In the Wild Light
Ratings6
Average rating3.7
15
Ratings6
Average rating3.7
A poignant coming-of-age novel about two best friends whose friendship is tested when they get the opportunity to leave their impoverished small town for an elite prep school. For fans of Looking for Alaska. Life in a small Appalachian town is not easy. Cash lost his mother to an opioid addiction and his Papaw is dying slowly from emphysema. Dodging drug dealers and watching out for his best friend, Delaney, is second nature. He's been spending his summer mowing lawns while she works at Dairy Queen. But when Delaney manages to secure both of them full rides to an elite prep school in Connecticut, Cash will have to grapple with his need to protect and love Delaney, and his love for the grandparents who saved him and the town he has to leave behind. Jeff Zentner's new novel is a beautiful examination of grief, found family, and young love.
Reviews with the most likes.
This book is like two different novels that have been shoe-horned together. It started well but as soon as our protagonist and his girl bestie arrive at boarding school, it became a cliché fish-out-of-water tale that has been done to death. But then the story goes back to Kentucky (or wherever it was) and its engaging again. The real story, the good parts, are all about Cash's sad small town life and his dying Papaw and its very beautifully wrought. But the novel is ruined by this boarding school weirdness that feels like it was written by another author. I'm so annoyed.
I received a free copy of this book for review from the publisher.
