Review of Daylight Saving by Edward Hogan

Review of Daylight Saving by Edward Hogan

pub Feb 2012 Walker 9781406337174

            “History’s a circle… a cycle. A loop”

            What would you do if you fell in love with a girl who was dead – and having to die again and again every year – trapped in the loop of her own demise?

            The first person narrative of Daniel in Daylight Saving gives a personal but distinctly normal tone that is frequently lacking in young adult fiction, and the balance Hogan creates between the strange meetings with Lexi – the dolphin-like girl who spends all her time by the lake and who’s injuries consistently worsen – and the attempts to keep his recently single, poorly coping father content without the help of a bottle, is superb – allowing the reader to identify with their storyteller but still letting the mystery keep them at a slight distance.

            Continuing to read as the tender feelings between the two characters develop is touching, and I am unashamed to admit the lump in my throat when it came to the end of the book. After all, to “touch someone and then let them go” takes a lot of strength, and it is easy to fall for Daniel’s everyday hero as he fights to free Lexi from the loop, even though it means he will lose her.

            Similar to a Shakespearean tragedy in terms of the catharsis feeling the reader is left with after turning the final page, Edward Hogan’s Daylight Saving is a moving story that remains in the mind long after it is returned to the bookshelf.

By Becky Steels