Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me.

The problem with short stories is that there tends to be an unevenness to them, and so if you go through a couple of ones that disappoint, you don't have much of an incentive to keep going.

I really loved the concept of it and I'm sure others found it much better.

The Age of Perpetual Light consists of eight tales about light and the search for more of it in our lives. Josh Weil’s stories span people, eras and places, but they are held together by the universal quality of light. Far from a cliched motif representative of the future, it stands stands as a metaphor of tenacity, entrepreneurship, and human progress. Most of the stories are set transitory moments, such as the turn of the century or the dawn of electricity. These moments are representative of the fact that despite the fact that we are always in moments of possible change, the theme of light nonetheless stands as a marker of all that is eternal.

We start with a Jewish dry goods peddler in New York at the start of the twentieth century. In No Flies, No Folly he falls in love with an Amish woman as he reveals an Edison Lamp, in a scene of rather strange yet sweet seduction. Not only does love succeed, but light ‘rising out of the darkness of the water, breaking the horizon, so many lights, so wondrous, bright, new.’ He returns in the final tale, Hello From Here, in which his younger self, a deserter from the Russian army, encounters a photographer was talking ‘always, about only one thing: light.’

The Essential Constituent of Modern Living Standards is about a farmers’ uprising against the monopoly of modern power companies, the realisation of what progress and mechanisation can result in. Power has come to the town, a world ‘opened up in holes, a dawn still stained with spots of night’ and there’s a ‘spark in our frayed ends.’ A couple’s attempt to adjust to a new life in New York could end in tears, but here there is hope, as explored in Beautiful Ground. In Angle of Reflection we hear the yearning and desperation of a Serbian immigrant teenage boy in 1990’s Vermont as he wants to see an experimental satellite, the Soviets’ ‘space mirror.’

Weil’s prose is moving and sensitive, but never overtly emotional. He uses dialect of the time and place, including Yiddish, and weaves the pathos and emotion in with an almost hidden touch. Reflections on the theme are ever present, almost like a heartbeat through the stories, drawn with a sweeping but subtle stroke across the ‘whole world. Edge to edge. Lot by the stark stare of a full Yule moon.’ as in it’s always there. Like your heartbeat

The collection was written over a decade, and follow Weil’s debut Dayton Literary Peace Prize-winning novel, The Great Glass Sea. Light is not only a continual theme, but a character in itself. There’s a sense of never giving up. Wounded hearts always want to be healed, broken bodies mended, crumbling buildings rebuilt. In the book? And in life.

Fables, noir, sci-fi…it’s all in here, and all woven together with the theme. Cab lights, fairy lights, glow worms and sunrise – every type of light features. Characters are richly drawn in masterful language, and we’re taken around the world to places familiar and new. At times things feel a little too fragmented, and it’s unclear what’s happening, but there are some real gems.

The Point of Roughness is a highlight. It sees the protagonist navigating the world with his wife Bess and adopted daughter Orly, a girl with hair ‘so fine as if spun from sunlight.’ It’s light that keeps them going through difficult times as they are forced to deal with their daughter’s autism during winter’s long dark night, and he is forced to deal with obsession, loss and love.

This isn’t about light, but people. ‘How much wattage does it take to illuminate the darkest corners of the human heart?’ he asks. That’s the real question Weil is asking. He might not find the answer, but these stories are a brave and bold exploration into why.

Interesting read although it was lacking some aspects I was looking forward to.

'The Age of Perpetual Light' is a short story collection by Josh Weil. I've got a wonky relationship with short stories because in most cases I just want more depth or information from a story. However, I came across some really great anthologies in the last years. Somehow, having a central topic and collecting stories that go along with it works really well for me.

The theme in this book was light and connected with this human progress. I believe this is an awesome choice as light has such a vital role in our lives. When I picked up the book I had two expectations: I wanted to get to know something new about a major or minor fact of human development. I mean, whole societies changed when a light was available to the majority. Otherwise, I was looking forward to exploring the different aspects of light. There are many associations that fascinate me - light as the opposite of darkness as well as light as the medium that brings people together.

To sum this up - I certainly had high hopes.
One mistake I made. I thought that different authors would contribute stories to this book. I wasn't prepared to read numerous stories written by one author. My mistake - unfortunately, the author's way of writing didn't always work for me. Sometimes reading on was a little tedious. Too many descriptions, too few actions.

There were stories in this book that I loved while others did not really stick with me. I won't summarise all of them - better explore them yourself if you read the book. My favorite story was probably 'Long Bright Line'. Weil managed to paint a vivid image of the world and feelings of Clare's world.
'The Point of Roughness' will stay with me for a whole lot of other reasons. I actually broke my heart a little.
I was not too invested in other stories which is a shame because I believe the could have been great but sometimes I just wanted more.

In the end, this was a solid read that I enjoyed although I probably will not read the book again as the book was not able to deliver what I expected.

I just couldn't get through this book. I really liked the concept, but the writing was too all over the place for me. Too much in the head and not enough in the world. Pretty disappointing.

Not all stories are created equal and Weil demonstrates just that. While the stories may seem disjointed they all share a similar theme: Light. I enjoyed the authors writing style and use of language. I do feel like some stories were weaker than others but all were well written and developed.

Fascinating collection of wonderful short stories with the theme of light to unite them. Weil has a terrific way with language, making these a pleasure to read. You'll find something to relate to in so many ways. All of the characters are "outsiders"- immigrants, people in small communities, parents struggling with a child who is different- but they all react with amazement to light. Thanks to edelweiss for the ARC. If you're a short story reader, try this collection to meet Americans throughout our history.

Weil captures the audience from page one and keeps us entertained until the last.
I was absorbed completely and didn't want to go back to every day life. That's when you know a book is good. Wonderful.

Beautiful writing. Weil is able to grab what is happening in the outer world and bring it inside of us and create a new whole which is made up of us and the outer world. Intricately beautiful and sad. He does this with both physical manifestations of the outer world like electricity, the sky mirror but also what what is happening like what happened to Shimel. He plays with cause and effect like a photographer playing with light to give us different pictures.

No Flies, No Folly
Considering the title of the collection …..this was a very good choice to start with. A great story. Shimelmy friend, yes you have to look towards the future but the past had a huge say in that as you know so well. We are made by our past each and every choice we make contributed towards that.

Long Bright Line
Clare’s obsession became Clare’s world. A world where other people were simply coincidental. The play on selfless and selfish resounds in the story. I think Clare became without self in fact, without a self which could relate, love others thus appearing selfish. In fact she was simply not there, she was up there in the sky. I wonder how it would have turned out if her world had allowed her to really get up there.

The Essential Constituent of Modern Living Standards
Power war, hole war. The war was won but the sad, desolate feeling I got after I read this made me think of pyrrhic victories.

Angle of Reflection
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/05/world/russia-s-mirror-in-space-reflects-the-light-of-the-sun-into-the-dark.html">Znamya - Banner
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Consequences - What happens when steps forward stall and sputter. I felt sad at seeing Mirza’s hopes snuffing out.

The Point of Roughness
This one made me angry and sad. I wish that she had listened when he said no, not for him, but that would have meant denial of hope and we always hope for the best for more don’t we.

Beautiful Ground
What does two Arctic explorers and a couple venturing into swinging have in common. Both are testing the limits of how much they can be together and how elastic is their relationship.

The First Bad Thing
Another perspective from the sky mirror world. I could just imagine us doing that and then reaping the consequences later, like what happened to the animals without any dark or the the plants with all that light. But also consequences to us. Every situation will have it’s strutting survivors and victims. The connection between these two so tight.

Hello From Here
So we end how we started, with Shimel. Still tied to his family, still loving, still hopeful.

I love short stories--they are amazing. And this collection held a lot of promise. However, the writing felt disjointed, and I couldn't quite figure out where these stories were trying to take me. I would start to relate to a character, and then felt like there was a random shift and I had no idea who this character was anymore. I couldn't ever get really connected. I gave up reading after a few because I just couldn't get my head around them. There were moments of lovely writing, and there was a lot of potential, I just never found it to pan out.

This is an absolutely stunning collection of short stories; brilliant, enlightening, poignant, and very very sad. The eight stories in this collection are all a wonder to read but some stories did not quite work for me. Maybe if the the brilliant stories hadn't been so fantastic I would have been more lenient; as it stands, this a near perfect collection - but not quite enough for 5 stars for me.

Josh Weil tells stories set in transitory moments - where something, often some invention, changes everything about a person's life, for better or for worse. Be it the advent of electric light in a rural community in the middle of nowhere in the US or when the invention of satelite mirrors end night as we know it in exchange for never-ending light (and productivity).

There were two stories that particularly moved me and that once again showed me what a brilliant medium the short story can be:
"Long Bright Line" - about a woman always feeling observed and at the side line who finds her calling and her destiny in her brilliant art. Weil manages to paint such vivid pictures of the art she creates that I felt a profound sadness at the fact that it doesn't exist. Juxtaposed with the advent of air travel and the way women were left out, her story was an absolute wonder.
"The Point of Roughness" - about a husband whose relationship with his wife is forever changed when their adopted daughter turns out differently than he hoped. It is a story about love and loss and about unhealthy obsession and about how some people are unable to deal with change. This story made me reel with emotions and unable to look away. It is beyond stunning and one of the best pieces of writing I have read in my life.

The stories all had a profound effect on me. I adore the way Josh Weil makes his characters come alive in the few pages we get to spend with them and how every single one of them felt unique and real, even if exaggerated in their current situations. His language is vivid and unique and full to the brim with feeling and beauty and metaphor. I am beyond impressed with this book.