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Summary and Reviews of Bright Objects by Ruby Todd

Bright Objects by Ruby Todd

Bright Objects

by Ruby Todd
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  • Jul 16, 2024, 352 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

A 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 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.

Excerpt
Bright Objects

Some might have thought it unhealthy for a new widow to begin work in a funeral home, especially the same one that just months before had sent off her husband in a premium rosewood casket. But Jericho was a small town, and I was suited to the business. I grew fond of the ritual chores, the somber quiet, the tight-lipped atmosphere of wood polish and plush carpet and heavy drapes. I enjoyed the feeling of marshaling the stricken troops to church, and the soothing sound of a casket closing. I knew the tone to take with the bereaved, knew how to slide around details as if by way of a network of delicate balustrades, to deflect death. But neither was I afraid of allowing the Reaper into the reception room as I served tea to those customers I liked best, who announced themselves with a look that was naked and steely at once, who wanted no part in a pantomime.

The work tired my body and stilled my brain, and offered at least some prospect of sleep at the end of the day. I...

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Reviews

BookBrowse Review

BookBrowse

The plot is centered around a young widow's journey to find something grounding and tangible in what feels like a meaningless world. While death and grief are huge themes, Todd juxtaposes them with the thrill surrounding the comet. I would be remiss if I didn't mention how wonderfully written Bright Objects is. In a slow-paced and reflective narrative, Todd masterfully builds suspense. She infuses history, science, and magic in her imagery of the natural world, especially when depicting the comet: "I tried to picture it, the same flaring creature passing by, a bird in flight, its wings of gas and dust blazing blue-green and white, over a planet yet to see the collapse of the Bronze Age, the birth of Babylon, the date of the biblical flood, or the beginning of recorded history."..continued

Full Review Members Only (733 words)

(Reviewed by Frankie Martinez).

Media Reviews

BookPage
Bright Objects is a riveting literary thriller of obsession, vengeance and astronomy, but its most poignant gift may be its depiction of trying to make sense of life after tragedy.

Entertainment Weekly
Ruby Todd's dazzling debut thriller blends astronomy, mystery, and romance in a story about a young widow's obsession with a once-in-a-lifetime comet brightening the sky of her small Australian town. A lesson on how grief can make people jump to extreme beliefs.

Los Angeles Times
Smart, propulsively readable...Her prose is elegant but accessible, her narrative embraces both mystery and quick plot pivots, and her protagonist, though flawed, remains sympathetic. And Todd's grip only tightens as the story turns downright chilling.

New York Times Book Review
Ruby Todd's gorgeously written Bright Objects...cranks into an unexpected thrillerish gear toward the end...the prose burns bright.

New York Times
There's a soothing, near-mystical quality to the book's language, a sense of being borne along on unseen currents…What is on the page holds up a mirror to what is in the sky — luminous, unusual, unexpected… Todd has a brilliant trick up her sleeve…a feint that brings Bright Objects to a remarkable conclusion as unexpected as it is poignant, and more original and human than any conventional cult story.

Washington Post
Bright Objects builds to a satisfying (and satisfyingly unexpected) finale. A little bit thriller, a little bit mystery, the novel's genre elements are commendably propulsive...Todd's confidence and talents augur a bright future.

Australian Book Review
That this is Todd's first book bodes well for Australian literature...the writing remains unfailingly engaging and wise. It is also darkly humorous and witty...profound, gentle, clear-eyed.

Booklist
Todd's debut is at once a soaring epic and a grounded tale...with graceful, elegant prose that walks the line between ethereal and painfully human.

Kirkus Reviews
[A] lushly detailed debut novel...Sylvia is a compellingly contradictory narrator, drawn to both stability and risk, and Todd places her in an equally complex community...a heady look at the influence of the heavens on a small patch of earth.

Publishers Weekly (starred review)
[An] intoxicating debut...Todd skillfully ratchets up the suspense on the way toward a stunning climax. The result is a lyrical and inventive literary mystery from an author whom readers will hope returns far sooner than any visiting comet.

Reader Reviews

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Beyond the Book



Comet Hale-Bopp and the Heaven's Gate Cult

Photograph of Comet Hale-Bopp in night sky, alongside stars, clouds, and blurred moon A central event in Ruby Todd's debut novel, Bright Objects, is the sighting of a comet in the atmosphere. Comet St. John appears in January of 1997 over Sylvia's small town in Australia, causing its residents, along with the rest of the world, to stargaze and ponder the mysteries of the universe.

While Comet St. John is a fictional comet, Todd has stated that the events in Bright Objects are based on the real-life Comet Hale-Bopp, which passed over Earth for an eighteen-month period in 1996 and 1997, as well as its strange connection to the Heaven's Gate cult.

Also known as the Great Comet of 1997, Comet Hale-Bopp or C/1995 O1 was discovered on July 23, 1995 by amateur astronomers Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp, who spotted...

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Read-Alikes

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