, but her life intersects with Mariam's when a similar tragedy forces her to accept a marriage proposal from Mariam's husband.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kendra Jade Rossi</span> American actress

Kendra Jade is an American model, actress, and former adult film star. Jade appeared on the VH1 reality television series Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew and Sober House. During these shows, Jade was treated for sex addiction and alcoholism by Dr. Drew Pinsky.

Burning an Illusion is a 1981 British film written and directed by Menelik Shabazz, about a young British-born black woman's love life, mostly shot in London's Notting Hill and Ladbroke Grove communities. It was only the second British feature film to have been made by a black director, following Horace Ové's Pressure (1975), and is described by Stephen Bourne as "the first British film to give a black woman a voice of any kind." Imruh Bakari worked with Shabazz and co-founded Kuumba Productions with him.

<i>The Second Trip</i> 1972 novel by Robert Silverberg

The Second Trip is a 1972 science fiction novel by American writer Robert Silverberg. Prior to its publication by Doubleday, it was published in serialized form in Amazing Stories from July to September 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonya Rebecchi</span> Fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours

Sonya Rebecchi is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Eve Morey. The actress auditioned for the role and began filming in June 2009. She made her first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 14 August 2009. Sonya was introduced as a recurring guest character and dog trainer for established character Toadfish Rebecchi. When producers noticed there was a good chemistry between the characters, Morey was promoted to the regular cast in July 2010.

<i>Jerusalem the Golden</i> Margaret Drabble novel

Jerusalem the Golden is a novel by Margaret Drabble published in 1967, and is a winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1967.

Sonya Cassidy is a British actress.

<i>Bright: Samurai Soul</i> Japanese anime film

Bright: Samurai Soul is a 2021 anime film spin-off of Bright directed by Kyōhei Ishiguro from a script by Michiko Yokote and starring the voices of Yūki Nomura, Daisuke Hirakawa, Shion Wakayama, Miyavi, Maaya Sakamoto, Kenjiro Tsuda, Chafurin, Mamoru Miyano, and Kenichi Suzumura while the English dub consists of Simu Liu, Fred Mancuso, Yuzu Harada, Matt Yang King, Victoria Grace, Keone Young, and Paul Nakauchi. The film was released by Netflix on October 12, 2021.

<i>The School for Good Mothers</i> 2022 novel by Jessamine Chan

The School for Good Mothers is a 2022 debut novel by American writer Jessamine Chan. The novel concerns a woman, Frida, who is sentenced to a period at an experimental facility intended to rehabilitate mothers accused of even minor parenting infractions.

References

  1. 1 2 Ermelino, Louisa. "Lisa Harding's Sophomore Novel Comes Stateside". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2022-01-05.
  2. Berwick, Isabel (2021-03-04). "Bright Burning Things, by Lisa Harding — from Rada to rehab". Financial Times. Retrieved 2022-01-05.
  3. 1 2 Cadden, Mary. "'Bright Burning Things': A woman confronts alcoholism, past trauma in Lisa Harding's new novel". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2022-01-05.
  4. 1 2 3 Stiefvater, Sarah (2021-12-08). "In 'Bright Burning Things,' a Single Mother Struggles with Sobriety for the Sake of Her Young Son". PureWow. Retrieved 2022-01-05.
  5. Cook, Jude (2021-03-19). "Bright Burning Things by Lisa Harding review – gripping quest for self-knowledge". the Guardian. Retrieved 2022-01-06.
  6. "Review | In 'Bright Burning Things,' an alcoholic mother must choose between drinking and her son". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 2022-01-06.