[Review] What Light - Jay Asher

Title: What Light
Author: Jay Asher
Release date (in Poland): 2017-11-08
Pages: 276
Polish title: Światło

It’s snowing outside the window, Christmas is only a few days away, so how to get into Christmas mood better rather than by hot chocolate, Christmas music and a book with Christmas vibe?

Jay Asher is an author of ‘13 Reasons Why’, famous almost all over the world. As I only knew him from this book, I didn’t know what to expect. But I was looking for a Christmas book and What Light is what most of the people recommended.

Sierra, together with her family, runs a Christmas tree farm in Oregon. Every year they go to California to sell them and for a whole month, she lives a different life. The journey also gives her opportunity to spend some time with her best friend Heather. But this time, she meets there Caleb, a cute guy, who she can’t stop thinking about. She decides to break all her resolutions of not jumping into a relationship and starts spending time with him. The problem is, she knows it might be the last time she’s spending Christmas in California; Caleb hides some dark secrets about his past and her overprotective parents don’t want her to get involved in any relationship, knowing she’s going to leave California in a month.

It's your heart. No one else gets a say in that. 

Personally, I have mixed feelings about this book. Jay Asher does a good job creating a Christmas atmosphere. There were Christmas trees, hot chocolate, ugly sweathers, Santa, cookies – it all makes the book very atmospheric. Moreover, it’s not only a love story, but it also a story about trust and forgiveness. Caleb’s past is something what people had been talking about for many years. Rumours won’t let him forget about something that happened many years ago and he’s always reminded about that one mistake he made. A book shows us that people love to gossip and there are only a few who want to find out if there’s a truth in them. Most of us don’t know how hurtful it can be to be always reminded about that one day from the past we wish we could forget. He doesn’t have a chance to heal and forgive himself.

"People think what they want. That's what I've had to accept," he says. "I can fight it, but that's exhausting. I can feel hurt about it, but that's torture. Or I can decide it's their loss"

But it bothered me, that even though Jay Asher had a great idea, he didn’t make most of it in his book. The story is predictable, cliche and through all the time I spend reading it, I just felt that there was something missing. Jay Asher spend too much time writing about completely unnecessary stuff rather that focusing on character’s emotions, feelings and thoughts. The plot was shallow, but I didn’t have to be this way to create an enjoyable Christmas love story. There was nothing surprising, everything lead to one thing: Sierra’s leaving.

Forget logic...Logic doesn't know what you want. 

As I mentioned, it’s a shame that author didn't focuse more on characters. I was too aware that they were in their teens, because sometimes they acted really immature. I mean, not every teenager acts like a child. I just couldn’t connect with any of the characters. Actually, author focused only on Sierra and Caleb, but there were many other people in their lives and I know almost nothing about them.

The book is not bad, but it’s also not excellent. There were some cute moments between Sierra and Caleb, which made me finish the book, but besides that, there was nothing worth remembering and it was also predictable. Maybe that’s why I didn’t feel any excitement when I was reading it. But I’m sure young people, who look for a light love story with a Christmas atmosphere, will love this one.

WYŚWIETL POLSKĄ WERSJĘ