On The Stars and Their Light by Olivia Hawker
by Marjory Hall
Hi, I’m Marjory Hall from Goodwell, Oklahoma with a Summer BookByte! Sometimes life gives us unexpected bonuses, like when you find a $20 bill forgotten in a pocket or when your favorite store has a buy one/get one special. For me, Olivia Hawker’s novel The Stars and Their Light was just that sort of happy surprise.
I would probably not have gravitated to this book on my own, but one of the benefits of belonging to a book club is sharing what already appealed to a trusted friend and reading buddy. The Stars and Their Light is set in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947, just at the time of the infamous UFO crash landing. Thinking I knew what to expect, I sat down to read, and I was not disappointed. All the fun and mystery associated with an inexplicable event are here, along with plot twists and characters that are realistic and engaging.
The surprise for me was that The Stars and Their Light also works beautifully on another level. The narrative provides perfect space for examination of the nature of those beliefs that ground our lives as well as the sources of those beliefs. In our earliest lives we depend upon the wisdom of people who have lived longer. They guide us to know that a stove might be hot and that we should look both ways before crossing a street. We also absorb from them our understanding of right and wrong, truth and falsehood. Testing the beliefs imparted by our elders is a natural part of growth and finding one’s own way in life. What happens, though, when understanding derived from personal experience of the world is shaken?
Along with the individuals in one’s life, there are certain institutions to which people turn for answers to the big questions of existence. Do individual lives hold significance in the wide scheme of things? In what ways are people responsible for one another? What expectations should people have of the governing institutions of the world? Is there a time when life-long obedience and trust must be abandoned in favor of lived experience? How far are people prepared to disregard their own perceptions in favor of maintaining status quo?
Each character in The Stars and Their Light must determine their own answers to these questions. The specifics of each person’s family, affiliations, and loyalties shape their actions in meaningful ways. Their personal dilemmas are compelling, leaving me wondering how I might act in a similar situation. The human predicaments of this book are what set it apart from many others set in the Roswell, Area 51 environment. While it can be amusing to wonder about visitors from another planet, I find it far more thought-provoking to consider the truths of my own life. How did I adopt them? What proof do I have that my deepest beliefs are true? What would I accept as evidence that my worldview might be fundamentally flawed?
Without spoiling the plot for anyone, I can report that the most important theme I found in The Stars and Their Light is that people do not and can never know everything. No matter how far science expands, there are certain things that are simply not within the realm of human understanding. I’m okay with that. I love knowing that there will always be some new thing to learn or explore or wonder about.
I’m Marjory Hall from Goodwell, Oklahoma, wishing everyone a happy summer full of reading adventure.
