Book Club #25: THE BOYS IN THE LIGHT

Hello and WELCOME BACK, friends!

Whew!

I have missed you guys!

We arrived home late yesterday afternoon from Tokyo and as you can imagine, I don’t know what day it is, what time it is, what my name is, and what I’m having for dinner (which I’ll be ready for around 10:00 AM). BUT…

…it’s time for BOOK CLUB #25!

Yay!  I love me some Book Club Day!

Alrighty, just to recap before we begin…

Here are the books we discussed in 2024 along with my own personal “star ratings”…

The Last Love Note by Emma Grey 4 STARS
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon 5 STARS
The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins 3 STARS
The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Hardin 3 STARS
Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth 4 STARS
The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl 2 STARS
Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand 3 STARS
Husbands & Lovers by Beatriz Williams 3 STARS
By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult 4 STARS
Madwoman by Chelsea Bieker 4 STARS
Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout 2 STARS

Here are the books we discussed in 2025 along with my own personal “star ratings”…

The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry 5 STARS
Brooke Shields is Not Allowed to Get Old by Brooke Shields 2 STARS
The Crash by Freida McFadden 3 STARS
One Good Thing by Georgia Hunter 5 STARS
All That Life Can Afford by Emily Everett 3 STARS
Maine Characters by Hannah Orenstein 2 STARS
My Friends by Fredrik Backman 5 STARS
The View From Lake Como by Adriana Trigiani 4 STARS
Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall 5 STARS
Buckeye by Patrick Ryan 4 STARS
The Widow by John Grisham 4 STARS

And here are the books we’ve read so far this year along with my own personal “star ratings” as well…

The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb 3 STARS
The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff 4 STARS

Now, just a reminder, MY TOP 3 FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2025 CAME OUT OF BOOK CLUB LAST YEAR!

If you missed my big BOOKS IN REVIEW POST FROM 2025, make sure you go back and read it.  In that post, I break down all 58 of the books I read last year and announce my three favorite books from the entire year (all three from Book Club last year!).

If you want to check out all of my Book Club posts, they are all HERE!

Before we get to today’s book, let’s revisit the “rules” of Shay’s Book Club:

Here are the details:

1: On the 22nd of each month, I will share a BONUS blog post that is only about the book we read together that month.  So, if it falls on a weekend, look for it that day, if it falls on a Tuesday, expect a food post, a normal lifestyle post AND third post just for the book review discussion.

2: I picked the 22nd because I want this post to come out BEFORE our normal monthly BOOK REVIEW POSTS.  I will still share my normal monthly book reviews (where I average 4 to 6 books a month) at the end of each month.  I will reference said “book of the month”, but I will not be reviewing it on that post, I will be linking back to the BOOK CLUB POST.  Why?  Because I want all of the content about the one specific book club book in one spot instead of spread out over multiple spots.

3: Each month at the end of the Book Club blog post, I will share what the book will be for the following month.  This will give everyone one month to read this one particular book.

4: Let’s be real, I’m going to try to pick new/popular/relevant books every month, but I’m also going to pick books that speak to me.  If you have any suggestions, please feel free to share them with me.  I’m going to *try* and make the books different genres each month.  I would love for us to read a variety of fiction, non-fiction, memoirs, chick lit, thrillers, etc this year.  That’s the *goal*.

5: What are the rules of the book club?  I know a lot of book clubs have rules and perhaps I’ll add some as we go, but basically, if you want to read along with us, we’d love to have you and on the 22nd we’ll dive a little deeper in the comment section here about that one particular book.  Easy as that!  That post is the one place where we’ll discuss the book so that all thoughts/opinions/questions/etc can be in one location.

6: In this blog post and in the comment section, WE WILL BE DISCUSSING SPOILERS.  If you are interested in reading this book, you might not want to read below this line.  In MARCH’S BOOK REVIEW later this month, I will give a quick recap and let you know if I recommend the book or not, so if you haven’t read it, you might want to wait until that official BOOK REVIEW because there will be no spoilers and based on that, you can decide whether or not to read the book.  Anything below this though will include spoilers as everyone commenting here has already read the book.

Make sense?

Here we go!

This month’s novel was…

…The Boys in the Light by Nina Willner.

Well, the bar has officially been set for 2026.

This book was PHENOMENAL.

You guys, wow.

Here are some of my thoughts…

#1: As I read, I kept telling Andrew that I didn’t know if this was the most powerful, most graphic, hardest to read book on the Holocaust that I’ve personally ever read because it just was or if it was because we have been to Auschwitz now.  This book felt really, really detailed and graphic to me.  It was so raw and so so real.

#2: I loved all of the history and specifics the author laid out at the beginning of the book on World War II.  I thought she did a really good job of giving a broader context rather than just diving into one particular story.  She provided so much backstory to frame her book.

#3: Every time I read stories about the Holocaust, I am amazed that people ever found each other again.  Aren’t you?  How did Eddie’s parents ever find him again in Belgium?  How did they find his mom in France?  Without the technology and resources we have today, it amazes me.  It absolutely amazes me that people were ever reunited…much less with children.

#4: My heart was completely crushed when the three of them were discovered hiding.  I am so happy they had that time of peace together before they were caught and sent off, but goodness, they were so close to freedom there for a time.

#5: Again, I don’t know if it’s that the author was more graphic and specific than other books I’ve read or if it’s my own personal experience of standing in Auschwitz, but all of the scenes that played out there in the book felt very graphic.  Very hard.  Very disturbing.  Very real.

#6: When Eddie was shot in the head, my heart stopped.

#7: The friendship between Mike and Eddie (and Eddie’s dad) was so special.  I was so happy Mike was brought into their family unit.

#8: I haven’t even gotten to the storylines about Elmer and Pepsi. It really was like reading three stories in one.  I could have read entire books about each of these men.  I loved how the author wove all three stories together.  They were all three so different and yet so intertwined.

#9: Praise the Lord for Company D!  Holy cow, when they picked up Eddie and Mike and took them in, I teared up.  I have chills now just typing these words.  That was such a powerful part of the story.  There wouldn’t be a story without that part.

#10:  The first two thirds of the book were so graphic, so hard to read and yet the second third was so hopeful and filled with joy.  I loved how determined Eddie’s wife was to find Company D.  I loved that they reunited regularly and became family to one another even as older men.  I just absolutely loved this story…and to know that Eddie’s daughter wrote it was just icing on the cake.

Hard, real, important, well-written…I am giving this one five really big stars.

For me, this one will be hard to top!

That being said, in April, we are going to read…

…This is Not About Us by Allegra Goodman!

Alrighty, let’s head to the comment section to chat all things The Boys in the Light.

I can’t wait to read your thoughts and opinions.  I’ll see you all here tomorrow! xx