Reviews with content warning for Drug abuse - In the Wild Light

“Life often won't freely give you moments of joy. Sometimes you have to wrench them away and cup them in your hands to protect them from the wind and rain.”

I tend to love Jeff Zentner's writing, so I'm still not sure why it took me this long to finally pick up In The Wild Light other than the fact that I just don't read a lot of YA anymore. Big mistake, I would say, because I absolutely loved every single minute I spent with it. This book deserves the full 5 stars for the writing alone, which is a true work of art. There is just something about the way this author waves his words together that is simply glorious, and I soaked up every single page like a bear starving after a long winter. There is so much more to love though. In The Wild Light is partly set in Tennessee, and the Southern vibe truly shines through in its characters. I fell in love with both Cash and Delaney almost straight away, and my heart ached for Papaw. There are so many fantastic characters in general, and I loved what especially Alex, Vi and Bree added to the plot. This story gives us a realistic and heartbreaking take on grief as well as the power of friendship and healing. There are so many quotes and hidden messages along the way, and the development of the topic is beautifully done. I'm usually not that big of a fan of a school setting, but in this case I loved how it was incorporated into the plot, and especially how the private school setting affected the main characters. There is so much growth and learning going on, and you cannot help but root for them and hope that everything will work out in the end. Of course there is also that feeling of dread of what you already know is about to come... Make sure to keep your tissues at hand, because it will be VERY hard to keep it dry! In The Wild Light is without doubt a masterpiece and I cannot recommend it enough if you enjoy a well written, emotional, gritty and character-driven YA contemporary that is both heartbreaking and extremely beautiful at the same time.

Content Warnings

thebeesknees79's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. What do you say about a book that basically ripped your heart out, stitched it up carefully and placed it right back where it belongs? Cash’s story is going to sit with me forever. Normally I can find something irritating about at least one of the characters (aside from hating the characters we're supposed to hate). But this story? This crew? They’re all perfectly imperfect. It’s raw, it’s real, this is an excellent account of a small town duo getting to see another side of life to help them decide if small town living is how they want to spend their lives. This book gave me all the feels, from the deft handling of opioid addiction, grief, and that feeling of “otherness”. I can’t say enough good things about this book, and I cannot stop recommending it to everyone I know!

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tmcphetridge4's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I really liked this book! I wouldn't have picked it up if not for the class that I am helping to teach this fall. But I am really glad I did! I've been advertising this book as a book on relationships of all kinds: mentorships, familial relationships, friendships, romances... it has just about everything! I thought that Cash's perspective and experiences were so unique and refreshing, in the sense that he has a certain "strength through adversity" that doesn't feel inherently toxic. I know that the author wanted to tackle toxic masculinity and I think it was done really well. There was only one part of the book that I wasn't really a fan of, but I can't forsee a way around it. Other than that, I thought it was deeply tragic, yet still hopeful for a better future.

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katievallin's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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library_kb's review

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emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This book was beautifully written and so powerful. It explores grief and depression, but also the power of friendship, poetry, and bravery. It made me cry several times. It is a slower paced novel, but it has short chapters, and after the first 100 pages, I was fully invested in Cash's story. I particularly appreciated the way that grief was explored prior to death with a long term dehabilitating illness. The poems written throughout were powerful, and some of the prose describing the purpose of poetry was some of the most powerful explanations for why it is "useful" while also being "useless" at the same time.

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greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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hdcamp's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Oh my

This was fantastic, ok? I get the sense that this book will work best for specific people/at a specific time. The reasons I loved this are very particular to this place and time in my life. This isn't a disclaimer though - the writing, story, and characters are beautifully and empathetically executed, and I firmly believe that just about anyone could see that and relate to it in some way. BUT the things I loved about this are because of who I am, which means this is probably going to be a pretty worthless, me-centric review. Yay! Strap in!

1. Home
Sawyer, Tennessee is a character in this book. This thing lives and breathes Appalachia, and I felt like I was there sitting on the porch next to Cash and Pep. One of my favorite things as a reader and a writer is the successful evocation of a place; if you can see it, smell it, hear it, and feel like you've been there, the author has done all the right things. I had a less vivid picture of Middleford, but that feels right too - Cash would be reminded more of his home when he's seeing the campus, so even though seasons and landscapes in Connecticut (is that even where they were?) were described to us, I feel like we spent all our time in Sawyer.

2. Family
Family is super complicated my dudes. Everything about this was so real - Cash's hesitancy to open up about it, the closeness of his relationship with Delaney, the ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING about Mamaw and Papaw and his mom. Beautifully done.

3. Income insecurity
Just this you guys. Normalizing the little struggles Cash and Delaney experienced was so important to me. I think what made it great was that they were never really embarrassed by it, just acknowledged the inconvenience of it, AND their friends never talked down or condescended to them, despite the fact that they likely deduced they didn't have much money.

4. Mental hekkin Health
Cash's struggles with depression were so real and so good. The way his grief was depicted was true and accurate and so needed. I admire the pain Zentner was able to bring out on the page, for both Cash and Delaney. *applause applause*

5. Poetry - writing as a process of healing
Gosh darnit if this isn't incredibly true. Writing (for me) allows me to condense big thoughts and feelings down into manageable words. There's something truly good about the challenge of trying to let the ideas and feelings be big, and find the right words to describe something that is beyond us. It's the opposite of escapist. It's getting right in the middle of ourselves and pulling things out and shining some light on them. I think the world would be a better place if we did more of this, however we need.

I can't even explain to you how great this book was. I'm writing all these ideas and they're not big enough somehow, but I'm sleepy and hungry and I finished this book like a month ago so at the same time a lot of my feelings have faded which means I'm struggling to adequately express myself. It hurt, and it was hopeful, and I was crying all over my lunch like a real professional (apparently, since that's what I am). Highly recommend. Bring tissues.

Content Warnings

tinytrashqueen's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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