Book Review: The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo

Today I am reviewing a very special debut, The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo. There has been quite a buzz around this book so I was really curious about it. And I can already tell you that it did not disappoint at all. Here are my thoughts about this story:

Title: The Light We Lost

Author: Jill Santopolo

Published: May 9th 2017 by HQ Stories

Amazon | Amazon UK

Blurb: He was the first person to inspire her, to move her, to truly understand her. Was he meant to be the last?

Lucy is faced with a life-altering choice. But before she can make her decision, she must start her story—their story—at the very beginning.

Lucy and Gabe meet as seniors at Columbia University on a day that changes both of their lives forever. Together, they decide they want their lives to mean something, to matter. When they meet again a year later, it seems fated—perhaps they’ll find life’s meaning in each other. But then Gabe becomes a photojournalist assigned to the Middle East and Lucy pursues a career in New York. What follows is a thirteen-year journey of dreams, desires, jealousies, betrayals, and, ultimately, of love. Was it fate that brought them together? Is it choice that has kept them away? Their journey takes Lucy and Gabe continents apart, but never out of each other’s hearts.

Review: The Light We Lost tells the story of Lucy and Gabe, from when they first met on September 11th 2001, and for the following 13 years of their lives. As you can imagine, I got quite attached to these characters, specially Lucy, as she is the one narrating the story. She tells the story as if it was a really long letter to Gabe, in second person, and even if I found this narrative a bit odd at the beginning, it soon captured my attention and I think it worked very well. Like we were spying on their lives. It also helped reflect the intensity of all the emotions and feelings between them during their up and downs.

Theirs was definitely a sweeping love story. It's hard to believe they were together for such a short period of time. But I guess some people leave such a strong and special mark in your life that it is impossible to completely forget them, even if you try really hard. Also, they met in a very crucial point of their lives, when they were still young and naive and thought they could change the world. So I guess that reaching out to each other later in life was not only reminiscing about their young love but about their younger selves. And I think we can all relate to this.

As people, Lucy and Gabe were not perfect. They took decisions they regretted, made selfish choices and were probably too proud or arrogant more than once. But nobody is perfect... so I felt like I got to know two real people, with real feelings. They made me angry several times but they made me laugh too. They also made me cry and surprised me. What else can you ask for in a novel? Theirs was a story I won't forget in a long time and I think Jill Santopolo's style was really honest and compelling.

But don't you think that this story is only about love, it's also about growing up, family, loss, reaching for your dreams, dealing with your feelings and trying to be a better self.

Rating: 4,5 stars

I would like to thank the publisher for sending me a copy of this book. This is my honest opinion.