Welcome to Litsy!

Lucas Goodgame survived a mass shooting in his small hometown, but his wife was killed. We meet him soon after as he is wading through his grief. He finds purpose in befriending a young man who needs help, and together they help the town begin to heal. It‘s a strange and moving story, and while it is sad, it has beautiful moments of hope and redemption. The audiobook narrator was incredible and I found Lucas so compelling. A very affecting story.

I wanted to love this book because I love the author, but it just wasn‘t for me. I don‘t know if it was the epistolary style or the story, but I found it really hard to get into and super boring in parts. I felt like the story came across as disjointed and I never got to a point where I really was excited to see what would happen.

This book is written in letter format which I was skeptical about initially. Be aware it is about gun violence in a small town. The main character is working through his grief by helping the brother of the gunman. The pieces of this book come together just when you need them to. I didn‘t have dry eyes when it ended. Definitely a tear jerker but a worthwhile read.

Full Review and Recipe that Matches the Book: https://bakingthroughbookclub.com/2023/08/12/the-best-of-your-soul/

Although it was a little slow, this book had me in tears. It not only addresses the healing that a community must go through after a mass shooting, but also the difficulty of being a member of the perpetrator's family. What happens when someone you love dies, but you're not allowed to mourn them because of their heinous actions?

S'mores on the deck whilst listening to an audio book. Spring is here!

…every healer is a wounded person first 💔

Absolutely loved this book. Heavy topic but handled beautifully.

Creatively and beautifully done. I loved it. And cried.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4.5/5)

“We Are The Light” is utterly heartbreaking, tragic, and dark; yet its themes simultaneously gives you hope and healing. This book was unique as it is basically just letters from Lucas to his analyst, but Quick does an excellent job writing the story in this manner. The last chapter broke my heart, but it also managed to stitch it back together again and ended Lucas‘ journey beautifully.

December #bookishbingo.

Book 150 of the year and completed my #goodreads reading challenge of the year!

Have you ever grown away from enjoying an author? I used to love the quirky way Quick dealt with trauma and mental illness in books like The Silver Linings Playbook and The Good Luck of Right Now, both of which I loved 10 years ago, but I‘m just not connecting with him anymore, so I‘m bailing at 37%. Not gonna lie, definitely kind of bummed about this. 🥺😢

Sweet sweet book.

Who is chopping onions so early in the morning?!?!???? 😩😭😭😭😭 I really love this look into tragedy, loss, recovery, the human spirit, mental health, and found family.

I‘ve experienced grief from toddler through adulthood. You‘d think I‘d have a handle on it by now, but I‘ve learned and accepted that‘s impossible because grief is a shape-shifter. This book is a gut-punch healing read. It is full of triggers if tragedy and it‘s aftermath is too much for the reader right now. But if you can emotionally handle the story, it‘s quite good.

I loved the movie “The Silver Linings Playbook” but never read the novel (or anything by Matthew Quick). This is my first Quick and it pains me to say I‘m underwhelmed. I love writers that choose to portray the ripples from a tragic event in a small town (Russell Banks‘ The Sweet Hereafter is an all-time fave) but I just struggled through this one. I think the epistolary format didn‘t help. Are there other Quicks worth exploring?

I wanted all the books but I just picked two. #BOTM #TBR

This is a wonderful book about grief and guilt in the aftermath of a mass shooting. It will make you both laugh and cry. We follow the character of Lucas, who lost his wife to the event, through his letters to his therapist. Quick explores what these seemingly ever more common events do to the survivors of the victims and the family of the perpetrators, as well as the effect on the town as a whole. I thoroughly enjoyed it. 4/5 stars.

This is an epistolary novel composed of letters written by Lucas Goodgame written to his Jungian analyst. It is a diary of sorts written after Lucas witnessed a mass shooting in the town‘s movie theater on Christmas Eve. Lucas‘s wife, along with 17 others, lost their lives that night. Lucas was considered a hero in the town of Majestic, PA after taking down the shooter by himself. But, Lucas has a long way to go in his healing efforts.

This quirky, powerful, & surprising novel, set in the aftermath of a mass shooting, is told through a survivor‘s letters to his Jungian analyst. Lucas is determined to heal his town through connection & creativity but is hiding the secret that his slain wife is now an angel who visits him nightly. I had my doubts, but I read the last pages through tears, reflecting on all the heartbreak we endure and all the healing we‘re capable of as humans.

We Are The Light is an emotionally riveting novel that will break your heart, then heal it. The town of Majestic, PA is recovering from a tragic massacre in their historic theater, as told in letters from survivor Lucas Goodgame to his Jungian therapist. As Lucas grieves for the loss of his wife, he takes in Eli, a teenager with an unfortunate connection to the shooting. Together they devise an unlikely plan to heal their broken community.

Wonderful book mail anew book by the award winning Matthew Quick.