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    The Light We Lost
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    The Light We Lost
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    The Light We Lost
    Audiobook7 hours

    The Light We Lost

    Published by Penguin Random House Audio

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    He was the first person to inspire her, to move her, to truly understand her. Was he meant to be the last?
     
    "Extraordinary...An emotional roller coaster."-Delia Ephron

    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.

    Me Before You meets One Day in this devastatingly romantic debut novel about the enduring power of first love, with a shocking, unforgettable ending. A Love Story for a new generation.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMay 9, 2017
    ISBN9781524775827
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for The Light We Lost

    4/5

    232 ratings33 reviews

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    • 5/5
      When I first started reading this book, I wasn't sure if I was going to like it. I didn't like the way Lucy was telling Gabe about their relationship. It felt weird to me. But then I got used to it and was pulled into Lucy's life. She and Gabe meet in college and it seems like their love is meant to last forever. But Gabe is unfulfilled. He wants to head to the Middle East and do more with his photography. Lucy loves her job and loves Gabe so how can she hold him back and possibly make him resent her. So he goes and they move on in their separate lives. But things keep pulling them back together. I think there is a kind of love where you can completely love someone but want them to succeed at the thing they love because if you don't have passion in your work, you don't have happiness in your life. So sometimes you have to sacrifice. I liked Lucy's husband Darren but there were points when I wanted to smack him. I LOVED their daughter Violet. This book made me smile but it also made me cry and it broke my heart in so many different ways. This was such a good book. If you are thinking about reading this, pick up because you won't be disappointed.

      I received an advanced copy from Penguin Random House's First to Read program.
    • 5/5
      Beautifully and achingly poignant, The Light We Lost is a raw and emotional tale about imperfect Lucy and Gabe and their imperfect love, spanning many years and various life events. Narrated through the eyes of Lucy, she appears to be having an intimate and introspective dialogue with Gabe and herself. The author Jill Santopolo tenderly captures Lucy’s love, longing and inner struggles. As the story unfolds you know that the author is building towards a significant and momentous event between Lucy and Gabe’s lives, making it difficult to tear yourself away and put the book down.Though Lucy and Gabe’s love story began at a controversial period in history and despite their flaws, I found their complicated relationship believable and their characters relatable unlike other reviewers. Love and intimate emotions can spring up at the least likely times and terrifying and heart-wrenching events can bring people closer, seeking solace in each other. A part of me wishes the story continued for a few more chapters but ultimately I was satisfied with where it ended. Life is short and you only have one life to live, make the most of it, leave a positive impact and be true to yourself and others. So many powerful messages to take away from The Light We Lost.
    • 4/5
      Not the ending I was expecting.
    • 2/5
      Do you ever really move on from your first true love? This is a love story following Lucy and her long love Gabe. They have gone their separate ways, and Lucy has moved on with her life. Or has she? Gabe seems to always be right there or in the back of her mind. This does deal with love, loss, and infidelity. It deals with 9/11 and War (not too much, but mentions things going on around this time and does start off with 9/11) It was pretty slow for me, but I still found myself interested in the story. You can tell something is going to happen as Lucy is telling us this story from the past. I was waiting for the gut-wrenching moment, but it never happened. Was it sad? Yes. But, I was just let down. I never connected with the love story. Overall, this was only ok.
    • 4/5
      It was worth reading for the ending. I thought it was a great story but I didn't like the way she told it, as if she were speaking to a person (former lover) in her head. I just found it annoying. The ending explains it all. It's about a woman who meets a guy in college on 9/11 in NYC. A few years later they meet again and begin a relationship til he decides he has to leave her for the world's trouble spots so he can take photos and show the world (formed by the 9/11 event). Her life collapses and then she meets another guy, marries, has kids and feels like her life is great. Over the years she and the former BF stay in touch, sometimes rarely and sometimes frequently. He always turns to her in times of deep distress. I liked all the characters, although I struggled a bit with liking/disliking the boyfriend.
    • 4/5
      Lucy and Gabe met at college on September 11, 2001 and after they go through that horrific day together, they feel a strong connection to each other that develops into a long term relationship. Their relationship is strong, passionate, consuming, and indestructible until the day Gabe leaves to pursue his career. He is not the kind of person that can stay in one place and he has to go out into the world and pursue his dream of making a difference in the world by being a journalist/photographer. Through the rest of their lives they think of each other often and occasionally stay in contact. Lucy ends up marrying someone else but she is always haunted by the love she had for Gabe and what she lost. Gabe will always be the one great love of her life. The story really portrays how you never forget your first love and how there are so many different kinds of love in the world and how sometimes in life, no matter how much you love someone, it just doesn’t work out. “Some relationships feel like a wildfire-they're powerful and compelling and majestic and dangerous and have the capability to burn you before you even realize you've been consumed.....some relationships feel like a hearth fire-they're solid and stable and cozy and nourishing.” “I hope you find a love like that–one that is all-consuming and powerful that makes you feel like you're going slightly mad. And if you do find that love, embrace it. Hold onto it. When you give yourself over to love like that, your heart will get bruised. It will get battered. But you will also feel invincible and infinite.”
    • 3/5
      While I didn’t want to abandon this book, the reality is I just didn’t connect with or care about any of the characters. Which may have been for the best as, if I had, I really would have hated the ending. ;)
    • 5/5
      ‘’The world felt like it was cracking in pieces, like we’d gone through a shattered mirror into the fractured place inside, where nothing made sense, where our shields were down, our walls broken. In that place, there wasn't any reason to say no.’’ This book was quite a departure from what I usually choose to read. It was all in the cover, to be honest. I saw the lovely couple’s silhouettes and I said ‘’yeah, okay. Bye!’’ Because romance, people. Not my style at all. But, then my brain processed the New York scenery in the blue background and the title that sounded bittersweet, sad and I said to myself I would pretend this wasn’t a romance, but good old Contemporary Fiction. And I was right, thankfully. Yes, at the heart of the story lies the love and unbreakable bond between two people, but it was more complex than that. Family, choices, priorities, worries over an uncertain future are issues that are very prominent in this book, and reading it was a delight. And I confess, there were two-three times when I was really moved. And a little pissed-off at the characters’ choices…Many have claimed there’s no plot in this book. I disagree. Not every novel can have mind-blowing moments, twists and turns. What about a story that touches upon daily, universal subjects and has a quiet beauty and characters one could actually meet in actual life? Sometimes, these are elements that are enough to satisfy a reader.So, we follow Lucy and Gabe’s relationship through the years, starting in that nightmarish day of 2001 when terror struck New York and the world changed forever. Lucy and Gabe make some bad choices and their lives turn quite differently that they had planned. Still, the love they share is strong and so beautifully written that you cannot help feeling both touched and concerned over what the future has in store for them.Do I believe in love at first sight? Definitely. I guarantee you it exists, and I am the least romantic person you’ll ever find. In this novel, we witness a kind of love that starts as an obsession (and we all know how that feels when we are 20 years old) and becomes so strong that haunts the characters’ lives and the lives of those who struggle to approach them. Now, such a bond is unique, almost rare and it must be hard for a writer to communicate it to the reader without resorting to clichés. Jill Santopolo succeeds in creating a kind of language that is both contemporary and beautiful, lyrical and raw where needed. As we witness life unfolding through Lucy’s eyes, we are given a sense of her longing for Gabe, remembering their life together, and the way this pining is depicted is powerful, sincere, realistic, devoid of any drama.I really, really liked Lucy. She has the strength to admit her own faults and stands for her choices, she has her head screwed together and her doubts are understandable. She isn’t in the least bit selfish, to the point when I know I would have chosen differently. (But this is my personal opinion…)Gabe is complementing her perfectly, although they are two very different personalities. He had the power to make me really angry at times (often…) I mean, the guy was so wishy-washy and couldn’t see further than the end of his own nose. His choices can be a matter of endless debate, but he is so well-written that he makes us look upon him as if he is that troubled friend or relative who always gets on our nerves -especially at family gatherings- but you cannot help loving him and caring for him. However, Darren...Bliah!!! Yikes!! I do hate him and I cannot lie. You can find me a dozen reasons that are supposed to make me sympathise with him and I’d still want to punch him. The man is a human soup - I hate soup, sorry:) - and I hate him. Truly! The way he constantly doubts Lucy and tries to patronize her is outrageous…The theme in focus isn’t love, in my opinion, but choices and priorities. The great ‘’what ifs’’’ that shape our lives. What do we want from life when we find ourselves at a point where we need to sacrifice something we love for something we feel equally strongly about? Do we wait? Do we compromise? Do we wonder what could have gone differently? Of course, we do. And these questions do not refer only to romantic feelings, but to anything related to future plans and human relationships. You see? This book is far from a simple romance…I cannot recommend it enough. Read it for the descriptions of New York during terrifying times and times of prosperity and hope. Read it for a beautiful reference to a kind of love that is firmly rooted in the souls of two people. Read it to reflect or reminisce of the past. Perhaps a similar feeling once came your way. Read it because it is a very good book, not light, not heavy. Just realistic and attainable.……...and did I mention I hate Darren?
    • 4/5
      There is nothing quite like your first true love. It sticks with you forever. This was a journey through Lucy’s life. The highs and lows, and the decisions that change her life’s path. The tears were real in this one. It was told in a unique fashion and I loved it. 4🌟
    • 5/5
      Kept me turning the pages. Writing style felt intiment-like I was right there. Heartbreaking ending.
    • 5/5
      This was fascinating--well written enough for me to keep reading page after page but I was sort of overwhelmed with the divisions in Lucy's head. There almost seemed to be continuing excuses for being so divided between two loves but at the end I really wondered what WOULD happen next? How could where she was at the end be explained in the near and distant future?
    • 4/5
      Wow, I don't really know what I was expecting out of this book, but it definitely exceeded expectations. Lucy and Gabe meet on the fateful day of September 11, 2001, and they are both deeply affected by the fall of the twin towers. As the years pass and they pursue their divergent careers, they have a brief relationship that neither truly recovers from, despite engagements, marriage, and children with others. This book is short, offers little resolution, but is deeply thoughtful about the way we live our lives and how relationships work.
    • 4/5
      This was a beautiful but sad romantic love story. It was about first loves and the choices we make in our lives and how they come back to haunt us long after those choices have been made. The story of Gabe and Lucy's love is told over increments of time from Lucy's perspective. They first meet on Sept. 11th 200 and we're able to find comfort from one another during this tragic event. This event had a big impact on both of them. Lucy and Gabe's connection was intense and each found it hard to let that connection go even though their lives took different paths. Jill Santopolo told a beautifully romantic but sad love story. I would definitely read another book from this author. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book of love and loss but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I was younger. The main character's flair for drama really kind of bothered me throughout the book - actually I didn't like her much. Overall though it is an interesting and well written book and I read it until the end. The author's way of writing - like Lucy was writing in a journal - took me a little time to get used to but now that I've read the entire book, I think that it was the perfect way to tell the story.Lucy and Gabe met at college in NYC on 9/11 and could see the smoke and the dust in the city from their dorms. They developed an immediate lust (for lack of a better word) for each other and even though they quit seeing each other soon after, Lucy's memories of Gabe stayed strong. They met again in the city after they had both graduated and had a passionate love affair until Gabe left to go the Middle East as an embedded correspondent. Even as she continued to live her life without him, Gabe was never far from Lucy's mind. How she deals with his memory and goes on with her life is the basis of this book.Pure and simple, this is a love story about two people who can't forget each other no matter where life takes them. It was well written and an enjoyable read.
    • 4/5
      3.5 stars - I rounded up for a good debut. This is a quick and easy read - it will make a great summer beach read. Lucy is telling the story starting from when she met Gabe on Sept. 11, 2001 to where they are today. It is a story about what it means to love someone and the different kinds of love you have for different people. A little predictable at times and I would have liked a better conclusion. Fans of books like Me Before You and novels in that vein will like this book. I received an ARC from First to Read.
    • 1/5
      Was I supposed to be cheering for these main characters? Because I found them both to be infantile and intolerable. This story reads like a 16 year old’s fantasy love story; the only character worth anything is Daron. Wow this book was terrible.
      Also, the narrator (the author) was so hard to listen to. Definitely the worst narrator I’ve ever trudged through. I wish I could give this zero stars.
    • 5/5
      I'm going to be completely honest and hopefully not spoil this book for anyone. All I can say to start is this... Read/listen to this book! (I highly recommend listen as it is narrated by the author). (Thank you Scribd.) I picked this book on a random scan thru my saved books. I didn't really read the write up again after putting it into my saved list months ago so I didn't really know what to expect. Full disclosure, I was mostly drawn in by the beauty of the cover. As the reading began to unfold, I wondered if it might end up being a slightly predictable romance. But, being born in Brooklyn with the opening scene occurring on 9/11, I dove in to see where it would lead. I loved the story, the perspective, the format, and the reading. I felt so connected to the main character and narrator. I felt every ounce of her joy, her pain, her confusion at times, facing the type of tough decisions we all make every day that affect the trajectory and direction our lives will take. My heart soared with her, crashed with her, and faced the beauty and tragedies of our world. All I will say regarding the content of the story is this... especially if you listen to it... take deep breaths. Step into her world and feel her journey... and have so many tissues. I laughed. I smiled. I contemplated. I gasped. I cried. Oh how I cried. The full gamut of emotions. To sum it all up in just 2 words... I felt. How deeply I felt. (But make sure you have those tissues throughout. Oh my heart!) Jill, if you read this... Thank you... Sincerely... Thank you. (p.s. it's been 2+ hours and I'm still crying.) ... And that closing line... Utterly beautiful.
    • 5/5
      This book is written like a love letter. It's about Lucy's "One Great Love", and how it all started, how it bloomed and how it resonates with who she is. It's a beautifully written book. It was that good it made me feel broken. ❤️
    • 2/5
      I thought Lucy was the worst person.
    • 4/5
      easy read. frustrating story. I would recommend but it doesn't contain much complexity of storyline.
    • 5/5
      characters were so well written and jill santopolo did a great job reading the book.
    • 5/5
      Beautiful! I got lost in Lucy and Gabe’s story- remembering a love like that.
    • 5/5
      So heartbreaking yet so powerful. Made my heart flutter like Gabe made Lucy’s heart flutter ???
    • 4/5
      Good story. Great narration. A little predictable yet relatable. Would make a nice vacation read.
    • 3/5
      I had high expectations for this novel but it didn't deliver the way I wanted it to. I didn't agree with some of the decisions Lucy made and I thought she put Gabe on too high a pedestal. While I liked the writing, I didn't like the characters that much except for Darren who was too good to Lucy. The ending was sad but I wasn't left sobbing as I had expected. Overall, "The Light We Lost" was a touching story about choices, decisions and forks in the road.
    • 4/5
      It took me a while to get into this book. But the ending really flew by.
    • 1/5
      No. Just no.
    • 5/5
      This is one of the saddest books I have ever read, it was heartbreaking from start to finish, but it was SO good. I loved the characters, I loved their relationships, and it felt so realistic; like I was experiencing it right there with them. This is one book that stays with you, and I'm going to miss it when it's gone.
    • 5/5
      A love story so believable and told so well it felt like it happened to people I know. It's also so heartbreaking it felt like it happened to me. Must read.
    • 3/5
      ‘The Light We Lost’ is the February book selection for Reese Witherspoon’s book club, and since she gives it raving reviews, I was anxious to read it. The story is situated in New York City during the time of the destruction of the twin towers. That eventful day capitulated a desire for Lucy and Gabe, two seniors at Columbia University, to make their lives matter and to become a positive influence in the world. Gabe decides to pursue a career as a photojournalist, a job that takes him to all the remote regions of the world, leaving Lucy behind to mend her broken heart. Time passes, and Lucy eventually meets Darren, who is completely unlike Gabe, her first love. Darren is a planner and takes pleasure in surprising Lucy, while Gabe would be attractive in other ways. Lucy and Gabe’s romantic feelings for each other traverse time and are held in check, but never completely diminish. Throughout the story, I was a bit put-off by Gabe and Lucy because they seemed to behave like two love-lost teenagers who had little or no regard for their responsibilities and commitment to others. The ending seemed predictable to me, and although it was a tearful one, I could see it coming as the only adequate resolution to the story. This novel is written in the second person, which is an interesting point of view. Lucy is addressing Gabe throughout most of the text, and sometimes that point of view presents some confusion in following the storyline. Overall, the novel is engaging and an entertaining romance, albeit somewhat predictable.