In the Wild Light is easily one of the most heart-warming and wholesome stories you’ll ever read. The story follows two main characters named Delaney and Cash, who are both around the age of high school juniors and hail from Sawyer, a small rural town in Tennessee. Delaney, a genius but socially excluded girl, is best friends with Cash, a caring and hardworking guy, when she gets an offer from one of the best high schools in the nation to attend on a full scholarship. (She receives the offer as a result of discovering a mold in a cave that can kill all “superbug” bacteria with Cash’s help.) She refuses to go, however, unless Cash can attend as well, a deal that the
school accepts. As readers traverse throughout the novel, they’ll increasingly realize that Delaney and Cash have by no means led easy lives. Both of their mothers suffered heavily from drug addictions, and their fathers are entirely absent from their lives, with Cash’s grandparents, Papaw and Mamaw, being the only stable and caring guardian figures that they have. Unfortunately, Papaw is suffering from emphysema, a disease that wreaks havoc on the lungs, which makes Cash hesitant to accept Delaney’s offer to attend the elite school with her.
Spoilers ahead*
Ultimately, Cash does take up Delaney on her offer, the latter of whom eventually resorts to pleading, as Delaney claims she doesn’t feel comfortable transitioning to a new place without Cash by her side. At the school, Cash immediately feels out of place in a school where mostly rich kids with powerful parents attend, and Delaney and he have a couple of fights throughout the book over their transition to the new school. However, they make 2 close friends at the school: Vi, or Viviana, a girl from Brazil who learned to speak English when her family immigrated to the US, and Alex, a Korean-American student who is charismatic and confident. As Papaw increasingly suffers from his disease and Cash & Delaney encounter issues with adjusting to their new school among many other challenges, the book takes us through a journey where we see both main characters grow stronger over time. Cash finds refuge in poetry, under the guidance of an awesome teacher named Dr. Adkins, and grows to see it as a means by which he can heal from pain and express his innermost thoughts. However, Delaney grows distant from Cash at one point in the book as she becomes absorbed in her work at the school and Cash grows closer with Vi, which will prove to be another major challenge to Cash and Delaney’s friendship.
The beauty of this book is that it doesn’t have a highly innovative plot and as a result, doesn’t run off of it as I’ve seen many other authors, albeit successful ones, do. Instead, it weaves together a telling and intimate tale of loss and tragedy mixed with triumph and relationship-building, as well as everything in between. While doing so, it still somehow manages to make it very engaging (I dare say engrossing) and even has a few shining moments of humor interspersed throughout that’ll make you grin like a fool. I think In the Wild Light even has messages about the importance of keeping those dearest to you close, sticking to your morals, and focusing on beauty and hope when all seems to be dark in the world.
We’ll eventually find that, through Delaney’s confession and a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship
that failed to spark between Vi and Cash, that Delaney has loved Cash for a long time, a feeling that is really reciprocated by Cash. A bit prior to this confession, Cash had been having immense trouble escaping the grief from the recent passing of his grandfather, Papaw, and even had his mind set on dropping out of the school, which he felt to be too big of a challenge. The fact that the confession takes place at one of the lowest points for Cash in the book makes it all the more special.
Not many books I’ve read have encouraged and led me to connect with the characters as deeply and strongly as this one. Perhaps it has to do with how my age is close to that of the characters in this novel, but there is something objectively special about In the Wild Light.
An aspect of the characters that led me to feel this was how they all were likable, but more importantly, somehow relatable, which was surprising considering that I’ve lived in a suburban/urban area most of my life and the two main characters come from a rural one. As mentioned above, I think my age did play a part, but I think it was mostly because their stories contained the universal elements of tragedy, loss, and grief but also strength and courage. Cash is someone who is determined, deeply cares about the people he loves, and has strong morals. Delaney can be aloof at times but is extremely intelligent and has a caring, playful side as well.
Vi is an effervescent person who is very sociable, and Ian is funny and, like Cash, determined and bold when he has a goal in mind.
The book concludes with a somewhat satisfying conclusion through its brief epilogue. Cash and Delaney make plans for the future and decide to get together, and Cash finds that he can remain in touch with his poetry teacher, despite her accepting a job position at a different school. Both Cash and Delaney are able to remain in touch with their two friends Ian and Vi over the summer as well.
In conclusion, you’ll find yourself enjoying this book if you enjoy romance, characters beating back seemingly insurmountable challenges, and/or simply desire a good read. The poems in the book, written by Cash as he discovers his love for poetry, are pretty great as well, and the characters are all unique and carefully but skillfully crafted, even down to their choices of words. In the Wild Light is maybe not an unforgettable read, but it certainly is a story that has something for almost everyone.
Review by ~ Andrew
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