and it lights up the night

I am utterly beat -- more tired than I've been in a long time. This is because I spent the entire day in the sun. And that's no metaphor. Things have been looking sunny for June, though, and I'm getting all my paperwork squared away for attendance at NYU's publishing institute. I'm so excited, I can't even find words right now. I spent part of my sunny day reading "The Witch of Portobello," and even in my tired stupor I owe it to myself to hold English class.

I'm 40 pages in, and already I've learned quite a few life lessons. The beginning of this book is jam-packed with narrators who want to relate to the narrator/editor/biographer what they've learned in life as a result of their interaction with the title character, known as Athena. The tone implies this self-proclaimed "vessel [of] Divine Energy" existed solely to enlighten those around her about themselves.

The book is set up, as explained in the first paragraph, as a sort of biography whose narrators were involved in the subject's life. The narrator of the first paragraph refers to himself as the editor, and occasionally inserts editor's notes into the dictated story of Athena's life. The first narrator is Heron, a skeptical journalist who apparently became infatuated with Athena. His introduction is quite like what one might find in the opening of a melodramatic movie. It's wistful and self-important, paraphrasing a quote from the Bible and setting the scene for the novel with painfully flagrant suspense. It was almost like watching the trailer of the movie you've just sat down to watch. You're already committed, why waste time advertising? This is probably why I had to read the first six pages of this book four times in three sittings before I could continue.

Cue overused movie-trailer music.

LOVE. SACRIFICE. MORTALITY.
"These were her gardens, her rivers, her mountains."
IN A WORLD OF UNCERTAINTY, ONE WOMAN'S DREAMS WERE NO MATCH FOR THE BITTERNESS OF REALITY.
"... how many of us will be saved the pain of seeing the most important things in our lives disappearing from one moment to the next?"
THOSE WHO LOVED HER MOST WILL STRUGGLE TO MAKE SENSE OF HER LIFE AND DEATH.
KIERA KNIGHTLEY IS: THE WITCH OF PORTOBELLO.

Fortunately, the second narrator was much more engaging, and the characters began to take up residence in my imagination. To some, Athena was like a rock star who had to die tragically at a young age to fulfill her legendary destiny. To others, she was just another manipulative woman, who happened to enjoy exploiting her ethereal tendencies.

Introductory morals, significant quotes and vocabulary words to follow soon.