Weekend Book Review: We Are the Light

We Are the Light by Matthew Quick

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Length: 256 pages

Publisher: Avid Reader Press/Simon Schuster

We Are the Light by Matthew Quick (author of The Silver Linings Playbook) is an epistolary novel with a timely, if not tragic focus. After a mass shooting in Majestic, PA, where 18 people lose their lives, narrator Lucas Goodgame pens a series of letters to his former Jungian analyst, Karl. Through these letters a slow rebuilding, and sometimes collapsing, of life is revealed.

In the aftermath, Lucas struggles with many demons, including mind-altering grief and loneliness, the label of hero the community bestowed and survivors’ guilt. By witnessing this character’s nonlinear healing process we are shown that even the seemingly opposite forces of good and evil are not completely black and white.

We see Lucas’ life through his words and have access to the contents of his thoughts, which are sometimes disturbing, always honest, and touching in their portrayal of raw grief and trauma. The thread that runs through this artfully crafted story is the light. Light in the actions of the survivors as they come together in their grief. Light in the unlikely relationship between Lucas and Eli, a student Lucas was counseling at the high school, and their work to bring healing to fruition through art. And light in the love that flows out of open wounds.

In reading this achingly beautiful story and Quick’s acknowledgements we can see the undercurrents of his own struggles brought to the page. The book contained plenty of Jungian jargon, which was largely unfamiliar to me, but was explained to be a significant influence on Quick in his own life. When these thought processes are transferred to the page in the form of Lucas, it feels right for the character, and exists as a sort of lifeboat for a struggling soul.

Obviously, this novel was penned before the recent rash of mass shootings in Uvalde, Buffalo and other cities. It is easy to shy away from harsh realities, especially when we want to escape into reading a great book. But tragedies of this nature need to be addressed on both the political front and the mental health front. While I don’t think Quick could have predicted the timeliness of the subject matter, this book is an important piece of the puzzle that is healing and mental health. Most importantly, it offers the observation that light and love will always win.

This novel debuts in November, 2022, and as a lead up to publication, Quick is offering a Monthly Personal Letter, where he writes about mental health, sobriety, the writing life and more.

To receive the FREE Monthly Personal Letter, visit his website: https://matthewquickwriter.com/contac… and enter your email to receive his letter on the 21st of each month, as well as read letters from previous months.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press for granting me early access to this luminous and transcendent story.



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