Heartbreaking but good

This book is all.about love and what we have and could have had. It is told in first person so very differnt . overall a good read. ( )

All I can say is WOW. This is a page tuner I could not wait to see what was going to happen next. This is definitely a must read book. ( )

Selfish main character continues to live selfishly after her selfish boyfriend leaves her and selfishly stays in contact with her as she attempts to move on. Cue infidelity and emotional manipulation in the name of a "love story". Blegh.

Blah.

I didn't like any of the characters except possibly, sometimes, Gabe. Every character was a stereotype. Every thought Lucy had and every thing she did seemed just what the stereotype of a woman of her generation, with her education, in New York would do. There was absolutely nothing interesting about her and nothing original about her character. Her husband was an even more shallow cutout character with no endearing characteristics except the doting on Lucy, for reasons that are frankly beyond understanding given how unappealing she is, that's necessary to make him a palatable second choice for her. That and being rich are his only selling points, and that's not enough to make him a character to care about. Gabe is a stereotype of the driven activist. He's still just a stereotype, but at least it's an appealing type rather than the boring and unimaginative characters of Lucy and Darren.

The novel tries to explore questions of passionate versus comfortable love, stability, and pursuit of dreams. Unfortunately, none of the characters are developed enough to make the love or the dreams feel real or to make the stability feel anything but stale. There's no insight here, no feeling, no ideas. Honestly, I can't understand what all the positive reviewers see to make them love this book. I was entirely untouched.

I can enjoy books in which nothing much happens if the characters are interesting, with flat characters if they have a good plot, with weak plots and weak characters if the setting is powerful. This one has no real plot, flat characters, and an uninspiring setting. I won't read more from this author. ( )

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. ( )