The Light We Lost by: Jill Santopolo

DISCLAIMER: Review might contain spoilers… you have been warned!!!

The Light We Lost is a beautifully told story of life, love, heartache, and discovery. It follows our main protagonist, Lucy Carter, through her life. Specifically, how her life was shaped due to meeting and falling for Gabe Samson. From the first page alone, I could tell this story would be one to tug on my heartstrings, and I was right! It was written in a style that was new to me. At first, I wasn’t sure how I felt about this unique writing style; however, the more I read the more I loved it. The book reads to me as a letter from Lucy to Gabe detailing all the pivotal moments in her life that boiled down to him.

I have never been one to fully believe in ‘love at first sight’; although, I do wholeheartedly believe in ‘right person wrong time’ and sadly this story was purely this concept. Lucy and Gabe met in college on September 11th, 2001 - and both their lives were forever altered. It seems they bonded that day, and over the years of knowing and loving one another, it seems no one ever compared to the other. Gabe was the only man to ever truly understand Lucy’s desire to mold and affect the future generations through her work. Potentially because he had the same desire, but he wanted to tackle the current generations and show them all the truth of what is truly happening around the world.

Something that stuck with me throughout this book was how real it was. It covered how hard life can be. While it did follow the seemingly unbreakable connection between Lucy and Gabe, it also showed the countless choices we all have to make based off of our own desires, dreams, and priorities. The choices Lucy and Gabe are faced with shape their lives and while there were definitely a handful I was screaming at the pages for, there were also so many that I understood on a fundamental level. As someone who goes through life always overanalyzing things and contemplating the ‘what ifs’, this story was very eye-opening to me. Whether it was the intended message or not, my take away from this book is that life is made up of choices.

Life is nothing but choices. There are small choices like what food you’ll eat for dinner, if you’ll take a car or train, if you’ll. visit a friend or stay home one evening. However, there are also the larger choices that truly shape your path through life such as where you live, what job you choose, who you decide to spend your life with. Some could add ‘who you fall in love with’ to that list; however, for me at least love isn’t a choice. It’s not something you can turn on or off, it is something that grows and happens wether you want it to or not. In the case of Lucy and Gabe their choices are what brought them togerher; however, it is also what pulled them apart.

It can be a devastating feeling when you realize that the choice you or your partner made was one that resulted in your lives going down separate paths. Lucy and Gabe both made a choice. One to leave. One to stay. These choices together, cause Lucy to go down a path that she never realized she would be on. Living life on her own, without Gabe, trying to find her way. However, even though he might not have been next to her, he was always with her, in her mind, heart, and soul. The longing and love that was able to be depicted was very moving and it allowed me to root for a happy ending, even though realistically I knew that the ending would bring me to tears. It was a beautiful story about how two people found light, love, and happiness with each other… lost it… but still held onto that feeling as they went through life.

One of the things I truly loved and appreciated about this book was how Jill Santopolo depicted Lucy. She is a strong, independent woman, that even though her life seemingly fell apart due to a man, she still found her own strength and passion within life. After making decisions, she was able to admit when she was wrong, admit when she was selfish, admit that she was far from perfect. This is something that I often do not see within stories, I see protagonists being in the ‘right’ no matter what, but the beauty of this story is that we could watch Lucy. go through life, make the wrong decisions, cope with her choices and stumble her way forward.

Overall, this book was not what I expected it to be, but I think it might have been better! I was expecting another fluffy romance with a twist. What I received was a story that felt realistic and a story that truly made me think about my life, my own choices, and what could come from them. It had me laughing, awing, internally screaming, and of course sobbing. I would highly recommend it!

QUOTES THAT MADE ME FEEL THINGS:

“Because we only reveal our true selves to the people we care about most.”

“There’s a difference between infatuation and love.”

“We see everything through the filter of our own desires and regrets, hopes, and fears.”

“A woman filled with light makes everything she touches brighter.”

“Did your choices lead you here? Or was this preordained? Your fated end? Our fated end?”

“If you died, I realized just then, it would mean that I’d be the keeper of our memories. I’d be the only one on Earth who had experienced them… I can’t forget the details.”