I devoured Bruna Dantas Lobato's debut novel, Blue Light Hours, in one sitting. I had checked out this novel because of its setting in Bennington College of Vermont, the backdrop of Donna Tartt's famous novel The Secret History. If you miss Vermont, you should definitely check out this novel ! ❤️


This debut novel follows a young Brazilian woman navigating her new American life while maintaining connection with her mother back home through video calls on Skype. Those intimate conversations form the heart of the story, beautifully capturing the daughter's evolving identity and the growing distance between her American experiences and her mother's Brazilian life. The dialogue is tender yet raw, conveying love, longing, and adjustment challenges. The novel did not really explore other aspects of her life.

Honestly, I am someone who prefers plot-heavy narratives. So even though, I didn't feel so strongly about the book, I am hopeful that the novel will be endearing to the fans of Elif Batuman, Bronwyn Fischer, and Sally Rooney.

In Blue Light Hours, a young woman leaves her home in Brazil for college in the US. Her mother, who is sick, and lives alone remains in Brazil as the two navigate this change in their relationship. This book explores their love for each other and how that evolves as they live apart for the first time. It’s often quite emotional and does a really good job of capturing the feeling of leaving home and exploring your place in the world and also of watching someone you love grow and change as the story is told through both perspectives of the mother and daughter. While it was generally really well done and the writing was often beautiful, I did keep thinking that it might have worked better as either a short story with focus on a shorter time period, or as a longer novel that gave it the chance to expand on the story as some aspects felt sort of skimmed over.

A thoughtful and poignant novel of a mother and daughter navigating the next stages of their lives and communicating over Skype. The daughter has moved from Brazil to New England for college leaving her bereft mother behind. While things are initially shiny and new for the daughter, there's a subtle shift as the cold and life away wears on her even as the mother begins to build a new outlook for herself. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Lovely language and carefully crafted - albeit entirely relatable- characters make this a very good read.

Blue Light Hours tells the story of a daughter who moves from Brazil to the US to pursue her undergraduate degree at a prestigious university, leaving her mother behind. Each night, she connects with her mother via Skype from her small dorm room, illuminated by the blue light of her desk lamp. This book is a quiet yet powerful portrayal of the mother-daughter bond, beautifully capturing the complexities of their relationship despite the thousands of miles that separate them.

Having moved to the US for my PhD and experienced leaving family behind, this book deeply resonated with me. I saw so much of my relationship with my own mother in these pages. I laughed, cried, and felt a strong connection to the characters, often wanting to share my own experiences with them. While the personal parallels may have made the story even more special to me, I believe the book’s emotional depth would still resonate with readers who haven’t lived through something similar.

One aspect that did catch me off guard was the shift in narrative structure halfway through the book. I wasn’t entirely sure of its purpose, but it didn’t detract from my overall enjoyment of the story. For anyone seeking a short yet thoughtful and moving campus novel, I definitely revommend Blue Light Hours.

─ 𝟓 ★ 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 💙💻 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞.

“𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚏𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚋𝚘𝚠𝚕𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚝𝚎, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚋𝚘𝚠𝚕𝚜 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗, 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚘𝚘𝚗, 𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚢, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚜 𝚜𝚘 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚜𝚘𝚏𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚘𝚞𝚌𝚑, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚓𝚞𝚒𝚌𝚢 𝚙𝚒𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚗 𝚏𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚏𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚗𝚎. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚋𝚘𝚠𝚕𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚍𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚑, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎, 𝚖𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚍𝚊𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚍𝚒𝚙𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚙𝚒𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚜.”

This is a beautifully written novel, with Bruna’s lyrical prose that is as poetic as the relationship this mother and daughter have, and every single thing that brings them back together to the blue light hours sitting in front of their computer screens, sharing stories, moments and memories, helping them keep their bond intact throughout the years in this coming of age piece of work. I savoured every single page and had a wonderful time, smiling and tearing up with the tastes of happiness and worries.

Bruna was able to paint a beautifully intricate picture of a mother and daughter coming of age story and it’s deeply emotional insights, both together and apart where every single page makes you yearn more and more for them to see each other again. This novel speaks volumes with me considering I myself am Brazilian and I know how warm and sentimental we are, and the yearning was palpable, I could feel both the mother and daughter’s sentiments through the pages, with each one of their actions and sentiments being thoughtful of how each other would feel.

As the preview of the book says, “[…] 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙪𝙚 𝙜𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙪𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙬𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣 𝙙𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙥 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙘𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙠𝙚𝙮 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙙𝙙𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝙖𝙨 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙨𝙡𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙚𝙥”. It shows the fear they have to lose touch, to lose their bond, the struggle of their daily lives with their own problems. It’s just beautifully written, as well as a fast-paced read navigating both their lives and feeling their feelings. I adored the mentions of our beloved Brazil, the few sentences in Portuguese that weren’t translated to English which made me connect even more with the novel seeing the sweetness of mãe e filha 🩵.

“𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝒹𝓇𝒾𝒻𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝑜𝒻𝒻 𝓃𝑒𝓍𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝑒𝒶𝒸𝒽 𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇, 𝒶𝓇𝓂𝓈 𝓉𝑜𝓊𝒸𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔, 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝒹𝓈 𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑜𝓃 𝑒𝒶𝒸𝒽 𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇’𝓈 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹𝑒𝓇𝓈. ℱ𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓃𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉, 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑔𝓁𝑜𝓌𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓈𝒸𝓇𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝓈𝒶𝓉 𝒷𝑒𝓉𝓌𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂. ℐ𝓉 𝒷𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂 𝒾𝓃 𝒶 𝓂𝒾𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓊𝓁𝑜𝓊𝓈 𝒷𝓁𝓊𝑒 𝓁𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉.”

Thanks a lot to Netgalley, Grove Atlantic, Grove Press, Black Cat and of course Bruna Dantas Lobato for trusting me with this beautiful ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Stunningly simple. I loved it. I looked forward to reading it and dragged out finishing it just so I could savour it.

I say simple because this is just the story of a young woman and her mother communicating via Skype - the daughter having gone to study in Vermont and the mother remaining at home in Natal, Brazil.

The story takes place over five years with the daughter narrating the lion's share of the story as she finds her feet in an English speaking country, learning to cope with the cold and living in a shared home while her mother deals with an underlying illness and her only child being thousands of miles away. The mother takes over the narrative in the second half of the novel.

It is so simple but so beautiful. I read this while trying to imagine being that far from my own mother. Suffice to say I sobbed quite a bit towards the end of this book when the pair are reunited.

A beguiling tale. Highly recommended. I'd love to read more by this author.

Thankyou very much to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for the advance review copy. Much appreciated.

Beautifully captures the poignant relationship between a mother and daughter separated by distance yet connected through technology. Set against the backdrop of a Vermont college, the novel explores themes of sacrifice, identity, and the bittersweet nature of growth as the daughter navigates her new life while her mother grapples with the challenges of staying connected. The intimacy of their Skype conversations reveals both the warmth and strain of their bond, as they share rituals that bridge the gap between their vastly different worlds. Readers will appreciate Lobato's lyrical prose and deep emotional insights, making this a moving read for anyone who has experienced the complexities of love and separation in the face of change.

Blue Light Hours (2024) by Bruna Dantas Lobato is a gentle literary fiction tale of an international student attending a liberal arts college in Vermont, USA. The title graphically captures the narrative of the lives of an unnamed international student and her Brazillian mother’s constant zoom chats, that inevitably begin with the question – what’s news? Their unspoken love, vastly different worlds and daily experiences, play out against the never-mentioned unlikely home return. A touching understated ode to international students and the world they leave behind, that delicately displays the loneliness and yet life bond connection to mother. A small book with an understated emotional power that makes for a four and a half stars read rating. With thanks to Grove Atlantic and the author, for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own, freely given and without any inducement.

Blue Light Hours, the debut novel of award winning translator Bruna Dantas Lobato (to be published by Grove Atlantic on October 15, 2024), is a compact study of a close mother-daughter relationship strained by separation when the daughter leaves her home in Brazil to attend college in the northeastern United States. While the mother is suddenly dealing with a very empty nest, the daughter is adjusting to her newly-independent life at college – another culture, country, continent, hemisphere away. Connected by the blue lights of their computer screens, mother and daughter make their way through this uncharted territory of a changed relationship.

Bruna Dantas Lobato writes beautifully, and her spare, atmospheric style is perfectly suited to this push-and-pull, letting go/holding on story of separation. Quiet, tender, relatable, and surprisingly compelling, I loved this slow burn of a book.

Thank you to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on October 15, 2024.

4.5 stars, rounding to 5.

OMG, why did I relate so much to a book despite not being in any kind of situation even remotely similar to the characters in this book? The story deals with loneliness and isolation and it just hit so close to home, I absolutely loved it. I couldn't even tell you what I thought was good about this so this is a review purely based on vibes.

Blue Light Hours was a bit of a slow burn, but it ultimately captivated me. Lobato's writing is beautifully introspective, delving into the complexities of memory and the passage of time. The story unfolds at a leisurely pace, allowing you to fully immerse yourself in the protagonist's world. While some might find the lack of action a drawback, I appreciated the quiet power of Lobato's prose. The ending, in particular, left a lasting impression, reminding me of the bittersweet beauty of life's fleeting moments.

Many thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for providing me with an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have such warm feelings for this book. It feels so intimate, like one of those late-night conversations where everything feels more tender, more honest. There's a quiet depth to it, and Lobato’s writing is such a breath of fresh air—breezy, yet profound. She captures the contemplative, softer moments of life so effortlessly. This book truly feels like a gentle reflection, something you’ll want to sit with long after finishing.

What a quiet, lovely, heartfelt little novel. I read it in one sitting, but it didn't feel rushed at all. In fact, I felt it luxuriated in some of the quiet moments to great effect, evoking loneliness, homesickness, gratitude, and even connection in turn. This novel captures the conflicting feelings that come with going away to school — and I only moved 100 miles away, nowhere near 4,000. Both the mother and daughter characters felt real to me, and as someone who has spent thousands of hours on family Zoom calls, their interactions felt very true to life. This novel absolutely belongs on your fall/winter TBR!

This is a beautifully observed novel about a close daughter and mother relationship. The daughter leaves Brazil to attend college in the United States and she and her mother connect by late night skype conversations. There is a poignancy to the loneliness that each faces as they live without the one person in the world that knows and loves them best. The first part of the book is from the daughter's perspective, the second from the mother's, and finally, there is a lovely section about their eventual reunion. I loved it.

This was a sweet, wholesome read about change, mother-daughter bonds, and home. I can’t imagine moving to a whole new country for school (which both my parents did) - I went a few states away & it was enough of a culture shock. I loved the perspective from both the daughter & mom’s point of view & how they both were sacrificing in different ways for each other. Now, I need to go call my mom.

Thank you to Grove Atlantic & NetGalley for the ARC.

A nice little slice-of-life that I think anyone who has lived far from home will see something of themselves in. Ultimately a little too sparse for my taste, though, but it's such a quick read that it's still worth one's time. (It did unfortunately include my top literary pet peeve: no quotation marks.)

As a second generation Brasilian America, this book holds a very special place in my heart. Bruna was beautifully able to capture the turmoil that accompanies following your own path and leaving a part of your heart thousands of miles away. Although, I was never fully separated from my immediate family aside from going to college in a different state, I related to the loss of a strong relationship with secondary family members such as my grandparents, cousins, uncles and aunts that many people have the privilege of easily maintaining.

This book allowed me to see a bit more into what my mother had to go through and still goes through when she decided to move to America with her son, leaving her own mother, father and all she'd ever known. Often we fail to understand how truly lonely, excruciating, and heart-splitting it can be to follow through with the decision to move from home as much as it is freeing, exciting and rewarding.
I especially loved the focus of relationship in this novel -- at the end of the day home really is just where your heart is; and sometimes it is found under blue light.

I loved this book so much, and I hope that other's read it and understand a little more about the nuances of the immigrant experience.

Blue Light Hours
Genre: Fiction, literary fiction (book).
Rating: ★★★★ (4/5)

I thank NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for providing me with an advanced reader copy (ARC) of this book in return for an honest review.
***
"Blue Light Hours" was a beautiful novella. I loved the relationship between the protagonist and her mother, and the cultural aspects of the story were amazingly used, even when it didn't feel heavy. I'd recommend to students like me, who had to travel from their country to another. I found myself about to cry in some parts.

Thank you NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for an ARC of this book!

This novel is an emotional telling of the mother-daughter relationship. This story follows the communication and changes of a mother living in Brazil and daughter who has just moved to Vermont for college. While the prose feels at time minimal, it speaks to the subtle changes that come to our routine with time.

This book was so beautifully composed, it made me want to call my mom after reading. The writing style is compulsively readable, making this a very quick 1 day read. The meditative tone of this book makes the reader reflect on their familial past, and the sacrifices that are made in the present for the future.

One element that I really enjoyed about this was the matter-of-factness allotted to the school setting. There is not a lot of page space given to the curriculum at the school, but the author is able to depict the experience of attending school as a distant memory. This feels like a highly realistic portrayal of life at that age of life, which I found very convincing as a reader.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a contemplative read!

This book was incredibly touching! As a Brazilian preparing to move away from the country, this book hit really close to home!

The writing was so beautiful and so captivating, the pacing of the story was perfect, the settings and the characters… I couldn’t tell you a single bad thing about this book!