We Are Light

This story chronicles the aftermath of a woman's death and its impact on her the roommates. The structure of the story was so clever and well done! The use of various characters and inanimate objects as the narrator really showcased the author's storytelling skill. I was especially taken with the chapter where the story itself took a turn as the narrator. I've never read a book quite like this and I thought it was such a wonderful way to delve deeper into the story and these characters. The characters live an unconventional life that has devastating consequences but the author does marvelous job building their world so that you understand their motivations and why they might be drawn to this way of life.

Content notice: This book includes a girl with an eating disorder, adults with disordered eating, and coercive cult-like language.

I loved this book. The premise is that there is a very small "commune" where the members try to live on light for sustenance. When one of the members dies of malnutrition, the others are arrested to determine if they are culpable in her death. Each chapter of this short novel is told from the perspective of a different object or construct (e.g. one chapter is told from the perspective of the night, one from the perspective of a pen). This changing vantage point allows the author to reveal different parts of the story in interesting and engaging ways. The story is an exploration of the power of persuasive/manipulative language, the struggle for the personal desire for improvement, social pressure and personal control. The exploration is elegant, thoughtful, and caring. I wish I could read this book again for the first time.

I loved the point of view switches in each chapter--it recalled for me the Book Thief, where the narrator was Death, but the narrators were often something mundane, like the bread all of the main characters were refusing to eat.

This book was ultimately frustrating, but I think that was the point.

"We are Light" by Gerda Blees is written in a truly unique way, from the perspectives of the night, a scent of an orange, the body of the deceased and so forth. From this we observe the Sound and Love commune/cult and their belief that you can reach a higher plain when cutting out food and drink from your diet. When their housemate and fellow commune member dies of malnutrition, we get all different viewpoints of what happened and why. Harrowing subject matter but beautifully told.

In the Sound & Love Commune, four people live on the edges of the modern world spending their days searching for their path to enlightenment. But now, they're taking it further than just shunning technology and modernity, they shun eating too - deciding they can exist solely on light and love.

Until Elisabeth dies and the light goes out. She was the oldest member of the commune, loved and cherished - but now she's the victim of a suspicious death investigation, with her sister Melodie and housemates Muriel and Petrus being arrested as suspects.

Everyone tells the story differently depending on where they're looking from - but what's the real story? And what happens next?

"But we're a collective, a commune. Our stories are all the same. We've been living together for so long, our own version of events is our story."

A striking story not just about love, but the many things that pretend to be love - manipulation, control, jealously, desperation.

The story is poetic and lyrical, invoking rich detail and absorbing settings. It's full of metaphor and imagery, and once you find the tone it's very easy to get lost in it. Our narration shifts and moves, coming from external, unseen forces and people looking on in an almost curiously voyeuristic way. It moves slowly in a dreamlike way, snapshots and moments, thoughts and tangents all woven together.

It isn't exactly a linear story - in fact, not much happens at all, but it holds the reader in these timeless moments and explores the people involved and their lives in those moments - it was gripping but at times a little too drawn out, sentences lasting far too long without going anywhere.

The atmosphere was strange, charged with a nervous energy - we watch as the surviving commune members are separated, as the investigative team try to figure out what's going on. And we as outsiders see the potential for abuse and control within the commune that they just don't which makes for an extremely uncomfortable experience. There's definitely a sense of connection with the characters on a deeply human level, especially for Elisabeth even after she passes away.

At times there was a noticeable tone shift, moving from it's epic prose to almost reciting information and breaking the well-crafted flow of the story. And there were some comments throughout that didn't feel necessary to the plot or the world building; comments that were rather homophobic or ignorant and whilst these were used to show the traits of other characters they weren't necessary for it.

We Are Light raises powerful questions about responsibility and accountability - who is responsible for Elisabeths' death? Is it her fault? Was it Melodies for taking advantage of her? Was it everyone who didn't intervene? This is an entirely unique, conceptual story that explores humanity through a curious lens.

"We are the story. Slowly and predictably we head toward our conclusion - climax or anti-climax, it remains to be seen. We suspect it's going to be an anti-climax, if the writer carries on this way."

4+

I haven't read a book like this before, but I'd happily read more.
Both the unusual subject matter, and the unique view points makes it stand out.
It's a startling idea that we cannot live without food or water, and this little group are definitely testing it to the limits.
Melodie is a force to be reckoned with, and a character I would love yo read more about.
The whole thing is just hard to believe, yet actually totally believable.
Great stuff.

'We Are Light' was definitely like nothing else I've ever read. I love anything to do with the psychology behind cults and this was what first enticed me in. However, I did think that this would be more focused on the legal nature behind Elisabeth's death, perhaps even leading into a nailbiting court case surrounding the morose and definitely bizarre circumstances. What I found most disappointing was the perspectives of personified objects and illnesses/mental states to the point where it was almost a bit cringeworthy. I understand why it was done, but I think I would have preferred a more omniscient third person narrator or even each of the individual characters narrating. I will praise Blees on the originality of this idea, however, and whilst slightly far-fetched, the execution of it was well thought out. I would recommend this for anyone who was a fan of The Girls by Emma Cline. It raises some essential (but sometimes triggering) points on mental disorders and the complexity of their nature.

We are light paints the age olf picture of humans and their relationship with food. Whether we have an abundance of it or not and whether it is our conscious choice to abstain from it or whether are we the victim of a parasite within our mind.

As prose, it was amazingly written with each chapter focusing on a ‘character’ but not on a traditional sense of the word with characters such as a piece of bread, house, light and even the story itself narrating the events and describing their view of the issues. The main cast of characters has their own issues that led them to a point in time where they witnessed their roommate die of malnutrition and the stand-out character was Melodie, the sister of the victim. While the story painted a clear picture of the characters and detectives and everyone's personal ambitions within the structure of the story, the woman who died remained a mystery, the centre heart of the story and not a significant person at all.

We Are Light embraced its troubled characters and their relations to food and abstaining from eating as a form of control as well as painted a picture of just how easy it could be to become a form of a cult without even making a conscious choice to join one. The ending paints an amazing picture of choice and the price of it, leaving us with a certain image of opportunity rather than a set ending.

Gerda Blees immediately grabs our attention in her daring, clever debut novel “We Are Light”. There’s clearly something wrong about the state of affairs at the Sound & Love Commune. Not only has one of the 4 members just died, but the reaction and seeming (lack of empathy evidenced by the surviving three members raises all sorts of alarm bells.

Blees’ approach to narration is highly unique. Each chapter is spoken in a different voice. That’s not a particularly unusual fictional device, but Blees takes it to a whole new level. Voices can be people, but are most often not, such as: crime scene, World Wide Web, doubts, dementia, socks, cigarette butts, and juicer. My favorite is Chapter 17, told by The Story. It’s a risky device, but Blees pulls it off skillfully..

“We Are Light” is tightly focused on loneliness, inadequacy, abandonment, abuse, and trauma in the modern age. The members of the Sound & Love Commune are examples of failed dreamers, outcasts, and misfits who choose to isolate themselves from the normies of the world. Through the blessing and curse that is the Internet, and especially Social Media, they find “evidence” that you can reach the ultimate “light” through Sound & Love. Nutrition and nourishment are not only optional, but seen as an impediment to reaching that final goal. What could possibly go wrong?

Kudos to award-winning translator Michele Hutchison for yet another wonderful effort.

Thanks to World Editions and NetGalley for the eARC.

4.5/5

So this book is about a group of 4 that live together in what can be called a cult for glorified anorexia. What really captivated me was the writing style, which was great. For most of the book, the events are told from the perspective of objects or more abstract things, and to me, that made the book pretty unique.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me the english edition.

This is one of the strangest books I've ever read, with over twenty different, mainly inanimate narrators for each chapter, including the scent of orange, a piece of bread and dementia. These narrators tell the story of four lonely, vulnerable people living together in a self-styled commune led by Melodie. When Melodie's sister dies, seemingly of malnutrition and/or neglect, the police become involved and we learn more about the individuals and how they have been perhaps misled by Melodie to live a simpler life that includes avoiding food. The differing perspectives in each chapter create some uncertainty and confusion about the motives of the commune members, but also highlights the need for connectedness and togetherness that is often missing in society.
There is some unevenness in the chapters, some seem more successful than others and I had to relax into the style and use of the different narrators. But overall, an intriguing and psychologically challenging story that I will think about for a long time.

Many thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Thank you to @netgalley and World Editions for this ARC in return for my review.

Don’t be fooled by the title, there’s not much light in this book at all. It’s dark, very dark.

I understand this is translated from the Dutch original and I am happy that it’s kept its European style and not been Americanised.

The change of POV every chapter to different things, often inanimate objects like ‘the bread’ or ‘the socks’ is absolutely brilliant. I wasn’t sure at first as it’s so unique, but found myself looking forward to each new chapter beginning ‘we are the…..’

The themes are upsetting and I have to be honest it made me feel quite depressed and gloomy throughout the whole thing, which isn’t really what I look for in a book even though I know this is exactly what it was meant to do.

It’s so well written but brings up some disturbing subjects so please check trigger warnings. I have had issues with eating disorders within my family and it did throw up some feelings I didn’t want to have. It’s not just about that though, it’s about control and manipulation and coercion and free will and responsibility.

I actually wanted to weep at the ending, so I guess it hit the mark of where the writer wanted to take us.

For fans of this kind of thing, you will love it, for me it was too much. I am glad to have had the opportunity to read it though.

3.5 stars rounded up.

Content warning: severely disordered eating

What a masterpiece! “We Are Light” is one of the best books I’ve read this year. The novel starts with Elisabeth dying from malnutrition while her three housemates Muriel, Petrus, and Melodie (who is also Elisabeth’s sister) are watching her, encouraging her to “let go”. The four of them make up the Sound & Love Commune and are determined to survive on light, air, energy, and community. The only ‘food’ they are consuming comes from their slow juicer every now and then. After Elisabeth’s death is reported to the authorities, they are taken to jail upon suspicion of homicide.

The story unravels from 25 different perspectives: only a handful of them being human perspectives. We learn about the characters through a variety of personified objects (a pen, a cello, two cigarettes) and also through feelings, conditions, and scents (the scent of an orange, senile dementia). The narrative form is one of the main reasons for why I love this book so much. It is such an unusual approach to narration, but performed so incredibly well that I just read chapter after chapter curious about which point of view would be waiting for me in the next one. The fourth wall is broken several times and so brilliantly that I sometimes needed a couple of minutes to take a step back and really think about my position as the reader.
What is especially remarkable in my opinion is that despite the narration taking up so much space we still learn so much about the characters and every little detail is constructed so carefully, there are no fillers, no abundance of useless information which made me cherish each and every sentence. In the beginning, I didn’t think that I would feel for the characters so much because of how we originally got to know them (i.e. letting their friend die), but they really grew on me once I learned about their background. Especially Muriel has a special place in my heart 💔

“We Are Light” is about so much more than ‘just’ four people with a severe eating disorder. It’s about finding one’s place in a community, about dependency, about our innermost struggles, about personal responsibility and agency, isolation, the perception of life and death, and about the dangers of wellness culture. I enjoyed every single word and hope that this book will gain recognition beyond EU borders.


Thank you, NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader‘s copy of the English translation of “We Are Light” in exchange for an honest review.

A heartbreaking story told in a most sensitive and tactful way. It´s written in a very unusual, experimental way. The story is told from many different perspectives by objects, both existing (socks, slow juicer) and imaginary (butterflies). Thought-provoking ending.
I´m looking forward to the next book by Gerda.

We Are Light chronicles the death of a woman from malnutrition and the immediate aftermath of her death and the effects on the members of the Sound and Light commune of which the woman was a member. The story is told from a different perspective in each chapter, and only from the viewpoint of non-humans; objects, mental states, or environmental conditions. It's certainly a creative endeavour which didn't always fully work for me - at times I wish the story had a truly omniscient third-person narrator instead of the concept of cognitive dissonance somehow having awareness of the story, for instance. The pace of the story was a little slow too, and the plot was very much a slice of life rather than a complete narrative arc following specific story beats. Despite my minor hangups with the story, I appreciated the characters especially Muriel and I enjoyed the themes of disinformation, groupthink, personal responsibility and self-actualization the book explores - it feels timely in the current age of wellness culture and the harmful (at times) disinformation that fuels it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing an advance copy in exchange for review!

It's no wonder that this brilliant Dutch novel won the EU Literature Prize!

This is the story of four troubled people who live together and belong to the so-called 'Sound & Love Commune.'

The members: The leader and our protagonist, Melodie, her taciturn sister Elisabeth, angry and violent Petrus, and impressionable and sensitive Muriel.

The mystery: Elisabeth is found dead in the commune house and the cause is malnutrition. This is no big surprise as the group had been openly experimenting with not eating and instead getting their energy from air and light. They drink a little herbal tea and a little vegetable juice each day, but eating any more is highly discouraged by Melodie. The question is if Melodie, Muriel, and/or Petrus are responsible for Elisabeth's death.

Main themes: Social isolation, propaganda/disinformation, perceptions of life and death.

What I loved most about this book is that each chapter is told from a different point of view, but the point of view is rarely a character in our story. Instead, we hear from a bag of sliced bread, Melodie's cello, senile dementia, the world wide web, the neighbors, a pen at the police station, and many more. It was this narrative approach, even more than the plot, that kept my attention. By the half-way point, the plot is clear and the important questions have been answered, but the unexpected narrators had me hooked until I ran out of pages.

This was an easy 5-stars and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to anyone who's even a little interested.

this book brings my obsession on true crime on another level. and Gerda Blees is damn young and had more talents in her fingers than me in entire body.

Content warning: this book contains depictions of disordered eating.
This novel is an apt reflection of our times: if we believe things that have no basis in scientific reality, we can, and in many circumstances, will die, as did those who came before us and didn't know what we know today about medicine and the body and the natural world. A woman who believes she can live on light and air starves to death, and her two housemates--one of whom directly encouraged her to believe this--are taken into police custody. Told using a brilliant conceit--each chapter is from the point of view of a different object or person--an orange, a piece of furniture, the neighbors--we learn the details of the story, one of manipulation and jealousy and depression. In the end, who is culpable, and for what?

This was an incredible, unique read that I couldn't put down. One of the easiest five stars I've given and I would not hesitate to recommend this to anyone remotely interested in the story.

The premise of the book is on the Sound and Love Commune, a group of 4 members who follow alternative psychological healing strategies and attempt to live on minimal food. This results in one of the cult members dying, and throughout the novel you follow the 3 survivors through the repercussions of that.

The style of the book is incredibly unique; in each chapter, you follow the perspective of an inanimate object and their view of the cult. For example, you read from the perspective of their house, instruments, and their juicer. The voice of each chapter feels very distinct and gives you a nuanced perspective of each of the 3 main characters. One of the chapters is addressed to the reader directly, breaks the fourth wall, and does some very unexpected things which I absolutely loved.

The book does a great job tackling our perceptions of death from a cultural, spiritual and sociolegal perspective. Throughout the novel you really understand the inner workings of the cult, what might prompt someone to join it, and the damaging effects that wellness culture can have on vulnerable individuals. It very much feels like something conjured up in the Goop laboratory, and expertly straddles between satire and serious tones.

I can see how the ending might be not universally praised, but I personally really enjoyed the final chapter and viewed it as a very natural conclusion to the story.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

This is a uniquely-written book told from the perspectives of many objects, as opposed to the characters themselves. I have never read anything like it before and I highly recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this sounded like something I would particularly like from the synopsis, but unfortunately I wasn't a fan. Fell flat.

"Now that we have freed ourselves of it, we can choose how big we want food's role in our lives to be."
I'm sure many will find Gerda Blees novel tremendously exciting. She takes the alternating protagonists trope crime authors are so fond of, and advances it one step further. Her chapters alternate between the perspectives of different people and inanimate objects, like a forgotten cello sitting in a closet, or a slice of mass-market bread: "It's alright to pile fat and sugar on us sometimes, it makes life more pleasant." The concept behind some chapters is even more whacky, like one about the writer, that turns the reader's mind to the person actively constructing the story you are reading. I found this self-conscious voice irritating, but it was a break from dreary, which seemed to be the other option.

And I suppose starving yourself to death because some guru on the internet tells you to do so to reach enlightenment is kind of dreary, even when it is enabled by a bunch of people who share your idiocy, the crime is, at least to some extent, lacking a clear external perpetrator. The neighbours muse it this way: "So we simply say they didn't eat, not enough at least, all four of them. Though you ask yourself why so many police, because not eating much isn't illegal as far as we know."

I think by the time the book moved to its slow, unsatisfying conclusion, my view was they were culpable for the death because we expect people to know, and intervene if someone is harming themselves fatally. I think I would have preferred to be a person involved in the case in a more active voice, rather than a fly on the wall, or the wall itself. One for the literary set.

I’d describe this book as realistic fiction. The author has done a fantastic job of creating imaginary characters and situations that depict the world and society. The characters focus on themes of growing, self-discovery and confronting personal and social problems. The language is clear, concise, and evocative, with descriptions that bring the setting and characters to life. Dialogue is natural and authentic, and the pacing is well-balanced, with enough tension and release to keep the reader engaged. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

This was certainly an unusual book.
Centering around the death from malnutrition of the member of a small 4 person commune, profound legal and moral questions are raised around personal choice and responsibility, a subject I find interesting. However, the way the story is told, through the Greek chorus type eyes of inanimate objects, ideas and emotions - for example a juicer and a piece of wholemeal bread - didn't quite work for me. It was almost too clever and, I felt, didnt really address the deeper themes of the novel and the personalities and motivations of the characters.
Having said that I thought it was a really interesting piece of writing, and well translated. I look forward to reading more by this author.
Thank you to netgalley and world editions for an advance copy of this book.

This was sooo not what I was expecting. I expected a story about eating disorders, and about the very real dangers of pack mentality among young girls. I was looking forward to an interesting perspective, maybe something akin to 'The Girls' by Emma Cline, but on a smaller scale. But what this wound up feeling like was a book written by a debut author who tried just a little too hard to be the author of something unique, not the same ol' story about the same ol' girls. Which I can of course respect the struggle, every artist or creative no doubt is hard pressed to do something that hasn't been done before. But in this case rather than focusing so much on the psychology of the eating disorder or the impressionability of young girls, we were given the perspectives of the inanimate objects around them. Which sadly just felt like a gimmick to me. I could not make any sense of what greater meaning this could possibly have, or how hearing about things from the perspective of a pair of socks, or bread, could ultimately bring anything truly significant to the table.

It was unusual, I will give it that. It held my interest for at least a little while just because of the sheer weirdness of it all, so there's something to be said for novelty I guess. If she was going for unique, she hit the mark, as it was unlike anything I've ever read, but unfortunately that was it's only redeeming quality in my opinion. The characters were not only naive & delusional, they were also a bit annoying in the way that all stupid characters can be. We didn't get enough insight into the reasoning behind their choices.

The characters were superficial, the plot was meandering, and the pacing stuttered. Unfortunately this one just wasn't for me, but I wouldn't count out Gerda Blees just yet. I predict she has something much better up her sleeve.that will make it's way out one day.

I enjoy reading this book mainly because it introduced me to an idea I never knew before. The commune that characters belong to in the book is something I didn't know exists. I was so intrigued with the idea of "living on light" and the premise of not eating food as a form of meditation. This topic is really a serious one and I think should be tackled cautiously. Upon finishing this book, I concluded that all this book has done was an introduction.It didn't really dive deeper into what the commune is all about and whatever things or happenstance the characters have experienced in order for them to choose this way of life. In short, it lacks chararterization and backstory. Despite the unique narrative of using non-human narrators, it still lacks tha wow factor I was aiming to experience while reading the book.

The concept of the book is quite interesting, and i'm all about experimental narratives. I would say this is an objectively good book, however I feel like I personally was expecting to be a lot more gripped. Would recommend though.

"We Are Light" explores the intriguing concept of a four-person commune where individuals suffering from anorexia gain energy from light. The book's writing quality is commendable, but its obscure nature did not align with my personal preferences. Nevertheless, the book offers good writing that delves into the complexities of anorexia, making it a worthwhile read for those who appreciate unconventional narratives.