A Lite Too Bright features Arthur Pullman the third, who is known for his famous grandfather,
the author of a bestselling classic, A World Away. However, Arthur’s grandfather had died after a
long time faced with Alzheimers disease. After Arthur had faced a trial in court for allegedly
attempting to hit his girlfriend, he is sent to live with his aunt and uncle. Not long after, he sees a
hidden note in an old book of his grandfather and quickly leaves in order to figure out what his
grandfather was trying to say. In the span of a couple days, Arthur believes he will have figured
out his grandfather’s last words. Traveling from train to train, city to city, state to state, Arthur
soon befriends a British girl named Mara, who is willing to help him find his grandfather’s clues.
But soon after, Mara leads Arthur to a hidden organization, the Great Purpose, who practically
worship Arthur’s grandfather, and have reason to believe that he’s still alive. Arthur and Mara
embark on a journey to figure out who his grandfather truly was and accept the present as it is,
soon uncovering the many secrets that were kept from them.
This was a very long read, spanning to about 450 pages. Did the novel put all those pages in
good use? No, not really! This book was so boring and had a really annoying protagonist. He
doesn’t admit that he had tried to hit his girlfriend, except for admitting that he only hit because
he wanted to break the ring around his finger. He had anger issues but trusted way too many
people easily- a British stranger who wants to help you find your dead grandfather’s clues
despite you just meeting her two seconds ago? Sure, no questions asked. He was desperate to
find clues and didn’t think any reasonable decisions. However, this book describes trauma and
Alzheimers in great detail, along with the grief that many face after losing someone important.
But I have to say, the ending felt a bit rushed, and instead of the main character finding any
clues, they were practically handed to him in the last few chapters. Also, the ending was a bit
confusing as well, but no spoilers. Now, I have nothing against long books but this novel was so
slow and the plot literally went nowhere. I know that it’s supposed to be in the genre of “coming
of age” but was more of forced teen literature for people to relate to. The characters didn’t even
go through any character development besides them realising that they found out what happened
to the grandfather. If you compared the protagonist to the beginning of the novel, there are hardly
any significant changes. Nonetheless, it was an alright read if you like books that has the
characters coming to conclusions without any explanations whatsoever.