This was a good book, though dark and sad and a bit twisted. It's told through a series of letters that Lucas writes to his therapist after a mass shooting where Lucas' wife is killed. It tells the story of how Lucas brings the survivors and the brother of the shooter together to make a movie to help heal the town. It's a story of grief and how people to try survive and work through it. I enjoyed it.

Though definitely a number of trigger warnings.

This one really wasn’t for me- I gave it until 10% and I had to quit. I’m sure would be fantastic for someone else!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I love Matthew Quick, I've read every single book he's released. He was a talent in writing complex characters and portrays mental health/illness in the most realistic way possible. I loved this story.

An incredibly solid book about death and grieving but also about finding life and finding purpose in continuing forward even amid pain. I can't wait to get a hold of more books by this author!

Thank you Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for the chance to read We are the light by Matthew Quick. I was intrigued after reading the synopsis of We are the light, and when I saw the author had written The silver linings playbook, I thought I might like it. However, I quickly realized this wasn't the book for me. The book is told by the narrator through letters to his therapist. While I have enjoyed other epistolary format novels, I could not get into this one and it was not what I thought the book would be about. The pacing was slow, and the main character was totally unlikeable. It also didn't help that it was about the aftermath of a mass shooting; not exactly what I feel like reading right now. After picking it up and putting it down several times, I forced myself to skim to the end.

I’m writing this review right after finishing this novel, and I feel emotionally depleted. It is a thought-provoking, relevant, and moving novel. With every tragic event that inundates our newsfeeds, there was no way that this book wouldn’t hit hard. We Are the Light deals with the tragedy, grief, trauma, PTSD, and healing after a heinous act leaves eighteen people dead in small-town Pennsylvania.

While each victim and citizen handled the tragedy differently, Quick examined Lucas’s mental state and his undoing, especially after his psychoanalyst stopped taking his weekly appointments with him. His analyst had been his saving grace for a few years, helping Lucas overcome many issues in his life. Now that his life had been changed forever, Lucas felt he needed his analyst’s guidance now more than ever.

We Are the Light is written in epistolary style from Lucas to his psychoanalyst. This gave the novel a very personal feel. I felt Lucas’s pain and desperation through each letter that he penned.

While this novel is dark at times, and the subject matter disturbing, it is also filled with a great deal of hope. Hope for the survivors, hope for the community, and hope for healing. It speaks of the fragility, but also the strength and resilience of the human psyche.

Quick writes with great emotion, grace, and care regarding the topic and his characters. It is a thoughtful novel and a heartfelt portrayal of mental illness. Lucas’s pain and suffering was palpable and dripped off the pages, or maybe those were just my tears.

*4 Stars

Quick is a successful American author who is best known for his book "The Silver Linings Playbook", which was made into an Oscar winning film. This new release is written in the form of letters by the character of Lucas to his therapist. Lucas was in the local theatre when a gunman shot and killed people, including his wife. The town looks to him as a hero for taking the gunman down, but he feels differently about the event. He also thinks his dead wife visits him in the form of an angel. When the 18-year-old brother of the gunman, who has been ostracized, begins camping out in his yard, Lucas decides to work with him to heal the victims and the town. This is a wonderful story about grief and the power of friendship and is told with some humour. It would be a wonderful recommendation for fans of authors such as Fredrick Backman. I enjoyed it!

This book really took hold of me. The beautiful and horrendous ways we cope with tragedy.

It’s a story of a man coming to terms with a tragic loss and the ways we offer and receive support. The way we put blind faith on tools and people that let us down and can devastate us. But how when we open ourselves up to the “tension between two opposites” we can heal.

A gorgeous book. Thank you NetGalley and Simon and Shuster Canada for the advance copy.

This epistolary novel is well-written and has an interesting plot, but I had a difficult time with the heavy-handed addition of Jungian theory and semi-unlikable main character.

We Are the Light follows local hero and gun violence survivor Lucas Goodgame as he forms an unlikely alliance with an ostracized teen. Told through a series of letters written to his Jungian analyst, Lucas attempts to heal his traumatized community through his and his new pupil's ambitious project.

Lucas is a deep believer of Jungian theory and has a strong attachment to (read: obsession with) his analyst, Karl. After their weekly sessions are cancelled indefinitely, Lucas regularly stalks and harasses the poor man but avoids any serious trouble because he's friends with a police officer and is considered the town hero. I didn't find Lucas to be a very likeable character, but I do recognize he was dealing with severe trauma which makes it more difficult to judge his true character.

Speaking of Jungian theory: if you're not a fan, you might want to skip this one. I can usually handle some jargon now and then, but it's mentioned alllllll the time which deeply affected my reading experience. I didn't think it would be so intense.

The synopsis says this book offers an 'antidote to toxic masculinity'. I appreciate that Quick showed his male characters during their grieving process and using art to aid in their emotional healing, but is that really all it takes to squash toxic masculinity? In the same vein, I also felt the portrayal of female characters was a bit off, but I can't quite put my finger on why. Maybe it's how Jill does so much emotional and physical labour for Lucas (i.e, cleaning, cooking, paying his bills, laundering, consoling, etc) without much acknowledgement. She's grieving Darcy too, as well as running her business and taking care of Lucas as if he was her child.

The ending was fantastic and emotional, even if a bit predictable.

While this book wasn't my cup of tea personally, I'd still recommend We Are the Light to other readers. (Especially readers who are versed in Jungian theory or, even better, Jung fans themselves; you guys will love this.)

I'll probably try another one of Quick's books to see if I like those ones more since his writing was honestly wonderful.

Thank you so much to Simon & Schuster Canada for giving me the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review!

This book's blurb says it is a humorous, soul-baring story and I couldn't agree more. As usual Quick deals with mental health themes with humour and wit but also with sensitivity while not holding any punches, I admire this. I loved that the emotionally sensitive main character was male, it is rare to see that in literature so it was a refreshing change of pace for me. The epistolary format was a big hit with me as it gave me a first-hand look into Lucas' mind, he was a well-rounded fully fleshed-out character. I felt so much for Eli as well, what a horrible time he is going through, yet so lucky to have found Lucas. My emotions were all over the place while reading this and I so enjoy it when a novel can do that. I enjoyed this book because it felt so real and was all-consuming and I viscerally felt everything the characters were going through, it was that emotive. Quick is one of the best authors out there when it comes to writing about the human condition. All. The. Stars.