Beautiful, heartbreaking, and filled with such depth and emotion. An instant favorite.
Picture Us in the Light was a beautiful and heart-wrenching exploration about navigating life on the cusp of adulthood, where everything is changing. Friends are going separate ways. The life they’ve known for years is being dismantled piece by tiny piece. That period of time is tricky enough, but Danny Cheng is also grappling with family secrets that have the potential to change everything he’s ever known. But at the heart of this novel the one thing that remains true and constant is there’s nothing a parent wouldn’t do for their child. Nothing.
Brutal and honest and beautiful and ugly all at once, Picture Us in the Light was a gorgeous heartbreaker of a book, and one that explores many themes and relevant topics that impact and touch so many lives — suicide, immigration, racial bias, and both cultural and personal identity, and each and every topic is navigated with such an amazing balance. Gilbert didn’t sugarcoat anything, but she handled each topic with such care and grace while still showing the realistic brutality of many of them, particularly immigration and the constant fear of families being torn apart. That’s a reality for many families and I can’t even imagine the stress and the daily heartache that folks go through on a regular basis. Yes, Danny’s family is fictional, but the circumstances eerily echo the hardship that many families face, especially in today’s climate in the US.
The characters were the highlight of this novel and Gilbert expertly crafted not only the dynamics of the Asian community, but the often subtle differences between families within that culture. The relationships between the characters were also masterfully written and she managed to create such depth and emotion with each character, and also between each character, highlighting the various facets of human nature including the not-so-pretty parts. By the end of this book, I couldn’t help but care about each and every one, and each and every one managed to worm their way into my black heart.
Bottom line - Picture Us in the Light was such a rich and emotionally-wrought tale that found a permanent place on my favorites shelf. Highly recommended and I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for anything and everything else by this amazing author.
*Free copy provided by BookishFirst for my honest opinion.
Brutal and honest and beautiful and ugly all at once, Picture Us in the Light was a gorgeous heartbreaker of a book, and one that explores many themes and relevant topics that impact and touch so many lives — suicide, immigration, racial bias, and both cultural and personal identity, and each and every topic is navigated with such an amazing balance. Gilbert didn’t sugarcoat anything, but she handled each topic with such care and grace while still showing the realistic brutality of many of them, particularly immigration and the constant fear of families being torn apart. That’s a reality for many families and I can’t even imagine the stress and the daily heartache that folks go through on a regular basis. Yes, Danny’s family is fictional, but the circumstances eerily echo the hardship that many families face, especially in today’s climate in the US.
The characters were the highlight of this novel and Gilbert expertly crafted not only the dynamics of the Asian community, but the often subtle differences between families within that culture. The relationships between the characters were also masterfully written and she managed to create such depth and emotion with each character, and also between each character, highlighting the various facets of human nature including the not-so-pretty parts. By the end of this book, I couldn’t help but care about each and every one, and each and every one managed to worm their way into my black heart.
Bottom line - Picture Us in the Light was such a rich and emotionally-wrought tale that found a permanent place on my favorites shelf. Highly recommended and I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for anything and everything else by this amazing author.
*Free copy provided by BookishFirst for my honest opinion.