The Night the Lights Went Out by Karen White is about a young woman who is trying to survive the fallout from her divorce. Merilee Talbot Dunlap’s marriage ended after finding out her husband had an affair with one of their kids’ teachers. She moves with her two children to the Atlanta suburb of Sweet Apple, Georgia and tries to start over.
Merilee isn’t a stranger to starting over. For this fresh start, she wants to keep a low profile but her efforts to remain anonymous might be dashed when a secret local blogger starts posting about the scandalous events that caused her marriage to dissolve. Merilee tries to settle down and find peace in the cottage she is renting out from the town matriarch, Sugar Prescott.
Sugar Prescott is a feisty elderly woman who is stubborn and temperamental. However, Sugar sees something of herself in Merilee and finds herself opening up to her. Sugar has kept her own tragic past a secret from others and she refused to open herself up to others her entire life.
Merilee enjoys hearing about Sugar’s past and the two women feel like kindred spirits. They bond with each other over their respective trauma. It helps Merilee find a place to belong as Merilee struggles to fit in with the other school moms, who are better off financially than she is. Their lifestyles are also different from Merilee, who has to work to support her family.
Sugar is suspicious when Merilee befriends the Queen Bee of the group, Heather Blackford. Merilee finds herself drawn to Heather and enjoys spending time with her even though Sugar is against the friendship. As Merilee spends more time with her neighbors and community members, she realizes that everyone isn’t as nice as they seem and everyone is hiding something.
I thought the book was an interesting read. The story has a dual timeline: the present narrated mostly by Merilee and the past narrated by Sugar. Other parts of the story are peppered with the anonymous blog posts. It was interesting seeing the story told from different points of view. I liked reading the blog posts because they shared little tidbits that we wouldn’t be exposed to otherwise. It made me feel like I was a part of the Sweet Apple community reading about the local gossip and how the townspeople were reacting to it. Out of the two storylines, I did find myself enjoying Sugar’s past and waiting to learn more about the grumpy elder.
The book started off strong but towards the middle, it became boring and repetitive before picking up again. I did get annoyed at how some characters’ behavior throughout the book. Sugar felt like she was entitled to act a certain way because she was an older woman. It was also infuriating how stubborn Merilee was. For example, she was advised that someone she was close to shouldn’t be trusted and even when the facts were laid bare in front of her, she still didn’t believe it. When she was in hot water and she needed a friend and help, she refused to listen to what other people said even though it was for her benefit. She continuously avoids practicing common sense to safeguard herself.
I also didn’t like that Sugar nor her parents refused to acknowledge when a neighbor was deviant or seek help from cops. I felt like that person knew that he could get away with bad acts which is why he targeted her family. I also didn’t like how Merilee was treated by her family. They treated her so abhorrently but yet she continued to try and seek help from them, but ignored those who have her best interest at heart. I feel like this book was littered with mean characters who were only motivated by their own interests and needs.
In my opinion, the author didn’t provide adequate closure to the story line and regarding some of the characters. It felt like the author just wanted to focus on the happy parts for Merilee and provide closure for Sugar. Be advised that there is a mystery arc to the novel, if that's something you are interested in.
