Bright Objects by Ruby Todd is a beautiful story that tackles love, grief, cults, and more. The story flows beautifully and the prose is gorgeous by Todd. I love the inclusion of astronomy in the novel and the journey to reach the ending was fun and really drew me into the novel.

Sylvia Knight is a young widow struggling to put her life together after the loss of her husband in a car accident. Things suddenly change for her when she meets astronomer Theo St. John who has recently discovered a rare comet that will be visible to the naked eye. Sylvia’s life has been filled with darkness, and as she experiences the comet’s brightness, she learns from the local mystic, Joseph Evans, that the comet will bring a divine message to all that experience its brightness.
Sylvia tries to understand the true meaning of this celestial phenomenon and what it means to those who experience it. The townspeople's initial anticipation of the comet's arrival has slowly turned to questions and fear of the unknown. Despite it all, as the comet grows in size and brilliance, Sylvia continues to push ahead to find the person who caused her husband’s accident.
It is a beautifully written, must-read with an edge-of-the-seat ending.

A story of grief, new beginnings, betrayal set with a back drop of an asteroid's journey past the earth.

I really enjoyed this, and did not see the ending coming.

I just reviewed Bright Objects by Ruby Todd. #NetGalley

Thank you to NetGalley, Ruby Todd, and Simon & Schuster Publishing for this arc of Bright Objects, out July 16, 2024!

This literary fiction novel weaves in astronomy and mystical features, as well as tastes of mystery. A unique take on all of these genres.

When we first meet Sylvia, she is a newly widowed wife, working at a funeral home. May sound weird to some, but the quirky quietness and calm of the parlor soothes her.

Then she runs into Theo, a possible new client, who is studying a rare comet that’s on its way to Earth. Theo comet is stirring up many feelings in the scientific world, as well as everyday people, trying to find meaning in this space phenomena. Just as she felt the universe pulsing when her and her late husband Christopher met, she feels the draw from the universe for something else… for maybe a new romance? A friend?

After the hit and run two years ago, her husband’s case got cold and with no new leads available, she promises to find the person who killed her husband. She wants the justice he deserves, even if no one will help…

Then she meets Joseph, a new client who is trying to plan a funeral for his mother. [ One thing he said that stuck with me is that when something as deep feeling as losing someone you love is, how many monumental decisions do you have to make almost immediately. ]
He is torn between doing what she would want, and what he thinks she deserves. And that made me think… After losing someone that you love, you are in a deep, dark place, and then are forced to make so many big life decisions almost immediately.

Joseph is a quirky man, who is deeply influenced by the comet and all its wonder. He believes that this is showing him something pure and divine, and she gets wrapped up in his world, along with Sandy, her mother in law.

After getting involved with Joseph and his cult-ish ways regarding life, death, superstitions, and the oncoming comet… She finds herself entwined in a world with Theo, the astronomer who is studying this approaching comet, the one that’s named after him. In almost perfect timing, new leads are brought to the surface, she has to start worrying about her mother in law and their stance on Joseph’s meditations, the approaching comet and its cosmic consequences, and stay on track to find her husband’s killer. As months go by until the arrival of the comet, her life is full of discoveries, questioning of celestial coincidence, and finding herself.

Overall, this was a unique take on a novel about astronomy, and it’s influences on human behaviors, romance, grief, and a splash of mystery. It took me a little to really dig in, but once it started unraveling, I was excited to get to the end. The story flows nicely and ties together pieces of the puzzle!

*Trigger warning : suicidal thoughts*

BOOK REPORT
Received a complimentary copy of Bright Objects by Ruby Todd from Simon & Schuster/NetGalley, for which I am appreciative, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Scroll past the BOOK REPORT section for a cut-and-paste of the DESCRIPTION of it from them if you want to read my thoughts on the book in the context of that summary.

For years my brother and I had a running joke about this book we read, I guess when we were teenagers. It was a novel set in Canada during the Cold War, and…….nothing happened. As you read it, you kept _thinking_ something was going to happen, some major plot development to make all that had happened thus far make sense, but, no. No payoff. None whatsoever. It truly was one of the most boring books in the history of known time..

If memory serves (which it doesn’t, always, given my largely misspent youth), B even tracked the book down and gave me a copy of it when we were younger adults. It is KILLING ME not to be able to remember the name of it. I swear I thought I still had it but can’t find it on my Forever Shelves.

Anywhoodles, Bright Objects by Ruby Todd certainly did put me in the mind of ^^that^^ book. SO much overwrought tension for SO many pages, for seemingly little to no reason. Boring, boring, boring, to the point that I put it down and read an entire other book before picking it back up. I am glad I at least finished it, because I was curious to see if something finally would happen.

It did. Well, some things did, to be fair.

But by that point? I just didn’t even care. Mainly because I couldn’t empathize with any of the characters, I guess.

Yes, yes, I’m aware that thus far I’m in the minority when it comes to not loving this book. So be it. Just not for me.


DESCRIPTION
AA young widow grapples with the arrival of a once-in-a-lifetime comet and its tumultuous consequences, in a debut novel that blends mystery, astronomy, and romance, perfect for fans of Emma Cline’s Mi>The Girls and Ottessa Moshfegh’s Death in Her Hands.

Sylvia Knight is losing hope that the person who killed her husband will ever face justice. Since the night of the hit-and-run, her world has been shrouded in hazy darkness—until she meets Theo St. John, the discoverer of a rare comet soon to be visible to the naked eye.

As the comet begins to brighten, Sylvia wonders what the apparition might signify. She is soon drawn into the orbit of local mystic Joseph Evans, who believes the comet’s arrival is nothing short of a divine message. Finding herself caught between two conflicting perspectives of this celestial phenomenon, she struggles to define for herself where the reality lies. As the comet grows in the sky, her town slowly descends further and further into a fervor over its impending apex, and Sylvia’s quest to uncover her husband’s killer will push her and those around her to the furthest reaches of their very lives.

A novel about the search for meaning in a bewildering world, the loyalty of love, and the dangerous lengths people go to in pursuit of obsession, Bright Objects is a luminous, masterfully crafted literary thriller.

"Bright Objects" is an enjoyable read. The writing is gorgeous and the story is intriguing. The protagonist is the grieving widow of a hit and run accident. The story involves a rare comet, a unique courtship, and a cult. I anticipated the ending, but it was still fun to get there. Recommended for lovers of literary fiction and/or astronomy. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. #BrightObjects

Truly sensational! A fantastic look at the journey through loss, finding justice, new love and possibly back to loss. A heart wrenching portrait of life.

The setting is in Australia in 1997 where our leading lady has been widowed due to a hit and run driver two years previously. She was badly injured in the accident and nearly died herself. Or rather, she did die and returned to life a few minutes later. She is currently working at a funeral home and living alone.

Theo St John, our leading man, is an American astronomer currently living in Australia. He has discovered a comet, the brightest yet to grace our planet, and will be in Australia for the comet’s advent as it will be its brightest and closest at that point.

There are lots of emotional interplays throughout the book. Many of these deal with death or funerals, some deal with human events associated with historical comets.

This book covered a lot of territory, and obviously was designed to be a fictional account of the Heaven’s Gate Cult mass suicide in 1997 with the Hale-Bopp comet.

I appreciate receiving this early reader’s copy from NetGalley and the publisher, Simon & Schuster, in exchange for an honest review. Those readers interested in cults of the cosmos and the emotional effects of comets will really enjoy this.