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Darling readers, let’s start with some important information out of the gate – the action in this epistolary novel takes place shortly after a tragic mass shooting in their community.  While that awful event does not take place on the page, the main character was present for it, and is a widower because of it.  The story is about him, other survivors, and those who love them and others who were lost that day.  I was very nervous to start reading We are the Light by Matthew Quick when I realized the tragedy mentioned in the marketing copy is all too similar to a tragedy in our own community that happened merely days before.  While this may not be the case for all readers, Quick’s work offers me hope.  Please care for yourselves in the books that you chose to read, and know our DMs are open if we can be of help.

Before starting We are the Light by Matthew Quick, I knew it was a book about grief, and as I continued through Lucas’s letters to Karl, I learned more and more.  It’s also about the power of love, the beauty of tight-knit communities, and the intrinsic need to process feelings.  With the business of society that we thought might never return after the virus that shall not be named, some can seek to stuff down their feelings so they can keep moving, but it comes out in weird, often suboptimal, ways when we do this.  If Harry’s Trees is a healthy way to grieve and keep moving, then We are the Light is its dysfunctional, slightly dark, yet endearing counterpart.  

As we read through We are the Light, readers learn that Karl was Lucas’s Jungian analyst before the tragedy which left both their wives murdered, and afterwards Karl stopped seeing his analysands.  Lucas is left trying to function as an independent adult, even though he can’t bring himself to return to work at the local high school.  He’s subsisting with the help of his wife’s best friend Jill, who’s moved in with him.  Then Eli, the younger brother of the perpetrator of the tragedy, starts camping in Lucas’s backyard, while also avoiding his last year of high school.  From there, we follow along via Lucas’s letters to Karl as Lucas attempts to help Eli, himself, and the other survivors of the tragedy find some healing.  Chaos, hilarity, and drama ensue, all of which lead Lucas to be forced to face his trauma and loss in some unfortunate, but productive ways.  

Though I was nervous, I really found We are the Light to be a bit cathartic personally.  I recognize it’s not for everyone, but the sarcasm, levity, and realistic feel Quick brings to the page through his writing was definitely for me, perhaps a bit in spite of the subject matter.  I’m giving the novel four solid stars for an inventive story, gorgeously told and a special thanks to Coach Knox McCoy of The Popcast with Knox and Jamie for Greenlighting it. I’m definitely interested in Quick’s other works, and will be trying to remember to sandwich them in between some delightfully predictable romance novels in case they’re a bit too real for comfort.  

What’s a novel that was hard to read, but oh so worth it?

~Nikki 

Matthew Quick is the New York Times bestselling author of Silver Linings Playbook, which was made into an Oscar winning movie starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, as well as eight other novels including his newest release, this week’s title We are the Light. He and his works have been nominated for countless awards and lists including the LA Times Book Prize, Summer’s Best Books for NPR, and The Hollywood Reporter’s 25 Most Powerful Authors. He lives in the Outer Banks of North Carolina with his wife, novelist Alicia Bessette.

Majestic, Pennsylvania, is the small, fictional town where the epic tragedy occurs that causes our narrator, Lucas Goodgame, to become the town hero. Even before the tragedy that begets the necessity of Lucas writing letters to his Jungian analyst instead of attending sessions with Karl, we come to find out through bits and pieces of the letters that Lucas was already somewhat of an unsung hero in the town. Throughout his years as a high school counselor it seems that Lucas was able to guide many a troubled teen through adolescence, including Bobby the cop who we get to meet on several occasions. His work with Eli is not a surprise from a career standpoint, but one of recent personal history with Eli’s family. I did feel like Lucas was a bit of an unreliable narrator because of his recent personal tragedy, so take that information and do with it as you will. 

I enjoyed the way Quick used Lucas’s letters to his Jungian analyst Karl as the way to chronicle Lucas’s journey in and around his grief after becoming a widower in a very unexpected and tragic way. I have not read many epistolary novels, and We Are The Light was an excellent read, especially given the recent parallel tragedy in my own community just a few days prior to reading it. Definitely read the marketing copy and do not fear to put it down and not pick it back up if the themes are too heavy for you at any point. I also found it cathartic and even slightly fantastical in the way the community helps Lucas and Eli in their project and everyone heals some part of themself. I am giving We Are The Light 3.5 and rounding up to four stars for the writing, pace, and characters. I did love Bobby the Cop, especially at the end. Grief’s journey is different for everyone, and this look into Jungian psychology is readable and recommendable.

~Ashley

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