Scan barcode
A review by livlosiewicz
We Are the Light by Matthew Quick
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Pros:
•the book tackles important topics (massacre, trauma) and generates interesting discussion
•I thought the ending was well-done and provides a nice perspective on trauma and its impact
•It’s short, pretty interesting, and doesn’t have a lot of dead space
Cons:
•the ending does provide context that helps this, BUT the premise of this book is that the main character is stalking his former analyst (apparently this is different from a therapist). The cops have told him to stay away. It was really hard for me to root for Lucas even if I empathized with him. Could Lucas have just written the letters and not sent them??
•In addition to his stalking, Lucas was a really annoying narrator. He was childish to the point where I wondering if he had some sort of neurodevelopmental or neurocognitive disability? Did he? I don’t think so? I think this was because of the trauma, and I get that, but this combined with the stalking made it hard for me to be in Lucas’s corner
•Why did the relationship between Lucas and Jill have to be romantic? Did we need that? Whyyyy?
•It was weird how everything came together so perfectly. Wow these movie theater owners in a tiny tiny town happen to have all of these amazing film connects! Was that not a little too weird?
•Maybe this is my own fault for picking up a book that heavily features Jungian analysis, but I did not appreciate Lucas’s digs on cognitive behavioral therapy. It may not work for everyone but hi it’s the gold standard let’s not universally knock it!! That is harmful!!
Recommendation: This is an epistolary novel about a really heavy subject matter that has some nice hopeful notes as well. I recommend to people who don’t mind heavy books/appreciate reading about explorations of trauma. I thought the trauma in this book was generally purposeful, which I can appreciate. It also didn’t like, wreck my soul to read (probably because I couldn’t relate to the narrator), but you can’t pretend it’s not heavy. There’s additionally a mysterious element that I liked. My biggest issue was that I found the narrator really unlikable. This is certainly partially colored by my experience as a therapist and identifying with the analyst he is sort of stalking, so I imagine others could move past that, but at the end of the day, he was still sort of annoying. So avoid if that will bother you or if the heaviness of the subject matter will be too much!
•the book tackles important topics (massacre, trauma) and generates interesting discussion
•I thought the ending was well-done and provides a nice perspective on trauma and its impact
•It’s short, pretty interesting, and doesn’t have a lot of dead space
Cons:
•the ending does provide context that helps this, BUT the premise of this book is that the main character is stalking his former analyst (apparently this is different from a therapist). The cops have told him to stay away. It was really hard for me to root for Lucas even if I empathized with him. Could Lucas have just written the letters and not sent them??
•In addition to his stalking, Lucas was a really annoying narrator. He was childish to the point where I wondering if he had some sort of neurodevelopmental or neurocognitive disability? Did he? I don’t think so? I think this was because of the trauma, and I get that, but this combined with the stalking made it hard for me to be in Lucas’s corner
•Why did the relationship between Lucas and Jill have to be romantic? Did we need that? Whyyyy?
•It was weird how everything came together so perfectly. Wow these movie theater owners in a tiny tiny town happen to have all of these amazing film connects! Was that not a little too weird?
•Maybe this is my own fault for picking up a book that heavily features Jungian analysis, but I did not appreciate Lucas’s digs on cognitive behavioral therapy. It may not work for everyone but hi it’s the gold standard let’s not universally knock it!! That is harmful!!
Recommendation: This is an epistolary novel about a really heavy subject matter that has some nice hopeful notes as well. I recommend to people who don’t mind heavy books/appreciate reading about explorations of trauma. I thought the trauma in this book was generally purposeful, which I can appreciate. It also didn’t like, wreck my soul to read (probably because I couldn’t relate to the narrator), but you can’t pretend it’s not heavy. There’s additionally a mysterious element that I liked. My biggest issue was that I found the narrator really unlikable. This is certainly partially colored by my experience as a therapist and identifying with the analyst he is sort of stalking, so I imagine others could move past that, but at the end of the day, he was still sort of annoying. So avoid if that will bother you or if the heaviness of the subject matter will be too much!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence and Mental illness
Minor: Suicide