There are days that change the course of someone’s life forever and, usually, these days usually do not stand out until they are reflected upon. Sometimes things happen that are so sweeping that they are immediately stand-outs, the day immediately etched into memory forever. 

There are also days that consist of so many things happening at once that it not only overwhelms, but completely changes the course of the life of the person experiencing it. Jill Santopolo’s “The Light We Lost” tells the story of such a day– a day that brought two people together, an unheard-of tragedy and changed the course of two lives forever.

“The Light We Lost” starts its story when Lucy meets Gabe, who are both seniors at Colombia University, in a shared class on September 11, 2001. Walking out of class, talking, they find out that the Twin Towers have been hit, that people are scrambling, that everyone around them is attempting to figure out what to do. 

Running to the roof of an academic building, they watch together as New York City descends into chaos, holding hands until they kiss for the first time. Eventually, their lives return to a new sense of normalcy while their relationship continues.

Santopolo’s engrossing prose reflecting the intensity of their romance. Lucy begins working on a children’s television show as a writer, earning herself an Emmy; Gabe decides to pursue photography and starts picking up classes. 

Everything seems serene until Gabe announces to Lucy that he has accepted a position with the Associated Press as a photographer in Iraq to write a feature while embedded with the troops on the ground. From there, their relationship is pushed aside as Gabe follows his career, leaving Lucy in America while he travels to Iraq, ending up staying longer than planned.

Following Lucy’s point-of-view, Santopolo allows the audience an intimate portrait of the changes brought about by intense feelings and how a life can shift drastically once those feelings are pushed away. The writing here feels so personal that it almost feels like reading someone’s personal diary as Lucy recalls the entire relationship, looking back at everything with precision and breathtaking nostalgia, seemingly not forgetting anything. In this way, Santopolo has crafted a novel that can feel personal with any reader, even one who might not have experienced such a relationship. 

“The Light We Lost” is an exhaustive examination of the way love appears and changes people’s entire lives: how nostalgia and memories can affect the present and how one person can alter the course of a life forever. What makes this novel different from most generic love stories is the prose and dialogue. 

Santopolo has crafted sentences that can bring anyone to tears, and dialogue so personal it seems lifted from a diary. While never allowing the reader into Gabriel’s point of view, Santopolo writes him so that he is easily understood. Even from Lucy’s point of view, the reader still empathizes with Gabriel. 

With prose that soars off the page and heartbreaking revelations about the true nature of love, Jill Santopolo’s “The Light We Lost” will seep into the reader’s brain and dare them not to shed a tear.